법원 “한학자 승인 아래 국민의힘 지원”…‘윤영호 독단 결정’ 증언 배척

A court has dismissed the testimony of a former top official of the Unification Church regarding its support for the national movement "Hahakyeon," claiming the evidence lacks credibility. According to church members, the after-school funding was approved by the church's current leader, not his predecessor. The leader faced a two-year prison sentence for illegally transferring after-school funding and providing 800,000 won to Kim Geunhee.

The Seoul Central District Court's Criminal 27th Division (Judge U-in-seong) released a first-instance judgment on May 2nd detailing the church officials' roles in the process. The court determined that the leader's call for support for presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol at a special meeting on March 2nd, 2022, led to the transfer of 1.44 billion won to national movement parties.

The judge noted that church members understood the special meeting's purpose as expressing support for Yoon. The leader's speech included statements about the nation's responsibility in guiding the people. The court concluded that actions taken by the church after the special meeting, including approving funding within a day of the presidential election, indicate a lack of independent decision-making by individual church leaders.

The court found the after-school funding to be under the sole control of the leader, despite his predecessor's denial of involvement in any wrongdoing.