Japan: Prime Minister Fumio Kishida weakened by his links with the Moon sect

Discredited because of his links with the Moon sect, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (our photo) finds himself at rock bottom in the opinion polls.

AP - Toru Hanai

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

In Japan, the government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been weakened by its links with the Unification Church (or Moon sect) since the assassination of Shinzo Abe by a man who blamed the former Japanese leader for his association with the sect.

An internal investigation by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party reveals that 179 of its 379 parliamentarians, half of them, have links with the religious organization accused of having ruined many faithful.

Discredited, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida finds himself at rock bottom in the opinion polls.

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With our correspondent in Tokyo,

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida fails to impose on the right wing of the conservative, nationalist, reactionary, revisionist party, of which Shinzo Abe was the leader, the severing of ties with the Unification Church, also ultra-conservative and anti-communist.

Before Parliament, Fumio Kishida, justifies the organization of a costly national funeral for Shinzo Abe on September 27.

Compulsory funeral

Imposed by followers of Shinzo Abe, US Vice President Kamala Harris, Indian Prime Minister Narandra Modi will participate.

The majority of Japanese, however, do not want this

.

In the coming days, links with the

are likely to become more problematic for Fumio Kishida and to paralyze the activity of his government.

By killing Shinzo Abe, his assassin Tetsuya Yamagami shed light on a hitherto taboo subject: the influence of the Moon sect on the Liberal Democratic Party which has dominated Japanese political life for decades.

Respect and Authority

Tetsuya Yamagami hated the Unification Church which ruined his mother and destroyed his family.

Shinzo Abe and the other conservative parliamentarians gave him respect and authority.

In return, the sect helped them win elections.

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• Japan

• Shinzo Abe

• Fumio Kishida

• Religion

• Crime