Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had a meeting with leaders of organizations affiliated with the controversial Unification Church in 2019 in Tokyo, a photo obtained by Kyodo News showed Thursday.
The meeting, held together with former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, took place at the Liberal Democratic Party's headquarters on Oct. 4 of that year, according to a person close to Gingrich who provided the photo.
The photo shows Kishida, who was the ruling party's policy chief at the time, with Michael Jenkins, a former president of the U.S. branch of the church, and Masayoshi Kajikuri, head of the Japanese division of the Universal Peace Federation, an organization affiliated with the religious group.
Kishida, who has been struggling with falling approval ratings, has dismissed speculation about his connections with the church.
The church, founded in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon, a self-declared messiah and ardent anti-communist in South Korea, has come under renewed scrutiny over its aggressive fundraising tactics and cozy ties with ruling party lawmakers since former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated during an election campaign speech in July 2022.
The suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, is said to have harbored a grudge against the church, formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, as his mother's massive donations to the group ruined his family.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday in Tokyo, Kishida said his stance remained unchanged -- that he did not know who Gingrich's companions were, even if such people were there to participate in the meeting.
Kishida added he has been attempting to make contact with Gingrich to confirm the details.
The person with knowledge of the situation said the topic of the meeting was the U.S.-Japan relationship, adding it was held with Kishida because Abe had a "scheduling conflict."
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