(LEAD) DP leader makes public apology over Shincheonji claim amid backlash from lawmakers

Yonhap News Agency · Yi Wonju · 2026-11-06 05:07 UTC

SEOUL, Nov. 6 (Yonhap) -- Ruling Democratic Party (DP) leader Kim Min-seok issue...

(ATTN: ADDS info on access to investigation findings in last 3 paras)

SEOUL, Nov. 6 (Yonhap) -- Ruling Democratic Party (DP) leader Kim Min-seok issued a public apology Friday over allegations he had raised that members of a religious sect had joined the party en masse to influence the party's leadership race.

The renewed apology came after Kim apologized at a closed-door meeting earlier this week, acknowledging that an internal party investigation had found no evidence to support his earlier claim that followers of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a nonmainstream religious sect, had colluded with party lawmakers to join the DP to sway the outcome of the Aug. 17 leadership election.

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