By Ju-min Park
SEOUL, Dec 1 (Reuters) – A South Korean court started hearing the trial on Monday of the leader of the Unification Church, Han Hak-ja, who is accused of bribing former First Lady Kim Keon Hee with luxury items including Chanel handbags and a diamond necklace.
The corruption case is part of a string of investigations by special prosecutors into ousted president Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim in the wake of Yoon’s martial law order in December 2024 and its political fallout.
Han, head of the religious group now known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, sought to bribe Kim with two Chanel bags, a diamond necklace and wild ginseng in return for business and political favours, prosecutors said on Monday.
Kim has admitted she received the bags as gifts from the church via a broker, but claimed there was no quid pro quo.
Han is also accused of bribing a close confidante of former president Yoon with cash, and helping Yoon win the presidential election in 2022 by mobilising church members in return for his backing of church projects.
Han, 82, attended the hearing in a wheelchair and wearing a white mask. She has denied the bribery accusations, calling them “false information”, and that the misconduct was the action of a senior church official who is also on trial.
Prosecutors argued that Han misappropriated the donations of church members raised with their “blood and sweat” through the alleged corruption schemes.
“Defendant Han Hak-ja is the absolute power holder of the Unification Church at the top… Not a single penny of illegal funds or lobbying can be moved without her approval,” one of the prosecutors told the court, showing a flowchart of the church’s alleged structure.
“Through collusion between politics and government, which is prohibited by the Constitution, donations were turned into a tool for buying power,” he said.
Kwon Oh-seok, one of Han’s lawyers, said a church official had acted alone out of “political ambition” and without Han’s knowledge.
There was a long queue of people trying to attend her trial and dozens of people, including church members and supporters, had to go into an overflow room. Others were directed to another room with a screen broadcasting the trial.
Han was temporarily released from detention last month on medical grounds, but returned to jail. She has requested bail again due to health issues.
In recent years, the church has faced troubles at home and abroad.
Critics have vilified the church as a heretical and dangerous cult and questioned its murky finances and how it indoctrinates followers.
A Tokyo court ordered the Japanese branch of the Unification Church to disband, following a scandal over fundraising practices and links to the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe.
The church vowed to fight the court order.
(Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Ed Davies and Michael Perry)
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