Calls grow for Japan’s Kishida to fire minister as Unification Church saga weighs on potential election
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Kishida is under growing pressure to fire Masahito Moriyama, the minister of education and culture, after it was confirmed that he received support from a group affiliated with the Unification Church during the 2021 election for the House of Representatives. Moriyama’s ministry has jurisdiction over religious organisations.
Moriyama compounded the problem of the church’s influence on Japanese politics – which many in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) believed had largely been dealt with last year – by claiming in testimony before the Diet on January 7 that he had not received support from the group, which has come under fire for allegedly pressuring followers to make huge donations.
Content retrieved from: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3251735/calls-grow-japans-kishida-fire-minister-unification-church-saga-weighs-potential-election.
