Does Yoon Suk Yeol's alleged mentor, the YouTuber and spiritual leader Cheon Gong, have 17 criminal convictions that have never been investigated thanks to his political connections? No, that's not true. There is no evidence to suggest that Cheon has 17 convictions.
The claim appeared in a TikTok video (archived here) published by@thp832911pm on March 7, 2024. The caption in Korean reads, (as translated from Korean to English by Lead Stories staff):
Yoon Suk Yeol's mentor, Cheon Gong, has 17 criminal convictions.
It's never been investigated because it's not false.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Mar 14 15:02:14 2024 UTC)
Cheon has been suspected of intervening (archived here) in President Yoon's government state affairs. This included when Yoon was running as a presidential candidate and appeared with the Chinese character "king" (archived here), considered a talisman, written on his palms during his speech. President Yoon stated a local resident (archived here) had written this character during the debate, but the episode sparked controversy, with his opponents accusing him of promoting ritualistic beliefs and relying on the advice of a soothsayer (archived here).
Cheon Gong is considered a central figure in the controversy (archived here) over budget cuts ordered by the president in October 2023, allegedly after the influence of Yoon's and First Lady Kim Gun Hee's "advisor." The accusation in the video is that Cheon's 17 criminal convictions have never been investigated due to Cheon's alleged relationship with the president as a mentor. News Tomato (archived here) also reported Cheon's 17 criminal convictions have never been confirmed.
However, the President's Office announced they would file a complaint (archived here) for defamation against reporters who published articles and lawmakers who raised suspicions about Cheon's alleged involvement in the government. According to The Korea Herald (archived here), it was the first time Yoon sought criminal charges against journalists since he took office. Former Justice Party lawmaker Kim Jong Dae was investigated twice (archived here) for questioning Cheon's involvement in the relocation of the President's Office (archived here) to Yongsan.
Cheon is mainly active as a YouTuber from South Korea, but much of his history cannot be cross-verified (archived here) as there is no documentation of his life online.
President Yoon admitted (archived here) that someone his wife knew introduced them to Cheon. Likewise, Cheon claimed Yoon's wife Kim initially contacted him (archived here), but he was not a mentor to Yoon.
A Google search (archived here) conducted by Lead Stories Staff on March 21, 2024, using the following keywords, "Yoon Suk Yeol," "Cheon Gong," "Convicted," and "17 crimes," showed no evidence that Cheon had 17 convictions.
