Special Prosecutor Oh Jeong-hee giving a briefing. Yonhap News

The special prosecutor's team led by Min Jung-ki has acknowledged receiving testimony from Yoon Young-ho, former global headquarters head of the Unification Church, stating that he "supported not only the People Power Party but also the Democratic Party." However, the team clarified that they determined this matter was not subject to the special prosecutor's investigation by law.

The special prosecutor's team stated that when they secured the testimony, they assigned an internal investigation case number, created case records based on the relevant content, and plan to hand them over to other investigative agencies in the future. They have left open the possibility of future investigations by the police, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), or the prosecution.

At a regular briefing on the 8th, Special Prosecutor Oh Jeong-hee explained, "During the investigation of Mr. Yoon in August, we heard about recent court testimony related to his claims of supporting politicians from the Democratic Party in addition to the People Power Party. After obtaining Mr. Yoon's signature and seal, we assigned an internal investigation case number and created case records."

She added, "However, we determined that the content of the testimony, in terms of persons, materials, and time, clearly does not fall under the scope of investigation stipulated by the Special Prosecutor Act." "We plan to transfer it to future investigative agencies," she stated.

This means that although they secured testimony from Mr. Yoon that Democratic Party figures were also supported, they deemed it outside the scope of their investigation, considering the purpose of the Special Prosecutor Act which deals with allegations related to First Lady Kim Keon-hee.

Special Prosecutor Oh explained that this is in line with their decision not to launch a full investigation into the gambling charges against the Unification Church's Presiding Bishop Han Hak-ja, which was transferred from the police, as they also deemed it outside their investigative scope.

Special Prosecutor Oh further added that the period claimed by former headquarters head Yoon for supporting the Democratic Party was significantly before the 2022 presidential election, making it temporally distant from the special prosecutor's investigative scope.

She emphasized that the conclusion that it was not subject to investigation was reached after a comprehensive consideration of existing legal principles and precedents, and that there were no dissenting opinions among the members of the special prosecutor's team, including the investigation team.

Special Prosecutor Oh also stated, "Mr. Yoon's testimony was not limited to a specific political party." She asserted, "Some views suggesting that we intentionally did not investigate a specific party are entirely untrue."

She continued, "I clearly state that the special prosecutor's office is conducting its investigation in accordance with the law and principles." She pointed out that "raising false controversies based on vague, untrue speculations is an act that blurs the essence of the investigation as stipulated by the Special Prosecutor Act, which pertains to the investigation of Kim Keon-hee, Yoon Suk-yeol, Myung Tae-gyun, and Geonjin-beopsa."

Earlier, on the 5th, Mr. Yoon stated during the trial for his embezzlement charges that he had attempted to make contact not only with the People Power Party but also with the Democratic Party in preparation for the 'Korean Peninsula Peace Summit,' a church event, in February 2022.

He claimed to have approached four government officials at the ministerial level at the time, and two of them met with Presiding Bishop Han. He also testified that he was closer to the Democratic Party than the People Power Party between 2017 and 2021.

Furthermore, he questioned the special prosecutor's team about why this information, which he had disclosed to them and was recorded in the investigative report, was missing from the evidence records.

However, the special prosecutor's team only indicted Mr. Yoon and Presiding Bishop Han on charges of illegal political donations to the People Power Party and Representative Kwon Seong-dong. This has led to criticism from the opposition that the special prosecutor's team conducted a "biased investigation" by focusing solely on the People Power Party.