Leaked emails dating back to 2017 have linked several prominent Nepalese politicians to the controversial Korean Unification Church.
The Korean Centre for Investigative Report (NewsTapa) was able to obtain documents that revealed connections between senior Korean Unification Church officials and several Nepali politicians.
Titled the “True Mothers Report”, the documents mentioned former prime ministers KP Sharma Oli, Madhav Kumar Nepal, and Baburam Bhattarai.
It named Nepal Family Party founder Ek Nath Dhakal, along with his long-time ally, the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), currently headed by Oli, as one of the key connections linking the Church to Nepali officials.
The report prompted allegations of foreign influence in Nepali political circles.
Election funding
Dhakal, a long-time ally of the CPN (UML), reportedly sought hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Church to back election campaigns and support key leaders.
One email cited in the investigation requested US$500,000 for the 2017 federal elections, with an additional US$20,000 per month for party operations and the 2022 polls, a report by investigative journalism network Dunia revealed.
The money would be used for election expenses as well as “maintenance costs for the Nepal Family Party,” Dhakal wrote in the email.
Dhakal’s messages also referenced former prime ministers Nepal, Oli, and Bhattarai.
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Ambition to penetrate Nepali politics
Dhakal has previously served as a proportional representation member of Parliament and held ministerial roles in the Bhattarai and Oli governments.
In 2018, he hosted the Asia-Pacific Summit in Kathmandu, presided over by Unification Church leader Hak Ja Han, attracting high-profile delegates including Aung San Suu Kyi and Hun Sen.
According to the emails, the Church intends to present its Cheon Il Guk vision – a spiritual framework that upholds the Church’s values of family-centred governance and world unity – to Nepali politicians as part of its strategy to increase its influence.
Earlier this year, the Korean Unification Church was embroiled in a scandal on allegations that it had bribed former South Korean first lady Kim Keon Hee with luxury gifts amounting to KRW80 million (about US$57,900).
Elan Castanares 
Newsjustnews writers 
Shameeka Voyiya