Anchor: President Lee Jae Myung has again targeted the Unification Church, telling his Cabinet that entities violating the law and Constitution should be dismantled. During a Cabinet meeting, Lee asked Minister of Government Legislation Cho Won-cheol whether he had reviewed ways to dissolve religious groups that meddle in politics and engage in strange activities through illegal financing.
Kim Bum-soo has more.
 
Report: The minister of government legislation was cautious after President Lee Jae Myung brought up the issue of dismantling the Unification Church again at a Cabinet meeting.

Lee pressed the minister without naming names, asking if his legal reviews had found proper grounds to dissolve (QUOTE) “a religious group,” which he said had “intervened in politics and was involved in strange activities using illicit funds.”

The minister indicated that disbanding a religious group would require explicit confirmation that the group was involved in organizational wrongdoing. The president said that groups violating the Constitution and the law of the land must be dissolved.
 
During a Cabinet meeting last week, Lee had asked officials to look into a religious entity that had violated the separation of church and state and mentioned a similar case in Japan. In March, a Tokyo court ordered the dissolution of the Unification Church.

Lee's remarks came as a special prosecution team investigates whether the now-ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol colluded with the controversial organization.

But the ruling Democratic Party is also not free of suspicion. A former Unification Church second-in-command recently said in court that he'd communicated with both the main opposition and the ruling camp before the 2022 presidential election.

PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok said on Facebook on Tuesday that by mentioning the need to dissolve religious groups that violate the Constitution, President Lee Jae Myung had warned the Unification Church not to say another word about the government and the party.

Jang said the president had threatened to eradicate the Unification Church if it said more about ties to the ruling camp.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.