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🇰🇷 South Korea /Crime & Justice

Editorial: Is Han Hak-ja’s two-year sentence for church-state corruption too lenient?

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Opinion Documents & data In the courts
  • A Seoul court sentenced Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja to two years in prison for illegal political donations and providing gifts to Kim Keon-hee through an intermediary.
  • The court said the conduct was broadly led by former church official Yoon Young-ho and aimed at expanding the church rather than securing Han’s personal benefit.
  • The editorial argues that the sentence fails to reflect the seriousness of violating the constitutional principle of separation of religion and state and calls for a stricter appellate ruling.

The Unification Church’s top leader, Han Hak-ja, received a two-year prison sentence after a Seoul court found her responsible for money and gifts provided in an alleged effort to expand the church’s influence during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration. The Hankyoreh editorial says the punishment is far too light for a case involving the constitutional principle of separating religion and state.

The Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Division 27 sentenced Han on Aug. 31 to one year each for political-funds violations and for violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act. The political-funds case involved 100 million won given to former People Power Party lawmaker Kwon Seong-dong in 2022 and more than 140 million won distributed in smaller donations to regional party organizations. The other charge concerned Chanel and Graff items allegedly delivered to Kim Keon-hee through “Gun-jin shaman” Jeon Seong-bae in July of that year.

Please impose a severe sentence so that illegal church-state entanglements and abuses of state power by religious organizations never happen again.

— Kim Keon-hee special counsel teamThe prosecution sought a 13-year sentence for Han Hak-ja.

The special counsel prosecuting Kim Keon-hee had sought a 13-year sentence, asking the court to punish the case severely so that illegal church-state entanglements and abuses of state power would not recur. The editorial describes the gap between that request and Han’s sentence as so wide that it could confuse the public.

The case as a whole was led by former Unification Church world headquarters official Yoon Young-ho, and Han Hak-ja gave general approval.

— Seoul Central District CourtThe court explained its assessment of Han’s role in the conduct.

The judges said the overall scheme had been led by former Unification Church world headquarters official Yoon Young-ho, while Han had given general approval. They also treated it as favorable that the conduct appeared intended to expand the church rather than benefit Han personally. The editorial challenges that reasoning, saying expansion of the church also meant an expansion of Han’s influence.

The court acquitted Han on an embezzlement charge linked to the split donations, finding no expressed intent to obtain unlawful personal benefit. It dismissed charges related to alleged instruction to destroy evidence over casino gambling trips and embezzlement involving election funds for a Senegalese politician. The editorial questions whether the court accepted the facts behind charges involving people already convicted, while taking a lenient approach to the remaining allegations, and calls for the appeal court to issue a stricter judgment.

It appears to have been carried out to expand the Unification Church’s influence rather than for Han Hak-ja’s personal benefit.

— Seoul Central District CourtThe court cited this as a mitigating circumstance in sentencing.
About this summary

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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