South Korea: Amid growing rumors that both government and opposition legislators took illegal political contributions from the Unification Church, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung ordered a strict inquiry Wednesday into suspected unlawful links between a religious organization and politicians, according to his office.

In a press release, the presidential office said that the probe should be conducted “in a strict manner regardless of whether they are from the ruling or opposition parties or whether their positions are high or low,” without mentioning any particular religious organization, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Lee did not specifically name the Unification Church, but the directive was issued in response to fresh claims that members of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) accepted illicit political funds from the organization, which is being looked into by a special counsel for allegedly giving money to members of the People Power Party prior to the 2022 presidential contest.

The statements, which seem to be directed at the Unification Church, are Lee’s most recent appeal to break long-standing collusive connections between the political and religious spheres.

On condition of anonymity, a top presidential official said, “The president has strongly committed to completely uprooting collusive ties between politics and religion this time.” “This shows how seriously he is taking this issue.”

According to Lee, MPs from both the government and opposition parties should be equally probed if inappropriate interactions with religious organizations or criminal conduct are verified, the source said.

Citing a similar precedent in Japan, Lee urged for a study of measures to dissolve religious organizations found to have undertaken unlawful activities during a Cabinet meeting last week. He termed the systematic intervention in politics by some religious groups as a breach of the Constitution.

The Unification Church lost its tax-exempt status in March when a Japanese court ordered its dissolution due to fraudulent fundraising and other violations.

Lee brought up the subject again at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, asking Minister of Government Legislation Cho Won-cheol whether he had investigated his directive to examine steps to disband religious organizations engaged in illicit funding or political meddling.

Later in the day, at a last trial hearing, a former Unification Church official involved in a corruption case involving former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration was scheduled to identify the DP MPs he believes embezzled funds from the church.

In 2022, Yoon’s wife, former first lady Kim Keon Hee, is suspected of receiving opulent presents from Yun Young-ho, the former leader of the Unification Church’s worldwide headquarters, in return for economic favors.

The DP and the Lee government, who have presented special counsel investigations into Yun and church head Han Hak-ja as an instance of improper relations between a religious organization and the previous Yoon administration, would suffer a hit from the revelation.

In response to complaints that its investigation had only previously focused on opposition legislators, the special counsel sent a case concerning purported connections between the Unification Church and DP lawmakers to police on Tuesday.