Ex-staffer details how Unification Church backed an LDP candidate
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A former staff member at a ruling Liberal Democratic Party candidate’s office detailed how the former Unification Church, now known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, gave its organized support to the candidate.
The former staffer of the Fukuoka office of Upper House lawmaker Tsuneo Kitamura consented to an interview with The Asahi Shimbun after he read the Asahi’s coverage of the church’s ties to the LDP.
The man detailed how a group connected to the Unification Church apparently provided a staff member to work in his office and how Kitamura gave speeches at its affiliated churches during an election campaign.
The Asahi Shimbun reported that in 2013, then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with the leaders of the Unification Church and its related religious groups at the party’s headquarters.
At the meeting, it was agreed that the religious groups would support the LDP candidates in the proportional representation section of the Upper House election.
The subsequent efforts that the religious groups made in supporting the LDP’s elections has come to light from the man’s story.
Content retrieved from: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15456404.