<figure id="attachment_440791" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-440791" style="width: 1840px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="55f89485"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/10/1b35dd91c7b79b07050eb7df99e3dca7.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-440791" class="wp-caption-text">President Han, aka Mother Moon, was arrested less than a week after responding to a fourth request and turning himself in on September 17. &#8230;&#8230;</figcaption></figure>
<h3><span class="strongInContent"> A dispute erupted within the Order over the &#8220;successor.</span></h3>
<p> The news of his arrest sent shock waves through the cult in the early morning of September 23. It is not widely known that shortly thereafter, a visitor paid a visit to Han Hak-ja, 82, president of the former Unification Church (Family Federation for World Peace and Unification), who was imprisoned in a cell about 2.5 square meters in the Seoul Detention Center in South Korea. What is happening now to the church, which is facing an unprecedented crisis with the arrest of its supreme leader?</p>
<p> President Han is suspected of providing Kim Keon-hee, 53, the wife of former President Yun Seong-yeol, 64, with a luxury necklace and Chanel bag from the British company Graf, and of ordering the provision of funds to a member of the largest opposition party in 2010. President Han denies the charges, but there is no denying the possibility of prolonged detention if he is indicted. In the absence of a top leader, attention is focused on his successor.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Dear Seung-Joon Cheon-Ai-Shuk and representatives of the Federation of Korean Industries, Inc.</span></p>
<p> I have in my possession a document with this title. It is a letter of resignation from the head of the mission headquarters, stating, &#8220;I wish to resign from my position. The &#8220;Heavenly Love Celebration Seungji&#8221; is a title given to the two sons of President Han&#8217;s eldest son, who is now deceased.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> At a ceremony held in April of this year, President Han&#8217;s grandsons, brothers Moon Shin-chul and Moon Shin-hoon, were introduced as his de facto successors. In August, three organizations, the World Mission Headquarters, the Central Administrative Agency, and the Future Talent Training Institute, were inaugurated as the highest decision-making bodies of the Order.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> However, the three institutes were headed by the protégé of the former secretary general, Chung Won-joo, who was the number two in the organization. I believe that Chung was trying to influence the management of the Order from the detention center, even if he was imprisoned himself.</span></p>
<p> This is what an insider with knowledge of the cult told us. Jung, along with President Han, was interviewed by the Special Prosecutor&#8217;s Office. However, they escaped arrest for reasons such as insufficient evidence.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Jung has formed a large legal team of prominent lawyers. He himself escaped detention, which led to criticism from within the Order that &#8216;the guilt was forced on President Han&#8217; and that it was &#8216;a coup d&#8217;etat. On the day of President Han&#8217;s arrest, the heads of the Order in Korea issued a statement calling for Jung to apologize and resign, and for the current leadership to resign in general.</span></p>
<p> (Ibid.) The current leadership refers, of course, to the leaders of the three institutes, including Jung. In other words, a battle was being waged behind the scenes between the &#8220;Jung faction&#8221; and &#8220;President Han&#8217;s blood relatives and old senior officials.</p>
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<p> After President Han&#8217;s arrest, it was his own daughters who showed up at the jail&#8217;s visiting room, as described in the beginning of this report.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The wives of the three daughters and the second son (deceased) were visiting him on that day. They reported that the head of the World Mission Headquarters had prematurely yielded to criticism within the organization and was planning to resign his position, but President Han objected, saying, &#8216;I will not accept a resignation (without permission).</span></p>
<p> At the urging of President Han, the head of the World Missions Headquarters quickly withdrew his resignation the following day. The head of the World Mission Headquarters, who had been Chung&#8217;s confidant, once again pledged his allegiance to President Han.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The upper echelons of the Order are in a quandary...What is the impact on the Japanese Order?"></div>
<h3><span class="strongInContent">He asked the Japanese believers to make a donation.&#8221;</span></h3>
<p> The day after the meeting with the three women, another visitor showed up at the Seoul Detention Center.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The wife of the eldest son came to visit him with one of the grandchildren of his successor,&#8221; another source said.</span></p>
<p> The details of this meeting have not been leaked, but the fact that the Moon family has been visiting the detention center in such a hurry since his arrest is indicative of the confusion within the cult over his successor.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Jung, exposed to criticism, is now said to have left the cult&#8217;s holy city of Cheongpyeong and is hiding out in an apartment in Seoul. The coup d&#8217;etat by the number two seems to be ending in failure.</span></p>
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<p> For the time being, the wife of the eldest son, his two grandchildren, and the wife of the second son will be running the cult, according to those involved in the cult. So what kind of people are they? Kenichiro Ishii, a freelance writer who has covered the former Unification Church for many years, says, &#8220;The eldest son, who was a rock musician, was a member of the church.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The first son was a rock musician who remarried his current wife in 1999 and died in 2008. His second son also died in 1984, but his wife later received a &#8220;spirit world blessing&#8221; (marriage to the deceased) and married him. Incidentally, the wife of his grandson, Wen Xin Xing, who is considered to be his successor, is Japanese and the daughter of a former head minister of the Hachioji Church.</span></p>
<p> The confusion in the upper echelons of the Church will naturally have an impact on the Japanese Church as well. In March, the Tokyo District Court issued an order for the dissolution of the cult. The case is currently before the Tokyo High Court. In October, Tetsuya Yamagami will go on trial.</p>
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<p> The decline in the number of believers is also unstoppable. Between the shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and January of this year, more than 10,000 people left the cult, and the official number of followers has fallen below 100,000. Some of them have already lost faith in the cult, although they have not yet left, and there is a good possibility that the cult will weaken even further. Mr. Ishii is wary of the situation.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I am concerned that the wife of the eldest son and his grandchildren, who are the executives, will demand more donations from Japanese believers, claiming that it is the weakness of their faith that causes the persecution of the church.</span></p>
<p> The Japanese believers will be the ones to suffer the consequences of the confusion in the upper echelons. Such an absurdity should not be allowed.</p>
<figure id="attachment_440792" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-440792" style="width: 2439px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="0655a6b8"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/10/d9cdbec9179aaaef35df30dc9576c886.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-440792" class="wp-caption-text"> Located at the top is the &#8220;Cheon Jeong Gung Museum&#8221; where President Han is said to reside. It is said to be quiet now that it has lost its owner.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_440793" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-440793" style="width: 1514px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="acc4e864"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/10/c97f5e403f1fc155a1eee0c873e3aa35.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-440793" class="wp-caption-text"> President Tomihiro Tanaka participated in a demonstration in Osaka on September 28. He said, &#8220;The arrest of the president will not affect the hearing on the dissolution order.&#8221;</figcaption></figure>
<p> From the October 17, 2025 issue of FRIDAY</p>


 Hironori Jinno (nonfiction writer)

 Kyodo News (1st photo) Afro (2nd photo) Takeo Yuzoku (3rd photo)

 It was in the early morning of September 23rd that shock was felt within the cult following the news of the arrest of Han Hak-kja, the president of the former Unification Church (Family Federation for World Peace and Unification). What is happening to the cult now? We followed the movement inside the cult.

 ″Coup d'état″ failed, power struggle between the cult's number two and "Mother Moon's relatives", and acceleration of the separation of believers: ......

Concerns about asking Japanese believers to donate money&#8230;.former Unification Church &#8220;President Han Hakko&#8221; arrested ″What is going to happen in Japan from now on″.

Concerns about asking Japanese believers to donate money….former Unification Church “President Han Hakko” arrested ″What is going to happen in Japan from now on″.

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