Pompeo: Mother Han (83) Targeted for Her Beliefs

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo portrays the sentencing of religious leader Hak Ja Han as betrayal of South Korea’s hard-won democratic values

Tokyo, 3^rd September 2026 – Published as an article in the Japanese newspaper Sekai Nippo. Republished with permission. Translated from Japanese. Original article.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Criticizes Two-Year Prison Sentence for Hak Ja Han as “Religious Persecution”

Family Federation Says Cash Found at Home Was “Not Embezzled”

by Yuya Kawase (川瀬 裕也)

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has criticized the two-year prison sentence imposed on Hak Ja Han, leader of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU, formerly the Unification Church) in South Korea, saying that it could lead to “religious persecution.” In connection with the case against Han, approximately 26 billion won (about $19 million US dollars) in cash was found in a safe and elsewhere at her home, and investigative authorities subsequently brought additional charges alleging that she had embezzled funds belonging to the religious organization. The Family Federation, however, has rejected the allegation, arguing that the money constituted “religious offerings” and that there was no evidence that Han had diverted the funds for personal use.

See also State’s Faith War: Prosecution to Dissolution

See also: Mike Pompeo Calls Probe of Co-Founder “Lawfare”

See also Mother Han: Guilty Without Proof?

See also Mother Han Appeal Tests Prosecutorial Authority

See also Preserve the FFWPU Bridge to North Korea

See also Embracing Role of Peacemaker When Persecuted

On 31^st August, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Han to two years in prison for violations including the Political Funds Act and the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, in connection with alleged efforts to influence former President Yoon Suk-yeol.

Following the verdict, Pompeo, who served as secretary of state during the first Trump administration, issued a statement saying that the ruling was “deeply troubling for anyone who cares about religious liberty and free expression.”

He further asserted,

“The evidence suggests that Dr. Han was targeted for her religious and political beliefs.”

Pompeo also referred to the fact that Han, an elderly woman with health problems, has been subject to detention for nearly a year. He criticized this as “a betrayal of South Korea’s hard-won democratic values.” He called on the South Korean government to reconsider the case during the appeals trial and expressed his hope that South Korea “does not go further down the path of religious persecution.”

Meanwhile, on the same day, the Joint Investigation Headquarters into Corruption Involving Church-State Ties, comprising South Korean prosecutors and police, announced that it had additionally indicted Han on charges including occupational embezzlement. According to the investigators, approximately 26 billion won in cash was seized from safes installed in the bedroom of Han‘s residence, as well as from travel bags and other locations.

Investigators believe that funds belonging to the religious organization were converted into cash and concealed in Han‘s personal safes and elsewhere. They allege that approximately 10.5 billion won was embezzled through methods including false accounting, in which the money was recorded as being intended for purposes such as financial support for overseas missionaries.

In response, the Korean Headquarters of the Family Federation issued a statement strongly objecting to the application of the embezzlement charge. It described the prosecution’s approach as “an unreasonable application of the law that ignores the essence of religious offerings and the legal requirements necessary to establish the crime of embezzlement.”

The Family Federation argued that the funds in question were “religious gifts voluntarily offered to Hak Ja Han by believers and various organizations within the religious movement as expressions of their religious faith and devotion.”

It maintained that there was no evidence that Han had used the money for personal purposes, explaining that the funds had instead been used for public purposes, such as missionary activities, in accordance with the intentions of those who had made the offerings.

Furthermore, the Family Federation expressed deep concern, arguing that the investigative authorities were applying ordinary legal standards without taking account of the specific context of the traditions and autonomy of religious devotion, thereby distorting the context specific to the faith and treating the funds as personal embezzlement.

The Family Federation said that “it is difficult to accept an expedient conviction based on an abuse of the state’s power to impose criminal punishment,” and indicated that it would challenge the allegations in court.

See also State’s Faith War: Prosecution to Dissolution

See also Mother Han: Guilty Without Proof?

See also Mother Han Appeal Tests Prosecutorial Authority

See also Preserve the FFWPU Bridge to North Korea

See also Embracing Role of Peacemaker When Persecuted

See also International Outcry Over Hak Ja Han (83) Verdict

See also No Charges Over Family Federation Probe Delay

See also States Weaponizing the Law in War on Faiths

Featured image above: Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Photo: Sekai Nippo, slightly edited by Grok xAI, 6^th September 2026 

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