The team investigating former first lady Kim Keon-hee is making a third attempt to raid the headquarters of the main opposition People Power Party(PPP) as it investigates whether the Unification Church attempted to influence the results of a candidate nomination in 2023.

Legal sources said Thursday that investigators had presented a warrant for the seizure of documents pertaining to allegations that a large number of Unification Church members joined the party in March 2023 in an attempt to swing an upcoming vote for the party's chief towards Rep. Kweon Seong-dong.

A special counsel source said the team hoped the PPP would cooperate with the investigation and submit the requested documents voluntarily.

The team suspects that the former first lady asked the Church's then-second-in-command, identified by his surname, Yun, through the shaman Jeon Seong-bae in November 2022 to have Church members join the PPP and vote in favor of Kweon at a party convention four months later.

Around that time, Yun texted Jeon to ask which candidate then-President Yoon Suk Yeol was supporting as the new party chief and how many Church members would need to join to secure Kweon's win.

After Kweon eventually declared that he would not seek party leadership, prosecutors say the Unification Church shifted its support to PPP Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon.

The team made two previous attempts to search the PPP's headquarters in August, both of which failed due to strong opposition from the party. 

Floor leader Song Eon-seog asked party representatives to gather on the first floor of the building to protect the party's membership list from seizure during the most recent attempt..