(Tokyo) Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday ordered a government investigation into the Unification Church, a religious group that has come under increased scrutiny since the July assassination of the former Japanese leader Shinzo Abe.
Updated at 12:19 a.m.
The alleged assassin of Mr. Abe, Tetsuya Yamagami, had a grudge against this organization nicknamed “Moon Sect”, to which his mother would have made very large donations, leading their family to ruin. The suspect also believed that the former prime minister was close to the sect.
The group has denied any wrongdoing, but many former members have publicly criticized the practices of the Moon sect, which is accused of imposing donation targets on its followers, and revelations about its ties to prominent political figures in Japan. contributed to lowering the popularity rating of Fumio Kishida’s government.
Addressing Parliament on Monday, the Prime Minister pointed to “many victims” of this Church and related groups, who ended up in poverty or facing serious family problems.
“Efforts to help them are still insufficient,” he said, so “the government will exercise its right to investigate the (Unification) Church under the Organizations Act. nuns”.
The government also wants to revise some laws to make it easier to cancel contracts, and will “strengthen initiatives to prevent child abuse and help the children of followers in their education and employment,” Kishida said.
Local media reported that the investigation announced Monday would seek to determine whether the Unification Church has harmed the public welfare or committed acts inconsistent with its status as a religious group.
The investigation could result in a dissolution order under the Religious Organizations Act, which would cause the Moon sect to lose this status, as well as its exemption from taxes, but it could continue to operate.
According to Japanese media, only two religious groups in Japan have ever been targeted by such an order, one of which is the Aum Shinrikyo sect, which carried out the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995.
However, the Japanese government would hesitate to resort to such a measure, for fear of undermining freedom of worship.