Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida this Wednesday carried out a deep overhaul of his cabinet just a month after the partial elections on July 10, in which the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) approved the majority needed to amend the constitution. Reason to stem the plummeting public support for the executive branch and nip in the bud any suspicious association with the Unification Church, the religious group at the epicenter of the hurricane following the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, several of his ministers were linked after meeting with him.
On July 8, a 41-year-old former military officer named Tetsuya Yamagami shot and killed Abe while he was attending a PLD campaign rally in Nara City. The aggressor confessed to the police that he committed the crime because of a “strong resentment” against the former president for ruining his family. His mother gave all her savings to the Unification Church, to which Abe was affiliated. Not so much for religious reasons, but because they were shared by ardent anti-communism. The former leader even participated in some of the activities of the organization along with his friend, former US President Donald Trump.
In fact, Yamagami never named the religious organization that bankrupted his family, but the local media, citing police reports, pointed to the Unification Church.
The link infuriated the organization. Japan chapter president Tomihiro Tanaka held a press conference on Wednesday to criticize the media. In his opinion, the “hateful” and “false” coverage carried out constituted “religious persecution” and a “violation of human rights”.
“We have never committed violence or killings,” he said, but the church receives “threats of death” and some members, he said, complain about his mistreatment, including the harassment of his children. However, he acknowledged that the organization he leads shares common interests with the PLD, “basically being in opposition to communism.”
Founded in 1954 in South Korea by Reverend Moon and known worldwide for its mass weddings, the Unification Church has three million followers, disparagingly referred to as “moons.” Several of its members have been arrested in Japan for threatening to receive funding, such as using “ancestral karma”.
After Abe’s assassination, it was revealed that several members of the government had ties to the church, sparking outrage and resulting in the government’s subsequent loss of popular support. To stop this decline, Kishida changed nine ministers and removed five more from the portfolio. Altogether there were changes in 14 out of 19 ministries.
One of the most relevant is the post of head of defense. Yasukazu Hamada, a politician with a long career, takes office and rises to a key position as Kishida promised to increase the military budget. The recent tensions in the Formosa Strait between China and Taiwan will no doubt be a problem for the new minister.
Other challenges for the revamped Cabinet will be the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, especially the rise in the cost of living. Inflation in June was 2.2% and has exceeded the 2% target set by the Bank of Japan for three consecutive months, representing the biggest increase since 2016.
Source: El Correo
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