Must Read News Updates from Korea You May Have Not Heard Before

Just weeks before South Korea’s 20th presidential election, former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence met with then-candidate Yoon Suk-yeol in Seoul—a meeting now revealed to have been brokered and funded by the Unification Church.

According to an investigation by Newstapa, the church paid Pence $550,000 (about 700 million Korean won) to attend its “World Summit 2022 for Peace on the Korean Peninsula,” held on February 13, 2022. That same day, Pence met with Yoon at the Lotte Signiel Hotel in Jamsil, Seoul, where the summit took place.

At the time, Pence’s visit and his meeting with Yoon were widely reported by South Korean media as a high-profile diplomatic engagement. The meeting was held just hours after Yoon officially registered his candidacy and was viewed as a strategic move to appeal to conservative voters. Reports emphasized their discussions on the U.S.-Korea alliance and North Korea, and highlighted the fact that the two began their meeting with a prayer—an apparent nod to Pence’s and Yoon’s shared Christian beliefs.

But what most reports omitted was the fact that Pence was in Korea as a guest of the Unification Church and that a church-affiliated interpreter was present during the meeting.

A Carefully Orchestrated Encounter

The event that brought Pence to Korea was the World Summit 2022, co-chaired by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Pence gave a keynote speech, while the opening address was delivered by Yoon Young-ho, the church’s former world headquarters director. Yoon is now under investigation for allegedly delivering bribes to First Lady Kim Keon-hee through a shamanic figure known as Jeon Seong-bae (“Geonjin Beopsa”).

The summit served as a backdrop for Pence’s meeting with Yoon, which was attended by key members of Yoon’s campaign, including Park Jin (later Foreign Minister), Cho Tae-yong (later National Intelligence Service Director), and Kim Sung-han (later National Security Advisor). An associate of Yoon Young-ho served as interpreter.

Though the timing of the summit and the high-profile meeting might seem coincidental, financial records suggest otherwise.

Unusual Payment Raises Questions

Newstapa obtained documents Pence filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) in June 2023, after declaring his presidential candidacy. The filings show that Pence received $550,000 from the “Universal Peace Federation”—a Unification Church affiliate—for his February 13 speech in Seoul.

That figure is well above Pence’s average speaking fee of around $120,000. In fact, most of his paid appearances reported in the same filing were in that range. The unusually high fee suggests that Pence’s appearance may have served more than just ceremonial or inspirational purposes—raising questions about the church’s political motivations.

Cambodia Connection Draws Further Scrutiny

The story doesn’t end in 2022. Later that year, now-President Yoon and First Lady Kim Keon-hee visited Cambodia and met with Prime Minister Hun Sen, the same summit co-chair. In 2024, Hun Sen’s son and successor, Prime Minister Hun Manet, visited Seoul, where Kim made a rare public appearance at a state luncheon.

The special counsel investigating Kim Keon-hee is now looking into whether the Unification Church lobbied her using large sums of money in connection with Cambodia’s Mekong River development projects. In June 2022, the Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance more than doubled its economic cooperation fund for Cambodia—from $700 million to $1.5 billion.

On July 22, the special counsel summoned Yoon Young-ho for questioning over allegations that he delivered money and lobbying requests to Kim Keon-hee via shaman Jeon Seong-bae.

A Pattern Emerges

The revelations raise serious questions about the intersection of religious influence, foreign policy, and presidential politics in South Korea. The paid visit of a former U.S. vice president, a summit staged by a controversial religious group, and the strategic timing of a candidate’s meeting with that VIP—all wrapped in coordinated media coverage—paint a picture of calculated orchestration rather than chance.

As investigations continue, the ties among the Unification Church, the Korean presidency, and foreign players like Cambodia appear to form a complex web that could have far-reaching implications.