Report: Former Unification Church helped 290 LDP candidates’ election campaigns
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A major South Korean newspaper has reported that the religious group previously known as the Unification Church helped at least 290 candidates fielded by Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party during the Lower House election in October 2021.
Hankyoreh said it obtained in-house documents compiled by the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, formerly called the Unification Church. Through these documents, it quoted the former head of the group in Japan in its report.
The newspaper said the former head reported to the group’s leader Han Hak-ja about the results of the election.
Hankyoreh also said the former head met then-Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo ahead of Japan’s Upper House election in July 2019, and expressed his group’s intention to help with Abe’s ruling LDP’s election campaign.
The paper noted the former head told Han that Abe had looked very pleased and relieved.
NHK has confirmed facts through its own investigation similar to those found in the documents discussed by Hankyoreh.
The religious group has posted a statement on social media saying it has not yet confirmed whether there were such documents and could not comment on the report’s credibility.
Content retrieved from: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20251231_15/.
