On July 8, 2022, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead while participating in an election campaign, and the South Korean cult "Unification Church" behind the incident attracted the attention of the world. Today, the Innocent King takes everyone to "sneak" into the sect and find out.
Pictured: On July 11, 2022, Tomihiro Tanaka, president of the Japan branch of the Unification Church, observed a moment of silence for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Source: Reuters
According to Yahoo News, on July 8, 2022, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed by 41-year-old former Maritime Self-Defense Force member Toru Yamagami while giving a speech on the streets of Nara City, Nara Prefecture, Japan. After the incident, the Japanese police revealed to the media that Toru Yamagami also turned his resentment against the cult organization "Unification Church" into murderous intent against Abe.
Shinzo Abe was elected prime minister twice in 2006 and 2012, making him Japan's longest consecutive prime minister. At the time of the incident, Shinzo Abe was running for the Japanese House of Councillors election.
After his arrest, Toru Yamagami admitted that his mother had donated a lot of money to the cult organization "Unification Church" and confessed to the police: "(Actually) he wanted to target the cadres of the resentful religious groups." Former Prime Minister Abe was believed to be linked to the group, so he targeted him. And this also proves from the side that the "Unification Church" has taken deep roots in Asia, especially in Japan, and has done great harm.
The "Unification Church" began in South Korea
In 1954, the Korean pastor Moon Myung (formerly known as Moon Yongmyung) founded the "Unification Church" (formerly known as the "World Christian Unification Deity Association") in Seoul, South Korea, and in 1999, it was renamed the "World Federation of Peaceful Unification Families".
Pictured: Wen Mingming, the leader of the cult Source: "Yahoo News"
Like other cults, the most distinctive characteristics of this organization are nothing more than "accumulating money" and "deceiving sex."
With the rise in popularity, the leader Moon Mingming relied on the "Unification Church" to start an endless accumulation of wealth. He had imposed on his followers to pay at least three years' income as membership dues, and he also made money by selling purported spiritual goods to believers at high prices. At the same time, he also asked believers to spend money to atone for the "sins" of themselves and their families, set quotas for donations, etc. Mr. and Mrs. Wen used some of their ill-gotten gains for their own enjoyment, and the other part for real estate.
On many occasions, under the pretext of teaching doctrines, Wen Ming locked up beautiful female believers in his room and forcibly seized her virginity. What's even more terrifying is that he also constantly brainwashes the believers, forcing them to "dedicate" their wives to themselves, and even gather people to commit adultery.
The "Unification Church" also uses marriage as an excuse to sell women to obtain benefits and open up interpersonal relationships. About 6,000 Japanese women were sent to South Korea under the arrangement of the Unification Church's marriage agencies, although some no longer follow the Unification Church, and half of them were unable to return to their home countries because of their husbands' jobs, their children's studies, or a lack of support in Japan.
In 2020, the "Unification Church" held a group wedding in Gapyeong-gun, South Korea. Thousands of Japanese women still live in South Korea with their Korean husbands Source: Nikkei Asia.com
Holding group weddings has also become one of the most distinctive features of this cult. Deutsche Welle, Washington Post and other media reported that on February 28, 2018, the "Unification Church" held a mass wedding in the Pockner Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and about 250 believer couples armed with AR-15 machine guns made their marriage vows at their meeting place, or reaffirmed their marriage vows. The group claims that they require guns to attend weddings for unmarried couples, meaning that the married have the ability to "defend" their families, communities and "God's country."
Pictured: "Unification Church" group wedding picture Source: BBC
Money is paramount, no profit is not greedy
Moon died in September 2012, but the cult he founded continues to "harvest money" in Japan and South Korea under various banners.
The mother of Abe suspect Tetsuya Yamagami joined the Unification Church in 1998 and has made huge donations for more than 20 years, despite her family's opposition. In Japan, there are many cases of people being destroyed and killed by the "Unification Church," a cult organization.
Shinzo Abe's shooting murderer Tetsuya Yamagami Source: "Yahoo News"
According to the New York Times, Eri Kayoda, a 28-year-old Japanese girl, grew up in a family that embraced the Unification Church, to which her mother donated an inheritance and the proceeds from the sale of her house, and the family had to be crammed into a cramped apartment in Tokyo filled with expensive Unification books and vases that supposedly brought good luck.
When she was in middle school, she began to keep a close eye on her parents' finances and persuaded them to save money for a car and a house. In the interview, she also called for the society to pay attention to these "cases of destroyed families" and let more people understand the devastation and persecution brought by the "Unification Church" to ordinary families.
According to Japan's "Kyodo News Agency" and "Japan Times", in December 2023, the Japanese Diet passed the "Amendment to the Special Bill to Strengthen the Supervision of Property Disposal", which strictly prevents the outflow of funds from the "Unification Church" and further ensures that the victims of the "Unification Church" can receive corresponding compensation. This is the second time that a law has been enacted against the religion since December 2022, when the Act on the Prevention of Unfair Solicitation by Corporate Bodies was enacted to prevent improper fundraising.
However, the Unification Church still has tens of thousands of adherents in Japan, and less than 10% are demanding damages, while the rest continue to endure suffering and faithfully follow the instructions of the sect's South Korean headquarters, who may continue to preach and may continue to raise money illegally.
