u/JesusisLord86

Lee Man-hee (95), the president of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus Testimony Tabernacle, who was arrested and indicted on charges of enrolling tens of thousands of believers into the People Power Party, will be temporarily released again. This is not a release from the arrest itself, but a decision by the court to suspend the execution of the arrest for a certain period.

https://www.munhwa.com/article/11619050

The whole article is in the link above. They don't mention why he was released again, at least as far as I understand. I heard it is for 2 weeks from someone.

This is a video, originally in Korean, but auto dubbed in English.

https://youtu.be/TxFgIa44auo?si=6l2_X8S0_OlNB2JA

https://en.sedaily.com/society/2026/09/03/court-extends-release-of-shincheonji-leader-lee-man-hee-to

A court has extended until the 11th the suspension of detention for Lee Man-hee, the head of the Shincheonji religious group, who was indicted and detained on charges of forcing followers to join the People Power Party.

The 27th criminal division of the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Judge Woo In-sung, granted Lee's request to extend the suspension, legal sources said on the 3rd. The suspension, which had been set to expire at 6 p.m. on the 4th, now runs until 6 p.m. on the 11th.

Suspension of detention allows a defendant to be temporarily released when the court recognizes an urgent reason, such as serious illness, childbirth or attendance at a family funeral. Lee's side filed for the suspension on the 25th of last month, citing health problems, and the court approved it on the 31st of the same month.

The court also held a hearing to review the need for his release after Lee's side applied for bail on the 21st of last month on health grounds. No decision has been made on whether to grant it.

Lee is accused of forcing followers to join the People Power Party between 2021 and 2024 with the aim of influencing the party's presidential and general election primaries. A joint police-prosecution investigation headquarters on church-state collusion believes Shincheonji encouraged followers to join the party through initiatives such as a "Pilates Project" run by each of its branches. He has also been indicted on charges of evading about 7.57 billion won in corporate and value-added taxes between 2016 and 2020, including by concealing profit-making operations through running shop counters at Shincheonji branch churches under followers' names.

https://www.chosun.com/english/national-en/2026/07/13/JVMT6CDUNRETXICPJI5ET5NEWA/

SEOUL, July 8 (Yonhap) -- Investigators on Wednesday questioned a close aide to Lee Man-hee, the founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, over allegations that Lee lobbied political circles, legal sources said.

A joint police-prosecution task force called in Kim Pyung-hwa earlier in the day to determine whether Lee and the religious sect's former secretary-general, Go Dong-an, embezzled church funds and lobbied politicians.

https://m-en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20260708005300315?section=national/politics

SEOUL, July 7 (Yonhap) -- A trial for Lee Man-hee, the founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a nonmainstream religious sect, will begin later this month on charges that he had forced followers to join the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) ahead of elections, legal sources said Tuesday.

The Seoul Central District Court has scheduled the trial's first hearing for July 24, according to the sources.

Lee is charged with forcing at least 56,472 church members to join the PPP between July 2021 and January 2024 in an attempt to influence the outcome of the party's 2022 presidential primary and 2024 general election primaries.

A joint police-prosecution task force indicted Lee under physical detention on June 29, first applying charges regarding the forced memberships in July 2021, as the five-year statute of limitations was drawing near.

https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20260707007600315

This is a translated article so there is a mistake in the headline, it should read "Went" not "Goed" There are many videos from JTBC news in Korean about this that you can listen to that are dubbed in English as well.

https://news.jtbc.co.kr/article/NB12306296

[Anchor]

Shincheonji Chairman Lee Man-hee is currently incarcerated at the Seoul Detention Center. Shincheonji argues that he should be released, citing reasons such as his advanced age. JTBC investigated what happened inside the detention center when Lee Man-hee was arrested in 2020. A prison guard meticulously recorded Lee's detention status and delivered the records to the Shincheonji leadership outside. That guard was a member of Shincheonji. "He went to the restroom twice during the night," "He slept wearing a black short-sleeved shirt today." From the moment he woke up in the morning until he fell asleep at night, Lee Man-hee's every move was recorded in the report.

First, here is an exclusive report by reporter Lee Ja-yeon.

[Reporter]

Shincheonji recently filed for a review of the legality of detention, arguing that Chairman Lee Man-hee is 95 years old and there is no risk of him destroying evidence or fleeing.

The court did not accept the argument.

This is Mr. Lee's second imprisonment.

He was previously detained in 2020 on charges of obstructing COVID-19 quarantine efforts.

JTBC obtained the contents of a report that was delivered to the Shincheonji leadership during the period he was in solitary confinement at Suwon Detention Center.

This is a top-secret report from Shincheonji that even the Correctional Headquarters was unaware of. It details

the whereabouts of "Teacher," or Lee Man-hee, dated September 22. It contains

detailed accounts of his every move, such as, "He usually sleeps wearing only underwear, but today he slept wearing a black short-sleeved T-shirt," and "He spread strawberry jam on the bread served for breakfast, made it into a sandwich, and ate for about 50 minutes."

The author of the report was a correctional officer who is a Shincheonji follower.

[Mr. A / Former Shincheonji Key Executive: He had been continuously reporting on his movements while inside the Suwon Detention Center.]

He lists a time-based daily routine that would be impossible to know without directly watching the CCTV footage of his solitary cell, ranging from going to bed at 9 PM to waking up at 6:10 AM and the morning check

at 6:30 AM. It even includes details such as going to the bathroom twice during the night, including for 10 minutes at 5:30 PM.

The reporting team confirmed with a former executive that the correctional officer in question was a member of the Jeonju Branch.

[Mr. B / Former High-ranking Shincheonji Executive: I understand that the young correctional officer kept sending it to Branch Leader Lee OO (Jeonju Branch Leader) every evening. In the form of a diary.]

The 12 regional branch leaders gathered at the Shincheonji headquarters in Gwacheon approximately once every one to two weeks for meetings.

[Mr. B / Former Senior Shincheonji Official: He took that document, came to where the branch leaders were, and read it out and explained that the General President's health condition was like this today.]

The Jeonju branch leader at the time is still in office and recently underwent questioning as a witness by the Joint

Investigation Headquarters. [Video Editing: Park Su-min, Video Design: Lee Jeong-hoe]

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/southkorea/law-crime/20260629/investigators-indict-shincheonji-sect-leader-over-forced-ppp-memberships Over the past few hours news outlets in South Korea have been reporting this.

https://biz.chosun.com/en/en-society/2026/06/28/53VGIY5FHFCOPMHPWS4QLC3FH4/

Funny, you would think since he always has an accurate prophecy that he would have been able to predict that they would reject his request. Once again they will say this was predicted by him. No matter what happens he predicted after the outcome of course, lol.