South Korea’s Assault on a
Woman Religious Leader Reaches a New Low

The 82-year-old widow of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, recovering from heart surgery, has been arrested after her residence was stormed by over a thousand riot police—making her the most senior female religious leader imprisoned today in a democratic country. This is part of a sweeping purge against churches and faith leaders.

Statement by Dr. Ján Figel
President of FOREF Europe

“This is one of the gravest attacks on religious liberty in a democratic country in recent years. South Korea is witnessing a sweeping crackdown on faith communities: prosecutors have raided Yoido Full Gospel Church and Far East Broadcasting, arrested Pastor Son Hyun-bo, and implicated Shincheonji.

Yet the case of Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon is uniquely severe: an 82-year-old woman, recovering from heart surgery, whose residence was stormed by over a thousand riot police, and who is now held on implausible, politically charged allegations. This is not anti-corruption—it is a purge.

I am grateful to Dr. Massimo Introvigne and Bitter Winter for counterbalancing sensationalist coverage and exposing the political nature of this case. FOREF calls on governments and human-rights defenders to act now. What is at stake is nothing less than democracy and freedom of religion in South Korea.”

09/22/2025 — by *Massimo Introvigne – Source: Bitter Winter

The Arrest of Mother Han:
Korea’s Unholy War on Religion and Reason

The legal grounds for the arrest were absent. The charges are implausible and politically motivated. This is not a corruption case—it’s a purge.

South Korea has just added a new chapter to its long-running saga of political purges disguised as criminal justice. This time, the protagonist is Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon—known to her followers as “Holy Mother Han”—the 82-year-old leader of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church). Her arrest is not just a legal misstep. It is a full-blown religiocide, a state-sponsored assault on religious liberty dressed up in the robes of anti-corruption.

Protesting is necessary, but not sufficient. What is needed is clarity. Bitter Winter will dissect this travesty by answering three questions: Was there any legal basis for arresting Mother Han? What exactly is she accused of? And is this a case of common crime—or a political and religious purge?

1. The Legal Grounds for Arrest

In Korea, as in most democracies, pre-trial detention is justified only if there is a risk of flight or destruction of evidence. Let’s test these against reality.

Flight risk? Mother Han is 82, recovering from heart surgery, and has been under a travel ban since March. She is not exactly sprinting for the airport.
Destruction of evidence? This was the aspect underlined by Judge Jeong Jae-wook of the Seoul Central District Court in the arrest decision. Yet Mother Han’s residences and church offices have been raided multiple times. Prosecutors have already seized every scrap of paper, every hard drive, every byte of data. What is left for her to destroy—her memories?
In short, the arrest warrant is built on sand. The legal prerequisites were not met.

2. The Charges

The Special Counsel has thrown four charges into the mix. Two others—alleged mass enrollment of Family Federation members into the conservative People Power Party (PPP) and cash gifts to Rep. Kweon Seong-dong (himself now arrested)—remain under investigation and are not part of the arrest warrant.

These additional charges are troubling, as they appear to infringe upon the constitutional right of every citizen, including religious believers, to support the politicians and parties of their choice. The claim that Mother Han enrolled 110,000 members of the Family Federation in the PPP exceeds the total membership of her religious organization in Korea. (The figure of more than one million, often quoted in Korean media, includes sympathizers and “Ambassadors for Peace” of the Universal Peace Federation who are not devotees of the church.)

The four charges in the arrest warrant are:

Charge #1: Bribery via Rep. Kweon. Mother Han allegedly instructed a church executive (already indicted and expelled) to deliver ₩100 million to the PPP and President Yoon’s administration through Rep. Kweon. The number sounds large in won, but in U.S. dollars it is $73,000. In a country and region where corruption scandals often involve sums in the millions, the idea that one could buy influence over the ruling party and the President of a G20 country for $73,000 is absurd. The supposed aim? Influence over a wire agency acquisition and Cambodian business interests. Neither materialized. Prosecutors even claim the money bought VIP seats at Yoon’s inauguration—this from a woman who regularly hosts global summits with presidents and prime ministers, including Donald Trump. The charge borders on laughable.

