Shincheonji Church of Jesus Peter Tribe temple in Gwangju / Korea Times file
A joint prosecution-police team investigating suspected collusion between politics and religion allegedly secured a statement four months ago that followers of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a nonmainstream religious sect, had been urged to join both the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), legal sources said Tuesday.
The team obtained the controversial statement in March during its questioning of former Shincheonji members, according to legal sources. The youth chairperson of the church's Simon branch allegedly asked followers to join both parties ahead of the 2022 local elections by saying: "I am a member of both the PPP and the DPK. We must show our strength to politicians."
The Simon branch is responsible for church followers in northwestern Seoul and northern Gyeonggi Province, including Goyang.
Despite securing such a statement, however, the team did not pursue an investigation involving the DPK, instead focusing solely on allegations that church members had collectively joined the PPP, legal sources said.
