South Korea’s Unification Church said Monday it was baffled by reports that the man suspected of killing former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was motivated by anger against the group.
The head of the Japanese branch of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, often known as the Munites, confirmed that the mother of the suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, was a member of the church.
But branch president Tomihiro Tanaka declined to comment on suggestions that large donations from Yamagami’s mother had put the family under severe financial stress, and said gifts to the church from members were voluntary.
For decades, the Moon’s close ties to influential figures in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party have been a little-discussed open secret in Japanese politics.
But Abe’s death and the suspect’s alleged family problems with the group have shed light on the relationship as the nation searches for answers to one of the worst incidents of political violence since World War II.
Tanaka told a press conference to which only leading Japanese media were invited that Yamagami’s mother had been a member of the church since about 1998 and attended its events until two months ago. The 41-year-old suspect himself was not affiliated with the church.
Local police said Yamagami told investigators he had a dislike for a “particular group” with which he believed Abe had a close relationship. Police have not named the group, but a person familiar with the investigation said it involved the Unification Church.
Japanese media widely reported that Yamagami, a former member of the National Maritime Self-Defense Force, said his mother made large donations to the group, which ruined their household’s finances. Yamagami’s mother could not be reached for comment.
Tanaka declined to comment on the mother’s donations, but said the church did not force people to donate against their will. He said Yamagami’s mother was believed to have gone bankrupt in 2002.
“We find it confusing and difficult to understand why resentment against the church would lead to the assassination of former Prime Minister Abe,” Tanaka said at the news conference, which was broadcast live.
He said that if asked, the group would cooperate with police to uncover Yamagami’s exact motive.
Originally known as the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, the Unification Church was founded in 1954 in the South Korean port city of Busan.
Its founder, the excommunicated Presbyterian priest Moon Soon-myung, claimed that he was commissioned by God to complete the unfinished work of Jesus Christ on earth.
Tetsuya Yamagami, the suspect in the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is escorted by police officers © Kyodo/Reuters
Widely derided as a cult, the Unification Church spread westward in the late 1950s and grew aggressively throughout the world in the 1990s. Its Japanese branch was opened in 1959 and has 600,000 members.
Although not members, Abe and his late grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, also a former Japanese prime minister, were publicly known as supporters of the church.
Yamagami is also reported to believe that Kishi played a role in establishing the church in Japan. “Mr. Kishi was the one who brought the group that destroyed my family, so I targeted his grandson,” Japanese media quoted him as telling investigators. Representatives of the local police declined to comment.
Jeffrey J. Hall, an expert on nationalist activism at Kanda University of International Studies, said the Unification Church has been involved in conservative politics in Japan since the era of Abe’s grandfather.
“This group has been one of the foundations of LDP campaigns since the Cold War, when the church was a reliable ally against communism,” Hall said. “They worked with the Kishi faction of the LDP, which later became the Abe faction.”
The church denied that it provided financial donations to the LDP. But Hall said Japan’s strict political campaign laws, which make it difficult to connect with voters, mean non-monetary ties are also valuable.
“Having religious groups that can provide a very reliable pool of voters that will definitely show up on election day, will definitely vote for your party, can provide volunteers for your campaign, is important,” he said.
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In September last year, Abe appeared at an event organized by the widow of Unification Church founder Moon. The event also features former US President Donald Trump as a keynote speaker. “I am honored to be given this opportunity to speak with my close friend President Trump, who is also a driving force for world peace,” Abe said in the five-minute speech.
The National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Selling, which represents people forced to make donations or buy “spiritual goods” such as personal seals and vases from religious groups, protested Abe’s appearance last year. The network claimed the church had “caused serious damage to many citizens in Japan, breaking up families and destroying lives.”
According to the lawyers, the damages sought by the people they represent from the church have totaled more than 123 billion yen ($894 million) over the past 30 years. In one case, a family donated ¥2 billion to the group.
Japan’s then-chairman of the Unification Church resigned in 2009 after some of its leaders were accused of illegal door-to-door sales of spiritual goods. Hiroshi Yamaguchi, one of the lawyers representing the victims, said: “The Moon’s followers still have strict donation quotas.”
Tanaka said the church has stepped up compliance measures since the late 2000s and denied setting quotas on member donations. The group also said it had not been involved in police cases since 2009.
Kimiaki Nishida, an expert on cult psychology at Risho University, said the Japanese establishment and media have long turned a blind eye to the Moon’s political ties. “This is not a religious group, but a money-hungry cult. But nobody broached the subject,” he said.
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