Tokyo
CNN
—
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has ordered an investigation into the Unification Church amid a rising scandal tying his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to the controversial spiritual group.
Kishida introduced the probe throughout a parliamentary session on Monday and stated it could be carried out utilizing “the right to ask questions” provision of the Religious Corporations Act.
As of September 30, Kishida stated a phone hotline established earlier that month had acquired greater than 1,700 session requests concerning the church.
The authorities “has seriously taken into account the many victims, the poverty and broken families that have not been provided with adequate help,” he stated. He added it was tough to say when the probe would finish.
The authorities will convene a gathering subsequent week to look at the circumstances for the inquiry, the primary established underneath “the right to ask questions.”
The Unification Church, formally referred to as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, rose to prominence within the late Fifties, and had develop into a world group by the Nineteen Eighties. It continues to make worldwide headlines for its mass weddings, during which hundreds of younger {couples} tie the knot on the identical time, with some brides and grooms assembly one another for the primary time on their wedding ceremony day.
The church, which remains to be distinguished in elements of Asia, has come underneath heightened international scrutiny since former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated in central Japan in July.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported on the time that the suspect had focused the previous prime minister as a result of he believed Abe’s grandfather – one other former chief of the nation – had helped the growth of a non secular group he held a grudge towards.
CNN has not been capable of independently affirm what group Yamagami was referring to, or any hyperlinks between Abe and any group the suspect harbored hatred in direction of.
But the Unification Church spoke out within the aftermath, saying the suspect’s mom had been a member who attended its occasions about as soon as a month. A spokesperson stated he had discovered the suspect’s mom was having monetary difficulties round 2002, however added: “We don’t know what the causes were or how they affected the family circumstances.”
The suspect himself was by no means a member of the church, stated the spokesperson.
The church stated it had acquired a message of assist from Abe at an occasion it organized, however that the previous prime minister was not a registered church member, nor did he sit on its advisory board. It added it was puzzled by experiences of alleged resentment held towards the group by the suspect, and that it could “cooperate fully” with police.
But public suspicion towards the group – and a backlash over its fundraising practices – proceed to rise after an investigation in August by Japan’s ruling LDP discovered greater than half of its lawmakers had ties with the church.
Several high-ranking officers, together with former protection minister Nobuo Kishi, stated that they had acquired assist in previous elections from church members.
Kishida has purged these officers and apologized for his or her reported hyperlinks to the church, pledging to chop his social gathering’s ties to the group.
Depending on the end result of the upcoming investigation and a court docket judgment, the Unification Church may lose its standing as a non secular company and subsequent tax advantages, NHK reported on Monday. The group, nevertheless, may nonetheless function as an entity.