SEOUL: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung ordered a stern investigation Wednesday into alleged illegal ties between a religious group and politicians, his office said, amid rising speculation that both ruling and opposition lawmakers accepted illicit political funds from the Unification Church.
Lee said the investigation should be carried out "in a strict manner regardless of whether they are from the ruling or opposition parties or whether their positions are high or low, " the presidential office said in a press notice, without specifying any religious group, Yonhap News Agency reported.
Although Lee stopped short of mentioning the Unification Church by name, the instruction came as new allegations have surfaced that lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party (DP) accepted illegal political funds from the church, which has been under investigation by a special counsel for allegedly providing funds to People Power Party lawmakers ahead of the 2022 presidential race.
The remarks mark Lee's latest call to sever long-standing collusive ties between the political sphere and religious organisations, apparently targeting the Unification Church.