Story on the Unification Church in South Korea for Libération, France | Tim Franco

As part of a story for Libération, together with Arthur Laffargue, Tim Franco visited the Unification Church’s stronghold in Gapyeong — an out-of-place palace, a giant church, a Heaven Burger joint, and a dedicated shopping mall filled with portraits of the sect’s founders.

This is the heart of the “Moonies” empire at a moment of reckoning: Han Hak-ja, widow of founder Sun Myung Moon, has been arrested on charges including bribery and embezzlement — allegedly tied to payments aimed at the circle of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, through his wife Kim Keon Hee and a close lawmaker. The scale of the church’s footprint here shows how faith, business, and political ambition can fuse — and how visibly that power still shapes everyday life in this valley.

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