The Unification Church of South Korea 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 Federation of Families for World Peace and Unification, often known as the Moonies, confirmed that the mother of the suspect Tetsuya Yamagami was a member of the church.
But the branch’s president, Tomihiro Tanaka, declined to comment on suggestions that Yamagami’s mother’s large donations had put the family under great financial stress and said the gifts to the members’ church were voluntary.
For decades, the close ties between the Moonies and the powerful figures of the Liberal Democratic Party government have been an openly undisputed secret in Japanese politics.
But Abe’s death and the suspect’s alleged family problems with the group have highlighted the relationship as the nation seeks answers to one of its worst incidents of political violence since World War II.
Tanaka said at a press conference, to which only major Japanese media were invited, that Yamagami’s mother had been a member of the church since 1998 and had attended its events until two months ago. The same 41-year-old suspect was not affiliated with the church.
Local police said Yamagami told investigators he harbored resentment against “a particular group” with whom he believed Abe had a close relationship. Police have not named the group, but someone familiar with the investigation said it was referring to the Unification Church.
Japanese media have widely reported that Yamagami, a former member of the country’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, said his mother had made large donations to the group, which disrupted the finances of his home. 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 make donations against their will. He said he believed Yamagami ‘s mother went 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 told the press conference, which was broadcast live.
He said that if asked, the group would cooperate with the police to find out Yamagami’s precise motive.
Originally known as the Association of the Holy Spirit for the Unification of World Christianity, the Unification Church was founded in 1954 in the port city of Busan in South Korea.
Its founder, the excommunicated Presbyterian minister Moon Sun-myung, claimed to have been 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 ridiculed as a cult, the Unification Church spread to the west in the late 1950s and aggressively expanded around the world during the 1990s. Its Japanese branch opened in year 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 also believed that Kishi played a role in the establishment of the church in Japan. “It was Mr. Kishi who led the group that destroyed my family, so I targeted his grandson,” Japanese media reports quoted the investigators as saying. Local police officers declined to comment.
Jeffrey J Hall, an expert on nationalist activism at Kanda University of International Studies, said the Unification Church had been involved in conservative politics in Japan since Abe’s grandfather’s time.
“This group has been one of the cornerstones of the LDP’s campaigns since that time of the Cold War when the church was a reliable ally against communism,” Hall said. “They worked with the LDP’s Kishi faction, which later became the Abe faction.”
The church has denied making financial donations to the LDP. But Hall said strict laws on the political campaign in Japan that make it difficult to connect with voters meant non-monetary ties were also valuable.
“Having religious groups that can provide a very reliable group of voters who will definitely run on election day, who will definitely vote for your party, can offer volunteers for your campaign, it’s important,” he said.
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In September last year, Abe appeared at an event hosted by the widow of Unification Church founder Moon. The event also featured former U.S. President Donald Trump as keynote speaker. “I am honored to have this opportunity to speak with my close friend, President Trump, who has also been an engine of world peace,” Abe said in the five-minute speech.
The National Network of Spiritual Sales Lawyers, which represents people forced to make donations or buy “spiritual goods” such as personal stamps and vases from religious groups, protested Abe’s appearance last year. The network alleged that the church “caused serious damage to many Japanese citizens, family breakdown and destruction of lives.”
According to lawyers, the damages claimed by people representing the church amount to more than 123 billion yen ($ 894 million) over the past 30 years. In one case, a single family donated 2 billion yen to the group.
The then president of Japan of the Unification Church resigned in 2009 after some of its executives were accused of illegal door-to-door sales of spiritual goods. Hiroshi Yamaguchi, one of the lawyers representing the victims, said, “Moonies fans still have strict quotas for donations.”
Tanaka said the church had tightened compliance measures since the late 2000s and denied allocating donation quotas to members. The group also said it had not been involved in police cases since 2009.
Kimiaki Nishida, an expert in cult psychology at Rissho University, said the establishment and the Japanese media have long been turning a blind eye to political ties with Moonies. “This is not a religious group but a cult that is hungry for money. But no one touched on the issue, ”he said.