Behind the Surge in Korea’s Africa ODA: A ‘New Africa’ Request from the Unification Church
It was revealed that in March 2022, a senior executive of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (commonly known as the Unification Church) privately met with Yoon Suk-yeol, then President-elect, and requested that South Korea expand its overseas development assistance (ODA) to Africa. Evidence obtained by Newstapa and Dunia confirms that this request was later reflected in both the Yoon administration’s National Policy Implementation Plan and in the Foreign Ministry’s ODA budget in 2024.
This marks the first concrete material evidence suggesting that under the Yoon administration, a religion may have intervened in national policy — a potential case of unprecedented religion–state collusion in South Korean history.
The Unification Church’s Expansion into Africa: The “New Africa” Vision
In 2018, the Unification Church held a summit in Senegal, gathering political leaders from across African nations — marking the beginning of its full-scale push to expand influence on the continent. Since then, Unification Church leader Hak Ja Han Moon and Yoon Young-ho, then head of the church’s World Headquarters, have traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, Tanzania, South Africa, and Zambia, building networks among political elites across Africa.
Why did the Unification Church target Africa? And why did African leaders attend its events?
The special prosecutor’s indictment against Hak Ja Han summarizes it as follows:
As another means to establish the foundation for the Heavenly Unified World, the defendant Hak Ja Han sought to secure the support of African nations and politicians through financial assistance, in order to establish a continent governed in accordance with her will — a so-called ‘New Africa.’
In essence, the Unification Church sought to build political support in Africa through monetary means, aiming to control the continent in alignment with its doctrine — a project internally referred to as the “New Africa Initiative.”
Financial disclosures of Unification Church–affiliated organizations show that the group indeed poured substantial funds into Africa through the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) — an affiliated organization founded by Moon Sun-myung. Between 2017 and 2023, a total of USD 7.66 million (approximately KRW 10.7 billion) was funneled into the region.
Private Meeting Between Yoon Young-ho and Yoon Suk-yeol:
“Please Support the New Africa Initiative with Korea’s ODA Funds”
Yoon Suk-yeol was elected President on March 9, 2022. Ten days later, on March 22, Yoon Young-ho — then the Unification Church’s second-in-command — met privately and alone with President-elect Yoon for about an hour.
According to the special prosecutor, the Unification Church used this meeting to present what was effectively a “settlement bill” to Yoon — demanding repayment for the organization’s alleged support during the presidential election.
On May 22, 2022, Yoon Young-ho later spoke before Unification Church members and said:
Couldn’t we build a bridge between the African Union and Korea? On March 22, I met the President. We spoke for an hour — about many things. I testified about our True Mother (Hak Ja Han Moon). For the entire hour, we discussed the Korean Peninsula Summit and the direction this nation should take. And I gained implicit consent for something.
Among the key requests made at this meeting, according to internal church records, was the following:
Do you know what the first proposal was? To officially institutionalize a parliamentary and interfaith alliance within the African Union — so that their resolutions can be legislated in each country. We should then hold an African Union General Assembly. And as for the funding needed for this event — we won’t use our own money. We’ll use ODA funds. That’s what we’re now working on.
If this request was later implemented by the government, it would constitute a direct intervention by a religious organization in state policy — an extraordinary case of religion–state entanglement.
Africa ODA Budget under Yoon Administration: From KRW 1.1 Billion to KRW 6.5 Billion — a Sixfold Surge
Newstapa and Dunia obtained a copy of the National Policy Implementation Plan, drafted around April 2022 — roughly one month after the Yoon–Yoon meeting.
The document explicitly includes the line: “Expand ODA to Africa.”
Further evidence confirms that this policy commitment was indeed carried out.
According to internal documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the Yoon administration, the ODA contribution to the African Union’s Peace and Security Activities skyrocketed:
- 2022 (the year of the private meeting): ₩1.1 billion
- 2023: ₩1.29 billion
- 2024: ₩6.5 billion
—a sixfold increase in just two years.
No Other Plausible Explanation for the ODA Surge
Newstapa and Dunia contacted a policy advisor who served on Yoon’s presidential campaign foreign policy team, to ask whether ODA expansion to Africa had been discussed independently of the Unification Church’s influence.
Dunia reporter Seul-ki Lee: “Was the campaign already discussing plans to increase ODA to Africa before this happened?”
Foreign Policy Advisor, Yoon Suk-yeol Presidential Campaign: “Not really. It wasn’t something that came up as a priority or specific regional focus at the campaign level.”
In summary:
- The Yoon campaign had no prior plan to expand ODA to Africa.
- After the Yoon Young-ho–Yoon Suk-yeol private meeting, the commitment suddenly appeared in the government’s official policy plan.
- Subsequently, the African Union ODA budget increased nearly sixfold.
These developments raise serious suspicions that the Unification Church influenced state policy through its private contact with Yoon Suk-yeol.
Unification Church’s Response
The Unification Church stated that “the allegations raised around Africa ODA are not true,” adding that “we will faithfully clarify the matter in court.”
Reporting Seulki Lee - skidolma@thedunia.org
