People Power Party floor leader Song Eon-seog is seen at his party's headquarters in western Seoul as special prosecutors raid the building on Thursday. (Yonhap)
People Power Party floor leader Song Eon-seog is seen at his party's headquarters in western Seoul as special prosecutors raid the building on Thursday. (Yonhap)

A special counsel raided the main opposition People Power Party's headquarters Thursday after a more than seven-hour standoff with party members who refused to hand over evidence in a probe involving former first lady Kim Keon Hee.

Special counsel Min Joong-ki's team executed the search warrant following failed attempts to enter the PPP office in western Seoul to secure the party's membership list.

Min's team is investigating allegations that Unification Church members joined the PPP en masse ahead of the party's leadership race in 2023 to influence the results in favor of Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, who was once seen as a key confidant of former President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The team suspects that Kim, Yoon's wife, made the request to a former Unification Church official through a shaman acquaintance in November 2022. Kweon ultimately dropped out of the race.

The special counsel had asked the PPP to voluntarily submit the evidence, but moved to enforce the search after party members refused to cooperate and blocked its entry into the headquarters.

PPP spokesperson Park Sung-hoon objected to the raid seeking to confiscate "the entire membership of 5 million PPP members."

"They are demanding all personal information, including account details, not only for new members but for existing ones as well," Park said.

The team seeks to secure the PPP roster to compare it with the Unification Church's membership list to confirm the allegations about the mass sign-ups.

It tried to search the PPP's headquarters on Aug. 13 and 18 but failed due to opposition from party members, who argue that the team is attempting to seize large-scale personal data. (Yonhap)