Japan court orders Unification Church dissolved

A Japanese court has ordered the Unification Church to be stripped of official recognition, the government said on Tuesday. The order means the church will no longer be exempted from taxes and must liquidate its assets.

Tokyo's District Court upheld a government revocation request of the church's legal status following an investigation into the 2022 death of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The South Korea-based religious sect can still appeal the decision in higher court.

Abe was shot dead during a campaign event by a man who was angry about ties between Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and the church. Reports at the time said the assassin was angry that his mother had given the church some 100 million yen ($1 million).

Investigations later revealed many conservative party lawmakers had close ties to the church.

The church condemned the decision, calling it "a wrong legal interpretation and absolutely unacceptable."

History of the church

The church, officially called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification was founded in South Korea and is also known as "Moonies," after its late founder Sun Myung Moon.

It had obtained legal status in Japan in 1968, in a movement supported by Abe's grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi.

Japan's Education Ministry had requested the court to dissolve the Japan chapter of the sect in 2023, citing its fundraising and recruitment tactics that were manipulative and harmful to its followers and their families.

The church said this request was a threat to the religious freedom and human rights of its followers. It is the first religious group to face a revocation order in Japan.

The country's legal system has made it difficult to restrain religious activities, due to its history of oppression of personal freedoms during wartime.

Edited by: Wesley Rahn