Seoul: Lee Man Hee, the 95-year-old founder of the South Korean Shincheonji religious sect, has been arrested. He is accused of pressuring more than 50,000 members of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus to join the conservative People Power Party (PPP) between 2021 and 2024.
According to Ghana News Agency, the aim was allegedly to influence the party's internal primaries for the presidential and parliamentary elections, to secure advantages for the Shincheonji community. Authorities are investigating whether Lee may have embezzled funds equivalent to up to $8.10 million. Reports indicate that Lee has denied the allegations.
The court in Seoul responsible for the case justified the decision to remand the sect's founder in custody, despite his advanced age, on the grounds that there was a risk of evidence being destroyed. The agency noted that Lee is likely one of the oldest prisoners in South Korea, with only five people over the age of 90 currently in the country's prisons.
Lee was an outspoken supporter of the conservative former president Yoon Suk Yeol, elected to office in 2022. After Yoon unexpectedly declared martial law in December 2024, he was removed from office by the Constitutional Court and has since been sentenced to life imprisonment for inciting a riot.
Lee Man Hee founded the Shincheonji sect in 1984. The end-times cult often operates under aliases to recruit new members.