President Lee Jae Myung ordered a strict and impartial investigation into allegations that the Unification Church provided illicit financial support to political figures from both ends of the aisle.

The presidential office said on Wednesday that Lee had requested an investigation of individuals suspected of colluding with the religious group regardless of their party affiliation or rank.

The church's former second-in-command, Yun Young-ho, testified in court last week that he had contacted both the main opposition People Power Party and the ruling Democratic Party ahead of the 2022 presidential race.

Claiming the church had closer ties with the Democratic Party between 2017 and 2021, Yun said he'd reached out to four current members of Lee's Cabinet before the church-led World Summit 2022, and that two of them ended up visiting church leader Han Hak-ja.

Yun told a special counsel team investigating former first lady Kim Keon-hee that he'd given two luxury watches and 40 million won, or around 27-thousand U.S. dollars, in cash to Oceans Minister and DP Rep. Chun Jae-soo. Chun has since denied the allegations.

The special team, which has focused its probe on the church's alleged ties to the People Power Party before and after the 2022 race that elected Yoon Suk Yeol, referred the allegations concerning the DP to the National Office of Investigation on Tuesday.