“Sekai Nippo” is now taboo, and the Public Security Intelligence Agency used it as evidence for applying for the “Breach Prevention Law” in the past. JBpress

Confusion in Nagatacho, underestimating the cult and easily using and compromising is the cause of this abomination

On August 25, 1992, a mass wedding ceremony held by the Unification Church in Seoul, South Korea. The event, in which singer Junko Sakurada and former rhythmic gymnast Hiroko Yamazaki also participated, was reported with great shock in Japan. It was this year that Katsuya Okada of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan was interviewed by Sekai Nippo. (Photo: Fujifotos/Aflo)

(Author/journalist: Yoichiro Aonuma)

It was on the 23rd that the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) announced that there were 14 party-affiliated Diet members who had connections with the Unification Church (now the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification). The investigation revealed seven new cases. None of them were aware of their relationship with the Unification Church.

In a survey conducted by Kyodo News targeting national assembly members, it is said that 82 lawmakers belonging to the Liberal Democratic Party answered that they had attended events of related organizations or received election cooperation. Considering that the double-digit lawmakers had connections with the Unification Church, the degree of penetration into national politics is considerable.

“The relationship with the Unification Church should have been investigated more thoroughly.”

Of the lawmakers announced by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, four responded to an interview with the Unification Church-affiliated newspaper Sekai Nippo. Former CEO Yukio Edano appeared in a round-table discussion in 2006, and former Finance Minister Atsushi Azumi and Teruo Fukuda interviewed in 2010.

In addition, former Deputy Prime Minister Katsuya Okada, who is scheduled to be appointed as the next secretary-general, has an interview article in 1992 when he belonged to the Liberal Democratic Party and 2001 when he was a former Democratic Party, and a roundtable article in 2002. was As of the 10th, Okada issued a comment saying, “I should have investigated the relationship with the Unification Church more thoroughly. There is no room for excuses and I am reflecting on it.”

Regarding Sekai Nippo, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, who remained in office due to the Cabinet reshuffle on the 10th, admitted that he was interviewed in 2012, and explained that he had no recognition of the Unification Church. It has also been revealed that interviews with Katsunobu Kato, Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare who also entered the cabinet, Nobuyuki Baba, co-chairman of the Japan Restoration Party, and Yuichiro Tamaki, chairman of the Democratic Party for the People, have been published.