Defense Challenges Core Claims of Indictment

Court proceedings focus on key contradictions as defense presents evidence and witness accounts in 12^th June hearing attended by Mother Han (83)

Extracts from a briefing 13^th June 2026 by Rev. Kim Dong-yeon (김동연), Vice-President, Family Federation for World Peace and Unification in South Korea. Translated from Korean. Originally published by the Culture and Public Relations Office on the website of the Korean chapter of the Family Federation (FFWPU).

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True Mother has gradually regained strength and was finally able to appear in court on 12^th June. We would like to provide a summary of her actions and the progress of the court proceedings, undertaken after she rose from her sickbed in order to reveal the truth.

True Mother‘s Testimony and the Key Issues of the Hearing

Appearing in person at the 12^th June hearing, True Mother stated immediately after taking the witness oath:

“I have never given 100 million won to Kweon Seong-dong (권성동). I have never given gifts to the President’s wife, Kim Keon-hee (김건희). Nor have I ever provided money as political funds to politicians.”

With these words, she firmly and clearly denied the core allegations contained in the indictment. She further made clear that the current situation originated from the false claims and misrepresentations of the former headquarters director.

The defense team then focused on demonstrating that the special prosecutors had distorted the Family Federation‘s distinctive religious concepts of “Cheonil-guk” (천일국) and “national restoration” (국가복귀) [See editor’s note below] into secular political lobbying.

The defense also concentrated on establishing, as a matter of law, that the case arose from the former headquarters director‘s unilateral working methods and personal misconduct.

In particular, the defense argued that the former headquarters director habitually carried out actions without prior approval and then reported them afterward only if they produced results, maintaining an arbitrary and independent style of operation. Most significantly, they identified what they described as a decisive contradiction: the “Special Report” file from the relevant date, presented as key evidence, reportedly contains no reference whatsoever to providing funds to former lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong (권성동). Through this, the defense sought to undermine the opposing side’s claims.

The defense continues to argue before the court that this case represents a crime committed independently by the former headquarters director – who was once the most powerful official of our religious organization – in order to maintain his influence and accumulate personal wealth through the misuse of funds of our religious organization, and that there was no instruction from or conspiracy involving True Mother.

Testimony from Key Individuals Supporting the Defense’s Position

During the recent trial proceedings, the principal arguments advanced by the defense have been further substantiated through the detailed testimony of witnesses who were responsible for finances and practical operations at the time, making the factual circumstances of the case clearer.

A former executive who had worked closely with the former headquarters director in planning activities testified that “True Mother‘s actual statements and the direction of activities of Yoon Yeong-ho (윤영호) did not align with one another.” The witness further alleged that Yoon distributed a separate internal guideline called “Interpretation of the Word”, which reinterpreted and imposed True Mother‘s sincere religious messages according to his own preferences in order to justify his independent actions. According to the briefing, this testimony demonstrates that the affair resulted from personal misconduct carried out in True Mother‘s name.

A former executive responsible for finances at the World Headquarters testified that funds disbursed immediately before the presidential election were executed not on True Mother‘s instructions but on direct orders from the former headquarters director. The witness further stated that, according to the regulations of the religious organization, the amount in question could legally be approved solely by the headquarters director, reinforcing the argument that the actions were carried out independently.

Staff members who were responsible for accounting subsequently testified that the former headquarters director and his spouse received reimbursement twice for luxury purchases and personal expenses amounting to tens or even hundreds of millions of won [10 million won = ca. 7,250 US dollars]. They also alleged indications of personal embezzlement. Furthermore, it was pointed out that there had been a practice of requesting budget allocations for items such as mission-support expenses without attaching specific supporting documentation, resulting in opaque funding requests. It was also revealed that, within a rigid top-down hierarchical structure, non-transparent expenditures of funds were carried out among operational staff.

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Featured image above: Special prosecutors distorting the Family Federation‘s distinctive religious concepts of “Cheonil-guk” (천일국) and “national restoration” (국가복귀). Illustration: ChatGPT, 14^th June 2026.

[Editor’s note: In the context of Hak Ja Han and the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), “national restoration” (국가복귀, 국가복원, or related terms often translated as “restoration of the nation”) is primarily a religious and providential concept, not simply a political one.

The challenge – and the point raised in the briefing – is that prosecutors and the defense appear to disagree about whether references to “national restoration” should be understood as religious objectives or as political activities.

When Hak Ja Han speaks of “national restoration”, she is generally referring to the goal of Unificationism to transform a nation so that it reflects God’s ideal and becomes part of the realization of Cheonil-guk (Kingdom of Heaven), rather than simply winning political influence or supporting particular politicians. Whether specific activities undertaken in pursuit of that goal crossed into political lobbying is precisely what seems to be contested in the proceedings described in the briefing.]

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