In a major development tied to sweeping political investigations launched by South Korea’s new liberal government, 95-year-old Lee Man-hee, the controversial founder of the secretive Shincheonji Church of Jesus, has been taken into custody on allegations that he orchestrated a mass illegal recruitment of thousands of followers to tilt election outcomes in favor of the former conservative ruling People Power Party (PPP).
The arrest warrant was issued late Wednesday by Seoul Central District Court, which ruled that Lee posed a significant risk of destroying key evidence related to the investigation. Lee, who relies on a cane and required assistance from a church aide to enter the court for a pre-arrest hearing Wednesday afternoon, offered no response to questions from waiting reporters. Shincheonji, which has previously raised public concerns about Lee’s advanced age and fragile health, had not issued an official statement on the arrest as of Thursday morning. The church has repeatedly denied all allegations of wrongdoing against Lee and the organization.
Founded by Lee in 1984, Shincheonji — whose name translates to “new heaven and new earth” — claims a global membership of roughly 200,000 adherents. Lee, who frames himself as a divinely appointed messenger of Jesus tasked with fulfilling end-time prophecies from the Book of Revelation, has long been labeled a false prophet and cult leader by mainstream South Korean Christian denominations. Shincheonji describes him as the “Promised Pastor” called to deliver the final truth of Christian scripture.
Prosecutors allege that between 2021 and 2024, Lee leveraged Shincheonji’s nationwide network of regional branches to coerce more than 50,000 church followers to illegally join the PPP. The scheme, investigators say, was designed to manipulate the outcomes of the conservative party’s presidential and legislative primary elections, including boosting the 2022 presidential bid of former conservative head of state Yoon Suk Yeol. In exchange for the electoral support, Lee reportedly sought favorable regulatory treatment for the church, including accelerated approvals to expand its religious facilities across the country.
Lee’s arrest is the latest milestone in a broad probe launched in January by a joint special investigation team of South Korean prosecutors and police, which is probing improper ties between major conservative religious organizations — including Shincheonji and the Unification Church, officially known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification — and senior conservative politicians. The investigation is one of multiple inquiries ordered by the current liberal administration of President Lee Jae Myung, who won an early presidential election in 2024 after Yoon was removed from office.
Yoon’s ousting followed a turbulent political crisis that began in December 2024, when he imposed a brief, unexpected martial law against the opposition liberal-controlled legislature, accusing lawmakers of being pro-North Korean subversives. The move triggered an immediate impeachment process, and Yoon was ultimately removed from office in April 2025 after the Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment vote. Convicted of rebellion over the martial law declaration, Yoon received a life sentence, and was separately sentenced to 30 additional years in prison on charges of ordering unauthorized drone flights over Pyongyang to stoke inter-Korean tensions and create a pretext for imposing martial law domestically. He remains in custody as he appeals both convictions.
The investigation into religious-political ties has already ensnared other high-profile figures. Months before Lee Man-hee’s arrest, Hak Ja Han, the 77-year-old top leader of the Unification Church and widow of church founder Sun Myung Moon, was arrested and indicted on charges that she ordered church officials to bribe Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, and a senior PPP lawmaker close to Yoon to secure lucrative business benefits for the church. Han has denied all accusations against her. In April, an appeals court sentenced Kim Keon Hee to four years in prison after convicting her on multiple corruption charges, including accepting millions of dollars worth of luxury gifts from a senior Unification Church official.
Founded by Sun Myung Moon in 1954, the Unification Church grew into a global movement with millions of followers and vast cross-sector business interests. Moon, who also claimed to be a messiah sent to complete Jesus’ unfinished work, built the church’s international reputation around its signature mass wedding events, where thousands of couples from different countries are matched and married collectively in large ceremonies. Since Moon’s death in 2012, Han has led the organization.