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Yomiuri Shimbun file photo The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification
The Yomiuri Shimbun
11:29 JST, October 18, 2024
The Liberal Democratic Party said it will continue working to thoroughly sever its ties with the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, formerly known as the Unification Church, while opposition parties called for the establishment of a third-party organization to monitor the church’s relationship with Diet members, both in response to a questionnaire from the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales.
The lawyers’ network had sent the survey to the eight major political parties regarding their relationships with the former Unification Church and other issues in order to provide a reference for voters ahead of the Oct. 27 House of Representatives election. The network said it received responses from all eight parties.
According to their responses announced Wednesday, the LDP said it had revised its governance code after inspecting the relationship between its Diet members and the religious organization. Reflecting its policy of having no relationship with the former Unification Church, the party said it will continue to thoroughly adhere to the code in its political activities.
Ruling coalition partner Komeito said that, based on a special measures law enacted in December last year, it will strengthen its support for victims and that any involvement with groups with a socially problematic nature should be severed.
The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan called for the establishment of a third-party organization to look into the group’s relationship with Diet members, arguing, “suspicions still remain that the former Unification Church established relations with politicians or political parties and obtained policy decisions that they wanted.”
The Japan Innovation Party said it will seek the amendment of the law as necessary since it will be important to prevent the group’s assets from being concealed or dispersed if a court order to dissolve the group is issued based on a request from the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry.
The Japanese Communist Party stated that it aims to, among other things, found a system to do things like canceling donations on behalf of followers under the supervision of the family court system.
The Democratic Party for the People stated that it will “work to resolve the problems of the former Unification Church that have been neglected by politics,” while the Social Democratic Party called for the establishment of an independent investigative committee since “the collusion between the former Unification Church and the LDP has had a significant impact on the nation’s politics.”
The Reiwa Shinsengumi party also stated that an investigation should be conducted into the details of how the former Unification Church has influenced the LDP-led government through methods such as election support.
The full text of the eight parties’ responses is available in Japanese on the website of the lawyers’ network.
