LDP to Continue Severing Ties with Unification Church; Survey of Political Parties Produces Calls for Investigations, Victim Assistance
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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.”
Content retrieved from: https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/politics-government/20241018-217179/.
