[Editorial] All the former president’s shamans

Jeon Seong-bae, a shaman who goes by the name “Geonjin,” attends a trial on accepting illegal political funds in 2018. (Yonhap)

Prosecutors claim that Jeon Seong-bae, 64, a shaman who goes by the name “Geonjin,” received a diamond necklace from a high-ranking Unification Church official who intended it to be “a gift for first lady Kim Keon-hee.” 

Alleged to have had a shadowy shamanic influence over former President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife, Jeon faces suspicion of involvement in a number of other matters, including requesting election nominations and various other appointments since the 2022 presidential election. These new revelations come mere months after the explosive Myung Tae-kyun scandal. Why was the former president surrounded by so many individuals connected to shamanism and fraud?

A team investigating virtual asset crimes at Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office learned that in 2022, Jeon received a diamond necklace as a gift for Kim Keon-hee from a Unification Church official surnamed Yoon. Jeon claims he did not give the necklace to Kim, offering the hard-to-believe explanation that he “lost it.” 

In May of that year, Yoon claimed at a Unification Church event that he had “met with the president [-elect] for one hour on March 22.” There is ongoing suspicion over whether Jeon received bribes in return for arranging meetings with the president or favors in relation to Unification Church projects, as well as where such bribes ended up.

Prosecutors discovered piles of cash amounting to 165 million won along with hundreds of business cards of prominent politicians, corporate executives, judicial offices and police chiefs at Jeon’s private home and temple. Jeon’s so-called “monk phone” is alleged to contain evidence that after the 2022 election, he made personnel requests to pro-Yoon Suk-yeol lawmakers, including Yoon Han-hong, and contacted these lawmakers again in June to recommend candidates for mayor, governor and provincial assembly members in local elections. Two of the four recommended individuals were nominated and elected. Yoon Han-hong has denied any involvement, stating , “I was not in a position to grant any requests for election nominations or personnel appointments.”

It is difficult to see Jeon’s actions in any other context than his relationship with the former president and first lady. Jeon’s name was listed as an adviser of the “networking headquarters,” an organization under Yoon Suk-yeol’s campaign headquarters during the 2022 election. Footage has recently come out of Jeon wrapping his arms around Yoon Suk-yeol, flaunting his apparent closeness with the then-candidate for president. Moreover, Jeon acted as an adviser to Covana Contents, the exhibition company that Kim Keon-hee once ran. Call records also show that he spoke over the phone with Kim’s mother, Choi Eun-sun, 10 times between September and December of last year. 

No doubt, many Koreans can still recall the voices of Yoon Suk-yeol and Kim Keon-hee on phone calls with political broker Myung Tae-kyun that showed that they had used him to interfere in the 2022 by-election nomination process. These new revelations could be the next big scandal. 

Investigators must uncover exactly what kinds of deals were going down between Jeon, the former president and first lady, and former ruling camp figures. 

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