Two affiliated groups of the Unification Church sought to persuade ruling Liberal Democratic Party members to agree on policies they wished to promote in exchange for political endorsement in past elections, lawmakers said Thursday.
Hideyuki Teshigawara, who heads the Unification Church's reform promotion headquarters, admitted that one of its affiliated groups, the Federation for World Peace, attempted to encourage some LDP lawmakers to sign a document incorporating the policies it wanted to realize.
Sources close to the Unification Church said the two affiliated organizations appeared to have contacted dozens of ruling party members across the nation, while later in the day, LDP lower house lawmaker Hiroaki Saito said he signed such a document.
At least three other LDP members acknowledged that they had received such a document from an affiliated group of the Unification Church.
The organization has been accused of forcing its followers to make financially ruinous donations, as well as engage in "spiritual sales," in which followers pressure people to purchase vases and other items for exorbitant prices. Such practices were sometimes accompanied by coercive threats, such as that not agreeing to do so would bring bad fortune upon them and their families.
Despite the latest revelations, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at a parliamentary session that he believes the attempt by the affiliated organizations to affect public policy has had no impact on the LDP's policymaking processes, adding his party will carefully look into the issue.
Relations between the LDP and the Unification Church have been under heavy scrutiny lately, with fears growing that the group, founded by a staunch anti-communist in South Korea in 1954, may have exerted undue political influence by establishing ties with ruling lawmakers.
The documents that lawmakers received included policies which encouraged amending Japan's pacifist Constitution, bolstering the country's security capabilities and taking a cautious stance against legalizing same-sex marriage.
On Monday, Kishida pledged to launch a probe on the Unification Church, after the government received over 1,700 telephone consultations from followers and others complaining about its practices over a period of less than one month through Sept. 30.
The government is expected to request a court to order the Unification Church to dissolve as a religious corporation, if the investigation confirms that the organization, often labeled as a cult, has violated any laws, whether criminal or civil cases.
Depending on the judgement by a court, the outcome could mean the Unification Church would lose its status as a religious corporation and be deprived of tax benefits, although it would still be able to operate as an entity.
Teshigawara said at a news conference on Thursday that the Unification Church will "sincerely" accept the probe, while apologizing for those who claim to be victims of the group "from the bottom of our hearts."
The religious organization has been under spotlight after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot during an election campaign speech in early July. The man accused of murdering Abe is the son of a member of the Unification Church.
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