Hong Joonpyo Claims "Yoon Sukyeol Became Candidate With 100,000 Shincheonji Votes... The Yoon Administration Should Never Have Existed"

Hong Joonpyo Claims Shincheonji Involvement in Presidential Primary
"Shincheonji's Infiltration of People Power Party Goes Back a Long Time"

Hong Joonpyo, former mayor of Daegu, claimed that the Shincheonji religious group was involved in supporting then-candidate and former President Yoon Sukyeol during the 2021 People Power Party presidential primary.

Junpyo Hong, former mayor of Daegu. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

On January 21, through his Facebook page, Hong said, "I found it strange when former President Park Geunhye changed the party name to Saenuri Party in 2012," adding, "Saenuri is a pure Korean translation of Shincheonji, so the party name itself felt like that of a pseudo-religious group."

He continued, "The roots of Shincheonji's infiltration into the party go back a long time," and added, "A large number of them joined as responsible party members ahead of the July 2021 presidential primary, reportedly to support Yoon Sukyeol."

He further stated, "At that time, in order to vote in the primary, you had to pay party dues for three months, but the rules were abruptly changed to allow new members supporting Yoon Sukyeol to vote by paying just 1,000 won for one month. As a result, 190,000 new party members joined, of which 100,000 were Shincheonji followers, and their bloc voting made Yoon Sukyeol the candidate."

Hong added, "Back then, I thought this was simply an attempt to expand the party's base ahead of the election. I never imagined it was a Shincheonji bloc voting operation," and explained, "At the time, public opinion polls showed me defeating Yoon Sukyeol by 10.27%, but due to bloc voting in the party member vote, Yoon Sukyeol won by about 47,000 votes, most of which reportedly came from Shincheonji."

He went on to say, "While Shincheonji could not exert its influence in the general election, it played a decisive role in the primary among a small number of party members," and emphasized, "If properly investigated, the party primary at that time would be deemed an anti-democratic, unconstitutional, and invalid primary based on the union of politics and religion."

He also stated, "The Yoon Sukyeol administration should never have come into existence," and criticized, "It is truly lamentable to see the level of Korean conservative politics, which was swayed by clueless conservative commentators and far-right YouTubers who once compared Yoon Sukyeol to a hero like Park Chunghee."