Police and Japanese media said the alleged attacker, Tetsuya Yamagami, who was arrested at the scene, was enraged by Abe’s reported ties to the Unification Church, which has ties to politically conservative groups and leaders in the United States , Japan and Europe. . The suspect was reportedly upset because his mother’s huge donations to the church had bankrupted the family. Many Japanese have been surprised as revelations emerged this week about ties between the church and Japan’s top leaders, which date back to joint efforts against communism during the Cold War. Analysts say it could lead people to take a closer look at how powerfully the ruling party’s conservative worldviews have guided modern Japan’s policies. A look at the church and its deep ties to Japan’s ruling party and Abe’s family: WHAT IS THE UNION CHURCH? The church was founded in Seoul in 1954, a year after the end of the Korean War, by the late Reverend Sun Myung Moon, the self-proclaimed messiah who preached new interpretations of the Bible and conservative, family-oriented value systems. The church championed anti-communism and the unification of the Korean Peninsula, which has been divided between the totalitarian North and the democratic South. The church is perhaps best known for its mass weddings where it brought together couples, often from different countries, and renewed the vows of those already married, in large, open venues such as stadiums and gymnasiums. The group is said to have global members in the millions, including hundreds of thousands in Japan. The church faced accusations in the 1970s and 1980s of using fraudulent tactics to recruit and brainwash followers into handing over huge portions of their paychecks to Moon. The church has denied such claims, saying many new religious movements faced similar accusations in their early years. In Japan, the group has faced lawsuits for offering “spiritual goods” that allegedly induced members to buy expensive art and jewelry or sell their real estate to raise donations for the church.

WHAT IS THE CHURCH’S CONNECTION TO WORLD LEADERS? Throughout his life, Moon worked to transform his church into a global religious movement and expand his business and philanthropic activities. Moon was convicted of tax evasion in 1982 and served a prison sentence in New York. He died in 2012. The church has developed relationships with conservative world leaders, including US presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and more recently Donald Trump. Moon also had ties to North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung, the late grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un. Moon said in his autobiography that he asked Kim to give up his nuclear ambitions and that Kim replied that his atomic program was for peaceful purposes and he had no intention of using it to “kill his (Korean) countrymen.”

WHAT WAS ABE’S CONNECTION WITH THE CHURCH? Abe was known for his conservative views on security and history and was also supported by powerful lobbies such as Nippon Kaigi. He appeared at events organized by affiliates of the church, including one in September 2021. In a video shown on a big screen at the meeting of the church-affiliated Universal Peace Federation, or UPF, Abe praised his peace work on the Korean Peninsula and the group’s focus on family values. Emphasis on traditional, paternalistic family systems was one of Abe’s key positions. “I appreciate UPF’s focus on family values,” he said in the video. “Let us know the so-called social revolutionary movements with narrow-minded values.” Reports of his appearance at the 2021 event drew criticism from Japan’s Communist Party and cult watchers, including a group of lawyers who have monitored the Unification Church’s activities and supported its alleged victims. At a press conference on Monday after the church’s connection to Abe’s assassination was revealed, the leader of the church in Japan, Tomohiro Tanaka, said Abe supported the UPF peace movement but was not a member. Police have yet to publicly identify the group the suspect is referring to, possibly to avoid inciting violence.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR JAPAN’S PARTY GOVERNMENT? Ties between the church and Japan’s ruling party go back to Abe’s grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, who served as prime minister and shared concerns with Washington about the spread of communism in Japan in the 1960s, as labor union activists were strengthening. Kishi, who was arrested as a war criminal but never charged, was known for his right-wing political views and the Unification Church’s anti-communist stance matched his views on Japan’s national interests, experts say. Kishi’s close relationship with the church was publicly known. The church’s headquarters were at one point housed in a building next to Kishi’s residence in Tokyo, and he was seen with Moon in photos taken at the church and published in group publications. Media reports say the suspect believed Kishi brought the church to Japan. “Japanese leaders at the time saw the church as a tool to promote anti-communist views in Japan,” said Masaki Kito, a lawyer and expert on religious enterprises. For the group, demonstrating close ties to prominent politicians was a way to gain approval for its activity. Ties between church-linked organizations and LDP lawmakers have developed over the decades since the church expanded, providing steady political support and votes for the ruling party, experts say, although the group has denied this. A survey of 128 lawmakers taken by the police and published in Weekly Gendai magazine in 1999 found that most attended events organized by the Unification Church’s anti-communist affiliate, the International Federation for Victory Against Communism, also sponsored by the Moon, and more than 20 LDP lawmakers had at least one church member in their offices as a volunteer.

WHAT DO THE CHURCH AND ITS JUDGES SAY? The church refused any favorable treatment from Kishi when he opened a branch in Japan. Tanaka said Abe supported the peace movement of current leader Hak Ja Han Moon, but denied any movement of money between the group and the LDP. The church said Monday it had no records showing Yamagami was a member. The church said it had no direct relationship with Abe, although he interacted with other lawmakers through an affiliated organization. Members of the National Lawyers Network Against Spirit Selling, which monitors the church, say they have repeatedly asked Abe and other LDP lawmakers to stop showing up or sending messages at events organized by the Unification Church or its affiliates, while ignore the longstanding church- related problems. WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR THE PARTY? “The assassination sheds light on the Unification Church,” said Koichi Nakano, a professor of international politics at Sophia University in Tokyo. “The church’s relationship with right-wing factions of the LDP and its far-right policies could come under close scrutiny” and lead to a reappraisal of Abe’s legacy. It could lead to revelations about how the party’s views have distorted postwar Japanese society while stalling progress on gender equality and sexual diversity, Nakano said.

Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea contributed.