Han Hak-ja granted bail after paying W200m deposit in Unification Church-state collusion case

A court has granted bail to Han Hak-ja, head of the Unification Church, who was sentenced to prison at trial on charges of colluding with the Yoon Suk Yeol administration. The bail was approved on the condition that she pay a deposit of 200 million won ($149,000) in cash and restrict her residence to the hospital where she is currently receiving treatment.

According to legal sources Monday, the 13th Criminal Division of Seoul High Court — presided over by Judges Kim Mu-sin, Lee Woo-hee and Yoo Dong-gyun — granted Han's bail application. Han had been released since March with her detention suspended for treatment of a chronic illness; the bail decision came one day before that suspension was set to expire.

Han was detained in September last year by the special prosecution team led by Special Prosecutor Min Joong-ki. She was released two months later in November when the court suspended her detention, but was immediately reincarcerated after an extension was denied. Her detention was suspended again in March, and she had been receiving hospital treatment since then.

A suspension of detention is a system under which a defendant is temporarily released when there is an urgent reason to do so — such as a serious illness, childbirth or attendance at a family funeral — and differs from bail, which involves release subject to conditions such as the payment of a deposit.

"Bail is granted taking into account the defendant's health condition, the progress of the case and the extent of evidence collected, but stricter conditions than those of the detention suspension will be imposed," the court said.

Under the court's decision, Han is prohibited from contacting anyone outside a limited group that includes medical staff, legal counsel and mobility assistants.

Han is accused of conspiring with Yoon Young-ho, the former head of the Unification Church's world headquarters, and others to deliver 100 million won in political funds to then-People Power Party lawmaker Kwon Sung-dong in January 2022, requesting government support for the Unification Church from the Yoon administration.

She also faces charges of passing an expensive necklace and a Chanel bag to first lady Kim Keon Hee through a Buddhist monk known as "Geonjin Beopsa," whose secular name is Jeon Seong-bae, around July of that year while lobbying on church matters, as well as charges of splitting roughly 100 million won in church funds into smaller donations to People Power Party lawmakers and others in March of the same year. The first trial found her guilty on all counts and sentenced her to two years in prison in August.

Han's legal team maintains she is innocent, arguing that the alleged acts were committed unilaterally by former headquarters chief Yoon without her knowledge or direction. Han is the wife of Moon Sun-myung, the late founder of the Unification Church.