Japan: Unification Church promises reforms after heavy criticism

The Unification Church in Japan, also nicknamed the "

", pledged on Thursday (September 21st) to prevent its followers from making "

" donations after strong criticism of these practices in connection with the assassination of the former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The latter, who had left power in 2020, was shot dead on July 8 during an election rally in Nara (western Japan).

The alleged assassin, Tetsuya Yamagami, resented the Unification Church because his mother would have made large donations to this religious group until they led their family to ruin.

The suspect also believed that Abe was close to the cult.

Read also Assassination of Shinzo Abe: what is the Moon sect?

The Unification Church has denied any wrongdoing and disavowed Abe's assassination, but one of its leaders, Hideyuki Teshigawara, assured on Thursday that the Church would now "

.

The Church “

” in matters of donations, Mr. Teshigawara, who heads a commission in charge of reforming the organization, told the press.

She says she took steps to regulate donations as early as 2009, but will now strengthen them.

The announcement came after a wave of accusations against Unification Church practices, including from former members who claim they were pressured into making large donations under the guise of “

.”

The mother of the man accused of killing Abe has donated about 100 million yen (about $1 million) to the Church, according to an uncle of the suspect.

The National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales in Japan says it has filed lawsuits seeking 123.7 billion yen ($860 million) in damages for former followers since 1987. But the church says four Only civil lawsuits have been filed since 2009 and they have all been settled for a total of 38 million yen.

Links between the PLD and the Moon sect

The pledges announced on Thursday are unlikely to dispel controversies around the Unification Church, especially after its links to nearly half of parliamentarians from the ruling nationalist right-wing Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) were revealed. to which Shinzo Abe also belonged.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who has seen his government's approval ratings plummet because of the affair, promised his party would cut all ties with the Church.

But he faces other criticism linked to the national funeral planned for Abe on September 27, with polls showing that more than half of Japanese people oppose the national tribute.