TOKYO, July 11 (Reuters) – The mom of the person arrested for the killing of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is a member of the Unification Church, the pinnacle of its Japanese arm stated on Monday.
Tetsuya Yamagami, an unemployed 41-year-old, has been recognized by police because the suspect who approached Abe and opened hearth throughout a marketing campaign speech on Friday.
Yamagami believed Abe had promoted a spiritual group to which his mom made a “huge donation”, Kyodo information company has stated, citing investigative sources.
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Yamagami instructed police his mom went bankrupt from the donation, the Yomiuri newspaper and different media have reported.
Tomihiro Tanaka, president of the Japanese department of Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, often known as the Unification Church, instructed reporters in Tokyo that Yamagami’s mom was a church member.
Tanaka declined to touch upon her donations, citing the continuing police investigation.
Neither Abe nor the person arrested for his taking pictures have been members of the church, Tanaka stated. Nor was Abe an adviser to the church, Tanaka stated, including that it will cooperate with police on the investigation if requested to take action.
Reuters was not capable of contact Yamagami’s mom and couldn’t decide whether or not she belonged to another spiritual organisations.
The Unification Church was based in South Korea in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon, a self-declared messiah and strident anti-communist. It has gained world media consideration for its mass weddings the place it marries 1000’s of {couples} at a time.
The church’s associates embody day by day newspapers in South Korea, Japan and the United States. Moon ran a enterprise empire and based the conservative Washington Times newspaper.
Abe, who was identified for his conservative views, appeared at an occasion hosted by an organisation affiliated with the church final September and delivered a speech praising the affiliate’s work in direction of peace on the Korean peninsula, in line with the church’s web site.
Critics have for years stated the church is a cult and questioned what they are saying are murky funds. The church rejects such views and says it is a respectable spiritual motion.
Police have confirmed that the suspect stated he held a grudge in opposition to a selected organisation, however they haven’t named it.
QUIET LIFE
Reuters visited the house of Yamagami’s mom in Nara on Monday. The white home is tucked away on the finish of a quiet cul de sac in a well-to-do neighbourhood one cease on the practice from the place Abe was gunned down. She didn’t look like at house. Two policemen sat exterior in an unmarked automotive.
A subsequent door neighbour, a lady who solely gave her surname Ishii, stated she didn’t know the household and had solely ever greeted the mom.
“I don’t see her around much, I say hello, but that is all,” she stated, including that the mom appeared to dwell a quiet life.
Another neighbour, an 87-year-old lady who solely gave her surname Tanida, stated the mom had lived alone for a very long time.
Yamagami’s mom first joined the church round 1998 however stopped attendance between 2009 and 2017, Tanaka stated. About two to 3 years in the past she re-established communication with church members and within the final half 12 months or so has been attending church occasions about as soon as a month, he stated.
Tanaka stated the church realized of the mom’s monetary difficulties solely after speaking to these near her. He stated he didn’t know what precipitated these difficulties.
Nara police on Monday stated they discovered obvious bullet holes at a facility run by the church, and that the suspect instructed them he had fired follow rounds on the facility the day earlier than he shot Abe.
Two individuals who lived close to the group’s largest church in Nara prefecture, which is additionally the one closest to Yamagami’s home, instructed Reuters it had been quiet since Saturday. Normally weekends are busy with members attending companies, they stated. They had not heard any loud bangs, they stated.
ABE’S GRANDFATHER
Tanaka stated Abe had despatched messages to occasions held by church associates and expressed assist for its world peace motion.
Moon, who spoke fluent Japanese, launched an anti-communist political marketing campaign in Japan from late Sixties and constructed relations with Japanese politicians, in line with the church’s publications.
Nobusuke Kishi, Abe’s maternal grandfather and a former prime minister, was an honourary govt chair for a gaggle banquet hosted by Moon, the International Federation for Victory over Communism stated on its web site.
Moon died in 2012. The church has about 600,000 members in Japan, out of 10 million globally, a spokesperson for the church stated.
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Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo, Ju-min Park in Seoul and Tim Kelly in Nara; Additional reporting by Chang-Ran Kim in Tokyo and Satoshi Sugiyama in Nara; Editing by David Dolan and Kenneth Maxwell
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
