Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is likely to change his cabinet on Wednesday. This is because hi...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is likely to change his cabinet on Wednesday. This is because his party's ties to the Unification Church have hurt public support since the death of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last month.
According to his social media posts and news reports, the man who is thought to have killed Abe had a grudge against the church. He said it put his mother in debt and blamed Abe for promoting it.
Since then, about a dozen more members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have said they have ties to the church, which some people call a cult.
The suspect's mother was a member of the church, which has been confirmed by the church. It says that since Abe was killed, the group has been called names and its members have been threatened with death.
Here are some problems with the church.
WHAT'S THE SITUATION?
Sun Myung Moon, an anti-communist who called himself the messiah, started the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, also known as the Unification Church, in South Korea in 1954.
Japan was one of the first places it went when it started to spread around the world. There, Moon's conservative views were in line with those of the ruling elite during the Cold War.
Church publications say that in the 1960s, he started a group called the International Federation for Victory Over Communism. He did this to build relationships with Japanese politicians.
WHAT IS THE LDP?
Eito Suzuki, a journalist who studies the relationships between lawmakers and religious groups, said that the church and the LDP agree on some things. For example, both oppose same-sex marriage and want to change Japan's pacifist constitution.
Hiro Yamaguchi, a lawyer who has worked on cases against the church, said that it made connections with politicians to get more people to join and to make itself seem more legitimate. He said that politicians were able to talk to church members to get help with their campaigns.
Toshimitsu Motegi, Secretary General of the LDP, has said that the party did not have "systematic ties" with the church. He said on Monday that it would break ties with the church.
WHAT ABOUT ABE?
Abe was neither a member of the church nor an advisor, the church said. According to the website for a church group, he gave a speech at an event held by the group last September.
Nobuo Kishi, Abe's younger brother and the current minister of defense, told reporters that church members had helped his campaign.
The International Federation for Victory Over Communism said on its website that Abe's grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, was an honorary executive chair at a banquet held by Moon in 1974.
FALL-OUT?
At 46%, support for Kishida's cabinet is at its lowest level since he took office in October, said NHK, a public broadcaster. Many poll respondents said they wanted to know more about the church ties.
Kishida, who has said he has "no ties" to the church, said that new cabinet members and new leaders of the ruling party must "thoroughly review" their relationships with the church.
BIG IN JAPAN?
Ahn Ho-yeul, a spokesperson based in Seoul, says that the church has about 600,000 followers in Japan, out of a total of 10 million around the world. This makes Japan the church's fourth-largest congregation, but some groups in Japan question this number.
Former followers say that recruitment methods include knocking on doors, going after members' relatives, and talking to people outside of train stations.
A spokesperson said that Japan has been its biggest source of income for decades, in part because they trade religious items for donations.
A group of lawyers says that since 1987, these so-called spiritual sales by the Unification Church and other groups have cost their followers nearly $1 billion and led to about 35,000 compensation claims.
After an investigation found that some church members were using illegal sales tactics, the church promised not to ask for too many donations.
According to his social media posts and news stories, the person suspected of killing Abe said that the church got his mother to give up about 100 million yen ($736,000).
After what happened, the church said it had given the mother about $400,000 back. It said it didn't force her or wouldn't say anything about the total amount.
