by The Soufan Center
On October 17, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ordered an investigation into the Unification Church, a religious sect that has come under increasing scrutiny since the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
In the past, the group had been accused of defrauding members and seeking to establish ties with right-wing politicians to influence public policy. Since Abe’s assassination, numerous politicians in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have been found to have previously undisclosed ties with the organization.
The shocking July assassination was apparently motivated by the killer’s personal grudge against the Unification Church rather than political grievances with Abe. The assailant, who had reportedly planned to assassinate the church’s current leader, instead chose to target Abe because of his connection to the group and alleged activities promoting it.
Abe had been a leader within the LDP and was one of Japan’s most influential political leaders in the modern era, enacting an ambitious set of economic policies, significantly expanding Japan’s role on the international stage, and re-energizing the U.S.-Japan security alliance in the face of an increasingly assertive China during his time as Prime Minister.
His tragic killing, however, called into question long-standing ties between the LDP and the Unification Church, threatening his personal legacy and his former party’s political credibility.
The Unification Church, officially known as The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, was founded in 1950s South Korea by committed anti-communist Reverend Sun Myung Moon, expanding to Japan shortly thereafter.
The Unification Church’s status as a religious organization provides it with tax exemptions for donations and sales of religious paraphernalia, both of which constitute major sources of revenue for the group. For decades, the group, considered a cult by critics, has faced accusations of employing predatory recruitment techniques, including brainwashing, and has been accused of coercing its adherents into making financially ruinous donations to the organization.
Fabio is the Director and Editor of Gospa News; a Christian Information Journal.
Fabio Giuseppe Carlo Carisio, born on 24/2/1967 in Borgosesia, started working as a reporter when he was only 19 years old in the alpine area of Valsesia, Piedmont, his birth region in Italy. After studying literature and history at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, he became deputy director of a local newspaper and specialized in judicial reporting.
For about 15 years he is a correspondent from Northern Italy for the Italian newspapers Libero and Il Giornale, also writing important revelations on the Ustica massacre, a report on Freemasonry and organized crime.
With independent investigations, he collaborates with Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza in important investigations that conclude with the arrest of Camorra entrepreneurs or corrupt politicians.
In July 2018 he found the counter-information web media Gospa News focused on geopolitics, terrorism, the Middle East, and military intelligence. He is a correspondent from Italy for the French news site Reseau International.
He worked for many years for the magazine Art & Wine as an art critic and curator
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