Japanese Prime Minister orders investigation into controversial Unification Church

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has ordered an investigation into the Unification Church amid a growing scandal tying his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to the controversial religious group.

Kishida announced the probe during a parliamentary session on Monday and said it would be carried out using “the right to ask questions” provision of the Religious Corporations Act.

As of September 30, Kishida said a telephone hotline established earlier that month had received more than 1,700 consultation requests regarding the church.

The government “has seriously taken into account the many victims, the poverty and broken families that have not been provided with adequate help,” he said. He added it was difficult to say when the probe would end.

The government will convene a meeting next week to examine the conditions for the inquiry, the first established under “the right to ask questions.”

The Unification Church, formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, rose to prominence in the late 1950s and had become a global organization by the 1980s. It continues to make international headlines for its mass weddings, in which thousands of young couples tie the knot at the same time, with some brides and grooms meeting each other for the first time on their wedding day.

The church, which is still prominent in parts of Asia, has come under heightened global scrutiny since former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated in central Japan in July.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported at the time that the suspect had targeted the former prime minister because he believed Abe’s grandfather – another former leader of the country – had helped the expansion of a religious group he held a grudge against.

Agencies