Jul 25 (Japan Today) - The Unification Church's links to Japanese lawmakers has emerged as a major political issue ahead of an extraordinary parliamentary session in the fall, following the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with opposition parties moving to probe such ties including within their own ranks.
Abe's assailant has said he held a grudge against the religious group because large donations his mother had made to it ruined his family, and he thought Abe was linked to the group, according to investigative sources.
The veteran lawmaker had sent a video message to a related group's gathering held in September, and the suspect said he watched it on the internet, the sources said.
The assassination of Japan's longest-serving prime minister has shed a fresh light on the church's involvement in politics, decades after the group founded by a staunch anti-communist, widely known for its mass weddings, drew scrutiny over its so-called spiritual sales, in which people were talked into buying jars and other items for exorbitant prices.
Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, also founded the International Federation for Victory over Communism, a political group, in Japan in 1968.
Many Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers are said to have connections with the church. It remains to be seen, however, what, if anything, the ruling party intends to do about the matter. ...continue reading