Charge #2: Gifts to the First Lady. A diamond necklace ($43,000) and two Chanel handbags ($14,000) were allegedly given to President Yoon’s wife via a shaman intermediary. Mother Han denies involvement, pointing to the same rogue executive. Unsurprisingly, he is trying to shift all blame onto her. The total—$57,000—is trivial compared to the scale of political bribery cases in Korea. Add some ginseng tea and you still don’t have a scandal—you have a luxury shopping spree.

Charge #3: Embezzlement. Prosecutors claim Mother Han used church funds for personal purposes, including the above gifts. But this is like accusing her of stealing from her own pocket. In religious movements where the leader is revered as a messianic figure, donors often make no distinction between giving to the organization and giving to the leader personally.

Charge #4: Destruction of Evidence. In 2022, Mother Han allegedly instructed the same executive to destroy evidence of her gambling in Las Vegas. The narrative might sound compelling to outsiders, but these allegations go back almost 50 years. Gambling is illegal for Korean citizens both at home (with the sole exception of Kangwon Land Casino) and abroad. Yet the story of Rev. Moon and gambling has been in the public domain for decades. Rival factions have already used those documents in court. Rev. Moon himself even addressed the matter in a 1979 speech, explaining his intent to engage with gamblers as part of an evangelistic mission. This was controversial, but not secret. So why would Mother Han try to bury a story that has been public for over 40 years?

3. The Context

This case is not only about Mother Han. It is part of a broader purge of religious leaders accused of supporting former President Yoon and the PPP.

The Family Federation and Shincheonji have been singled out, with Shincheonji accused of enrolling thousands of members in the PPP.
The Yoido Full Gospel Church (Pastor Lee Young-hoon) and Far East Broadcasting Company (Rev. Kim Jang-hwan, former Baptist World Alliance president) had their churches and offices raided.
Pastor Son Hyun-bo of Busan Segyeoro Church was arrested for allegedly violating election laws by mobilizing church members for the PPP.
The common thread? All supported Yoon.

The crackdown is so blatant that former U.S. President Donald Trump denounced the “vicious raids on churches” in Korea. And he is not wrong. This is not about handbags or necklaces. It is about silencing religious voices that dared to support the “wrong” candidate.

See Also

MEDIA: Framing Faith

South Korea has a long tradition of prosecuting and jailing former presidents. What is new is the religious dimension. Yoon’s rise was supported by a coalition of conservative religionists—evangelicals, Pentecostals, and new religious movements. Now, the new government is targeting them all.

At the 2021 funeral of Yoido’s founder, Pastor Kim laid hands on then-Prosecutor General Yoon, in effect endorsing him as a candidate for President. Today, that gesture is being repaid with raids and arrests.

And let us dismiss the myth that the Family Federation was a monolithic political machine for Yoon. It was not. Yes, it shared some conservative values with the PPP – anti-Communism, traditional family ideals – but support was neither unanimous nor unconditional. Mother Han’s events have welcomed leaders from both the PPP and the Democratic Party. Inclusivity, not partisanship, was the rule.

But nuance is now a crime. Any past sympathy for the PPP, however incidental, is treated as treason. Retroactive guilt by association has become the new judicial standard.

Mother Han, arriving at her pre-arrest hearing in a wheelchair, embodies the human cost of this purge. With Korean prosecutors boasting a 95% conviction rate, these charges are nearly a death sentence. For an 82-year-old woman recovering from heart surgery, imprisonment may well prove fatal.

Conclusion

If this were just about handbags and jewelry, skeptics might cling to the bribery narrative. But the scale of the crackdown reveals the truth: this is a political and religious purge.

The legal grounds for arresting Mother Han were absent. The charges are implausible and politically motivated. This is not a corruption case—it is a purge.

The world must not mistake persecution for prosecution. South Korea’s democracy and religious liberty are on trial. And the verdict will echo far beyond its borders.

*About Dr. Jan Figel
Dr. Ján Figeľ is the former European Union Special Envoy for the promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief outside the EU (2016–2019) and former EU Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism. He currently serves as President of FOREF (Forum for Religious Freedom Europe).

*About Dr. Massimo Introvigne
Dr. Massimo Introvigne is an Italian sociologist of religions, founder and managing director of CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions), and editor-in-chief of Bitter Winter, a daily magazine on religious liberty and human rights. He has served as the Representative of the OSCE on combating racism, xenophobia, and discrimination, with a special focus on religious intolerance.