EXPLAINER: The Unification Church’s ties to Japan’s politics

TOKYO (AP) — The assassination of previous Japanese Primary Minister Shinzo Abe has unearthed lengthy-suspected, very little-talked-of backlinks in between him and a religious team that began in South Korea but has distribute its influence all-around the earth.

Police and Japanese media have prompt that the alleged attacker, Tetsuya Yamagami, who was arrested on the location, was furious about Abe’s noted ties to the Unification Church, which has pursued relationships with politically conservative groups and leaders in the United States, Japan and Europe. The suspect reportedly was upset due to the fact his mother’s large donations to the church bankrupted the spouse and children.

Several Japanese have been stunned as revelations emerged this 7 days of the ties in between the church and Japan’s top leaders, which have their roots in shared anti-communism efforts throughout the Cold War. Analysts say it could direct folks to take a look at more carefully how powerfully the ruling party’s conservative worldviews have steered the procedures of modern day Japan.

A seem at the church and its deep ties to Japan’s governing bash and Abe’s very own family:

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What is THE UNIFICATION CHURCH?

The church was started in Seoul in 1954, a 12 months after the close of the Korean War, by the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the self-proclaimed messiah who preached new interpretations of the Bible and conservative, family-oriented worth units.

The church championed anti-communism and the unification of the Korean Peninsula, which has been split between the totalitarian North and democratic South.

The church is most likely greatest known for mass weddings wherever it paired off couples, generally from various nations, and renewed the vows of people now married, at large, open areas these types of as stadiums and gymnasiums. The group is stated to have a world wide membership of tens of millions, which includes hundreds of 1000’s in Japan.

The church confronted accusations in the 1970s and ’80s of employing devious recruitment methods and brainwashing adherents into turning more than huge parts of their salaries to Moon. The church has denied these types of allegations, declaring quite a few new religious actions confronted very similar accusations in their early decades.

In Japan, the group has confronted lawsuits for offering “spiritual merchandise” that allegedly triggered associates to invest in highly-priced art and jewellery or sell their authentic estate to raise donations for the church.

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What is THE CHURCH’S Backlink TO Planet LEADERS?

All through his daily life, Moon worked to completely transform his church into a throughout the world religious movement and broaden its business enterprise and charitable activities. Moon was convicted of tax evasion in 1982 and served a jail term in New York. He died in 2012.

The church has produced relations with conservative planet leaders including U.S. presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and a lot more not too long ago Donald Trump.

Moon also had ties with North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung, the late grandfather of recent ruler Kim Jong Un.

Moon explained in his autobiography that he asked Kim to give up his nuclear ambitions, and that Kim responded that his atomic method was for peaceful needs and he had no intention to use it to “kill (Korean) compatriots.”

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WHAT WAS ABE’S Url TO THE CHURCH?

Abe was acknowledged for his arch-conservative views on security and background issues and also was backed by strong lobbies these as the Nippon Kaigi. He appeared in situations structured by church affiliate marketers, like one in September 2021.

In a online video demonstrated on a large display at the conference of church-similar Universal Peace Federation, or UPF, Abe praised its operate towards peace on the Korean Peninsula and the group’s focus on family members values. An emphasis on regular, paternalistic loved ones devices was a person of Abe’s crucial positions.

“I enjoy UPF’s aim on family values,” he claimed in the movie. “Let’s be mindful of so-referred to as social groundbreaking movements with slender-minded values.”

Reviews of his look in the 2021 event drew criticisms from the Japanese Communist Social gathering and cult watchers, including a group of lawyers who have watched the Unification Church pursuits and supported its alleged victims.

In a news conference Monday following the church’s link to Abe’s assassination was unveiled, the church’s chief in Japan, Tomohiro Tanaka, reported Abe supported UPF’s peace movement but that he was not a member.

Law enforcement nonetheless have not publicly discovered the group cited by the suspect, presumably to stay clear of inciting violence.

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WHAT DOES IT Mean FOR JAPAN’S GOVERNING Bash?

The ties in between the church and Japan’s governing get together go back again to Abe’s grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, who served as key minister and shared worries with Washington in excess of the spread of communism in Japan in the 1960s as labor union activists gained strength.

Kishi, who was arrested as a war felony but never ever charged, was recognised for his right-wing political views, and the Unification Church’s anti-communist stance matched his views of Japan’s countrywide passions, specialists say.

Kishi’s close connection with the church was publicly recognised. The church headquarters at just one place was housed in a making subsequent to Kishi’s Tokyo residence, and he was seen with Moon in shots taken at the church and posted in group publications. Media reviews say the suspect thought that Kishi brought the church to Japan.

“Japanese leaders at the time noticed the church as a instrument to endorse anti-communist sights in Japan,” claimed Masaki Kito, a law firm and qualified on spiritual businesses. For the group, showcasing close ties with prominent politicians was a way to get endorsement for its exercise.

Ties between church-affiliated businesses and Liberal Democratic Occasion lawmakers designed in excess of many years considering the fact that the church expanded, providing solid political guidance and votes for the governing bash, authorities say, even though the team denied it.

A survey of 128 lawmakers obtained from police and revealed in the Weekly Gendai journal in 1999 showed most attended activities organized by the Unification Church’s anti-communism affiliate, the Intercontinental Federation for Victory More than Communism, also funded by Moon, and additional than 20 LDP lawmakers experienced at least a single church member in their places of work as a volunteer.

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WHAT IS Getting Stated BY THE CHURCH AND ITS CRITICS?

The church denied any favorable cure by Kishi when it opened a Japan department. Tanaka reported Abe supported present-day chief Hak Ja Han Moon’s peace movement, but denied any motion of money among the group and the LDP.

The church mentioned Monday it had no documents exhibiting that Yamagami was a member. The church mentioned it had experienced no direct relationship with Abe, while it interacted with other lawmakers as a result of an affiliated business.

Customers of the National Community of Legal professionals Versus Spiritual Sales, who watch the church, say they have continuously questioned Abe and other LDP lawmakers to quit showing at or sending messages to the activities organized by the Unification Church or affiliate marketers whilst disregarding the prolonged-standing church-related problems.

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WHAT DOES IT Necessarily mean FOR THE Occasion?

“The assassination is shedding a mild on the Unification Church,” said Koichi Nakano, an international politics professor at Sophia College in Tokyo. “The church’s marriage with the LDP’s right-wing factions and its ultra-right-wing procedures could arrive under close scrutiny,” and guide to a reevaluation of Abe’s legacy.

It could lead to revelations of how the party’s views have distorted postwar Japanese society, while stalling progress of gender equality and sexual range concerns, Nakano mentioned.

Takuya Tasso, the governor of Iwate in northern Japan, explained Friday that as a former bureaucrat and national lawmaker he knew about the LDP’s backlinks to the church and he stated its alleged affect on voting and governing administration insurance policies really should be comprehensively investigated.

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Related Press writer Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed.