Japan government panel to decide whether to ask court to revoke legal status of Unification Church

TOKYO — Japan’s government is convening a religious affairs council on Thursday to ask experts to decide whether to seek a court order to revoke the legal status of the Unification Church. The church’s fundraising tactics and cozy ties with the governing party have triggered public outrage.

The alleged Abe killer told police that his motive was the former prime minister’s link to the church that had bankrupted his family due to his mother’s excessive donations. If approved, the church will be the first to lose its legal status under a civil code violation. Two earlier cases involved criminal charges — the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, which was behind a sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway, and the Myokakuji group, whose executives were convicted of fraud.

The Unification Church, founded in South Korea in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon, obtained legal status as a religious organization in Japan in 1968 amid an anti-communist movement supported by Abe’s grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi.

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