SEOUL - A warrant was issued to detain Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja on bribery charges involving Kim Keon-hee, wife of the impeached former President Yoon Suk-yeol, a special counsel team said Tuesday.

The Seoul Central District Court issued the warrant, sought by the team of Min Joong-ki, special prosecutor leading the investigation into corruption allegations linked to the former first lady.

The court said that Han was feared to destroy evidence. The 83-year-old was jailed in the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, south of the capital Seoul.

READ MORE: South Korea's former first lady imprisoned after court issues warrant

Han was accused of colluding with a former church official to deliver illegal political funds in January 2022 to Kweon Seong-dong, a lawmaker of the main conservative opposition People Power Party (PPP) who was put into custody last week.

In return, Han allegedly asked for favors for the church if Yoon, then presidential candidate of the People Power Party, won the election in March of that year.

Han was suspected of her involvement in bribing Yoon's wife with a luxury necklace and bags in exchange for favors, embezzling the church's money to buy the gifts, and ordering the church official to destroy evidence ahead of the police probe into her alleged overseas gambling.

Yoon has been kept in custody at the Seoul Detention Center since July 10 on insurrection charges over his short-lived martial law imposition last December.

READ MORE: S. Korea's counsel indicts wife of ex-President Yoon on corruption charges

Yoon's wife has also been incarcerated in a separate detention center on corruption charges.