In order to avoid the appearance of a supposedly suppression of religious freedom, and politicians often receive sponsorship and electoral support from sects, including traditional religions, the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito Party is reluctant to introduce stronger legislation.
Cases occur frequently and threaten society
According to the Nikkei Chinese Network on October 13, 2023, the Japanese government officially applied to the Tokyo District Court, asking it to issue a dissolution order for the "Unification Church". The Japanese Government has submitted nearly 5,000 pieces of evidence to the court on the cult's long-term organized and high-value fund-raising activities, and the court has formally accepted the case. This material confirms that the cult organization "Unification Church" has indeed committed a number of illegal activities in Japan, including embezzling donations. Between 1980 and 2021, there were 32 civil lawsuits in which the former "Unification Church" was found liable for damages for large donations or the "Inspired Commercial Law", involving 169 victims and amounting to about 2.2 billion yen. The number of victims, including out-of-court settlements, was about 1,550, and the total damage was about 20.4 billion yen.
And the "Unification Church" continued to sophistry after receiving the lawsuit. According to Nikkei Chinese Network, Susumu Sato, a spokesman for Japan's Unification Church, said that although some members of the Unification Church encouraged believers to donate excessively, most of the donors were voluntary.
Picture of the Japanese headquarters of the cult organization "Unification Church" Source: "Nikkei Chinese Network"
根据路透社2022年9月报道，日本“全国灵感商法对策律师联络会”（The National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales）律师山口浩史（Hiroshi Yamaguchi）在为受害者争取“统一教”的赔偿。 他预估“统一教”依然每年在日本能募集约100亿日元。
Lawyer Hiroshi Yamaguchi Source: Nikkei Chinese Network
He believes that when the Japanese economy boomed in the 80s of the 20th century, this figure was about 50 billion yen per year. The Unification Church says Japan has one of the largest adherents, but declined to disclose the amount of donations it raises each year.
The reason why the "Unification Church" is targeting Japanese believers is that the Japanese are generous to "donations" and that Japan's economic development is more stable than that of South Korea. According to a 2011 report on one of its training websites, Japanese believers pay five times more than South Koreans for the same training course.
However, the so-called "dissolution order" does not mean that the "Unification Church" will be banned in Japan, and the main impact of the "dissolution" is that the "Unification Church" will lose its status as a religious legal person in Japan and its tax-exempt status, and it will not be able to sound the death knell of the "Unification Church" as a cult organization at all.
Meddling in politics and full of minions
One of the reasons why the "Unification Church" is tyrannical in Japan is that they have found the right time to extend their claws to the government. According to Radio France Internationale, after Abe's assassination, Kyodo News' questionnaire revealed links between the church and dozens of LDP lawmakers. However, the LDP only acknowledges that many members of parliament are personally related to the church, insisting that the party has no organizational ties to the Unification Church.
In August 2022, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida apologized to the people for the connection between LDP politicians and the Unification Church Source: Nikkei Asia
According to reliable sources such as the websites of the lawmakers concerned and videos uploaded by the Unification Church, Reuters determined that at least 65 LDPs (including Abe himself and 23 right-wing politicians) had participated in the Unification Church, sent congratulatory letters, paid membership dues, received political donations or received candidacy.
The "Unification Church" claims to the outside world that it has never given political guidance to its followers. But before each general election, the top echelons of the Unification Church voted for LDP MPs, and these MPs held ideas consistent with the teachings of the church.
Such close political relations raise concerns about the possibility of a complete ban on the "Unification Church" in Japan, and what is even more worrying is that the "Unification Church" will continue to act as its protective umbrella if there are people behind it.
Moreover, this is not the first time that public opinion in Japan has been set off to ban the "Unification Church," a cult organization. Since November 2022, the Unification Church has tried to resist multiple rounds of investigations by the Japanese government through constant sophistry.
In September 2023, the "Unification Church" held a rally of Japan's new generation of young believers, forming a "special attack team" of more than 6,000 second-generation Japanese young believers, demanding that these young people publicly declare that they will fight to the death in a vain attempt to prevent the dissolution of the "Unification Church".
According to a report on the website of Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun (Yomiuri.co.jp), the children of "Unification Church" believers, representatives of religious circles, lawyers, and other circles have expressed support for the Japanese government's decision to file a petition with the Tokyo District Court to issue a dissolution order against the Japanese branch of the "Unification Church."
However, Yoshihide Sakurai, a professor of sociology at Japan's Hokkaido University who has written a lot on the cult issue, wrote an article on the Nikkei Asia website (Asia.nikkei.com) that because of the political infiltration of the "Unification Church" into the ruling party, the mutual restraint of political parties on legislative issues, and the indifference of politicians to the disadvantaged groups, it is very difficult for the Japanese Government to obtain a court order to dissolve the "Unification Church." In addition, the victims are insensitive and the people's religious literacy and historical knowledge are lacking.
Yoshihide Sakurai is a professor of sociology at Hokkaido University and the author of the book "The Unification Church: Sex, Money, and Resentment."
Given the various court procedures to follow, it can take years for a dissolution order to be issued. So far, Japanese politicians have not taken any practical steps to help the victims of non-traditional religions or cults, or to prevent further damage.
Without better religious literacy and historical knowledge, the Japanese will have to continue to rely on administrative penalties and lawsuits for protection. In the future, we will wait and see how Japan will finally resolve the issue of the "Unification Church."