Members of the People Power Party, including Floor Leader Song Eon-seok, are responding to the special prosecutor's team's seizure and search at a database company managing the party's membership list in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 18th. The special prosecutor team led by Min Jung-ki, which is investigating allegations concerning First Lady Kim Keon-hee, is attempting to seize and search the People Power Party's headquarters and its membership list database management company in Yeouido to secure the party's membership roster in relation to allegations of 'mass party membership enrollment by the Unification Church.' Yonhap News.

(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Noh Sun-woong and Lee Eui-jin = The special prosecutor team, led by Min Jung-ki, which is investigating allegations concerning First Lady Kim Keon-hee, has begun executing a seizure and search at a company managing the People Power Party's membership database (DB) amid opposition from the party.

The special prosecutor team is currently conducting a seizure and search at a company managing the party's membership list DB, located near the People Power Party's central headquarters in Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, as of 5:35 PM today.

The People Power Party had maintained that the process should be voluntary submission. However, after an approximately 7-hour and 30-minute standoff with party members and officials, the execution of the search commenced.

It has been reported that the special prosecutor team's search and seizure warrant stipulated that voluntary submission should be prioritized, and if that were not possible, a coercive investigation would be initiated.

The special prosecutor team had dispatched investigators to the central party headquarters and the company's office around 10:15 AM today to request membership list data.

The special prosecutor team's stance is that they are seeking to verify whether individuals affiliated with the Unification Church have joined the party, and although it is a seizure and search, they are requesting cooperation to obtain the data through voluntary submission.

However, the People Power Party has expressed strong opposition, arguing that the coercive investigation is being carried out without specific criminal facts related to the alleged violation of the Political Parties Act, as stated in the warrant, leading to an ongoing standoff.

As the standoff continued for over 7 hours, the special prosecutor team conveyed their intention to proceed with the seizure and search of the company according to investigative procedures and then commenced the execution.

Park Sung-hoon, the chief spokesperson for the People Power Party, told reporters at the scene, "What the special prosecutor is requesting is the entire roster of 5 million party members," adding, "They are demanding the personal information of existing members, not just newly joined ones, including their account details."

It has been reported that the special prosecutor team's search and seizure warrant specifies allegations of violations of the Political Funds Act and the Political Parties Act, and provides detailed reasons for needing to verify the membership status of Unification Church congregants in the People Power Party.

The special prosecutor team is investigating allegations that the Unification Church made a large number of its members join the party to support Representative Kwon Seong-dong's bid for party leadership in the People Power Party's national convention in March 2023.

Additionally, the team is looking into allegations that district leaders responsible for various Unification Church regions provided illegal political funds to the People Power Party, having received support funds from the religious organization, in the lead-up to the 2022 presidential election.

Yonhap News