Sun Myung Moon Group ID’d as Potential ‘Religious’ Org Tied to Abe Shinzo Assassination

A religious organization called the Japan Unification Church confirmed on Monday that one of its members is the mother of Yamagami Tetsuya, a 41-year-old Japanese man suspected of assassinating former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo in recent days, Kyodo News reported, noting that Tetsuya allegedly told police he originally intended to kill the leader of an unspecified “religious” group to which his mother belonged but ultimately targeted Abe for his loose association with the same group.

Police arrested Yamagami Tetsuya as a suspect in Abe’s murder on the morning of July 8, moments after the former prime minister was shot in the back while delivering a campaign speech in Nara, Japan.

A Tokyo-based representative of the “Family Federation for World Peace and Unification,” widely known as the “Japan Unification Church,” confirmed on July 11 that Yamagami Tetsuya’s mother, Yamagami Yoko, is a member of the church. The spokesman declined to provide details about Yoko’s donations to the organization, which were reportedly central to Tetsuya’s alleged grudge against the church.

Yamagami believed his mother made a “huge donation” to the Japan Unification Church in recent years that had caused her to become bankrupt, Kyodo News reported on July 11.

Yamagami, who was arrested for shooting Abe to death on July 8 and who reportedly confessed to the crime, allegedly told investigators that he “began to target Abe because I thought he was promoting the group around the country,” Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun reported on July 11, citing sources close to the investigation.

“I tried to target the head of the religious group, but it was difficult. I thought Abe had a connection to the group,” Yamagami allegedly told police, as reported by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper on July 11, citing unnamed sources.

The Asahi Shimbun interviewed a relative of Yamagami’s who claimed that the suspected murderer “has gone through hard times ever since he was a child over a religious group that his mother joined.”

“The Unification Church was founded in South Korea in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon, a self-declared messiah and strident anti-communist,” Reuters reported on July 11.

“It has gained global media attention for its mass weddings where it marries thousands of couples at a time,” according to the news agency.

“The church’s affiliates include daily newspapers in South Korea, Japan and the United States. Moon ran a business empire and founded the conservative Washington Times newspaper,” Reuters noted.

While Abe Shinzo was loosely affiliated with the Japan Unification Church, he was not a member of the organization, Kyodo News reported on Monday.

Japan Unification Church spokesman Tanaka Tomihiro “denied the group’s links to Abe but admitted that the former Japanese premier had sent a video message to its affiliated organization Universal Peace Federation. Both groups were established by South Korean Moon Sun Myung, according to Tanaka,” Kyodo News relayed.