Sun Myung Moon, left, the Unification Church’s founder, shaking hands with former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi. (From a book compiled by the Unification Church)
Out-of-print publications in South Korea that are now appearing online show that Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, regarded himself as a kingmaker and even savior in Japanese politics.
Over about 53 years, a South Korean publishing company compiled Moon’s sayings into 615 volumes until his death in 2012. The sayings are regarded as gospel among church followers.
Although the veracity of Moon’s comments in the online posts cannot be confirmed, a church official said legal action was being considered about the suspected illegal copying of the original volumes.
The church is now officially called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.
Shintaro Abe speaks at a January 1990 news conference. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
One comment attributed to Moon in November 1987 complained that Shintaro Abe did not become prime minister.
The previous month, Abe, Noboru Takeshita and Kiichi Miyazawa vied to succeed Yasuhiro Nakasone as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
But before a party vote, Nakasone intervened and named Takeshita as his successor.
“Abe should have become prime minister,” Moon was quoted as saying on Nov. 1, 1987.
“Nakasone is also someone who was helped by me. The result was flipped over the course of one hour. It was common knowledge that Abe was to become prime minister.”
On Nov. 15, 1987, Moon said: “Anyone who wants to become prime minister in Japan needs my support. Abe should have become prime minister. Shintaro Abe. A written pledge. With whom? That is a secret.”
It is not known what Moon meant by written pledge.
Lawyers in 1987 display some of the items the Unification Church sold to members at huge prices. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Abe died in 1991, never becoming prime minister.
His son, Shinzo, twice served as Japan’s prime minister. Shinzo Abe’s grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, was also prime minister.
Moon boasted of his close ties to them as well.
BUILDING CHURCH IN DIET
Moon spoke frequently about strengthening ties with Japanese lawmakers.
On July 4, 1989, he said, “We will build a church in the Diet and teach our principles, making everything possible.”
Moon mentioned Osami Kuboki, the Unification Church’s first chairman in Japan.
“We must increase the number of Diet members, centered on the Abe faction of the LDP, but extending to other parties, based on work led by Kuboki,” Moon said.
He also touched upon the need to increase members elected to local assemblies.
CLOSE TIES TO SHINZO ABE
On Oct. 3, 2006, a week after Shinzo Abe took the office of prime minister for the first time, Moon said, “I understand that Abe became prime minister.”
On Nov. 23, 2006, Moon said: “Shinzo Abe is the prime minister, isn’t he? He is close to me. Shintaro Abe promised to visit South Korea if I made him prime minister.”
Moon’s interest in Japanese politicians dates back to Kishi.
The Unification Church set up its headquarters next door to Kishi’s home in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward in November 1964. Moon also had close ties with Ryoichi Sasakawa, a well-known right-wing figure.
Moon said he would have Kishi and Sasakawa work together to push forward the Unification Church’s plans in Japan.
FIGHTING JAPANESE BACKLASH
In 1967, parents of university students in Japan who were recruited to join the Unification Church expressed their opposition to what the church was doing.
Twenty years later, lawyers established a national organization to take legal action against the so-called spiritual sales tactics of the Unification Church, which encouraged members to pay exorbitant fees for pots and other religious items.
On Feb. 18, 1988, Moon said: “I knew a typhoon called spiritual sales would hit Japan. We must engage in an international fight. The five major newspapers, including Asahi, Yomiuri and Akahata (the Japanese Communist Party daily), ran special pages.
“Parties from the LDP to JCP and Japan Socialist Party are trying to remove the Unification Church. I fought a battle against such forces by myself.”
HELPED LDP WIN ELECTIONS
Moon often boasted about single-handedly giving the LDP huge victories in national elections.
A Lower and Upper house election was held on the same day in July 1986, and the LDP won in a landslide, picking up 304 seats in the Lower House.
On Feb. 18, 1988, Moon reflected on that result and said: “I was the one who increased the number of Diet members from 261 to 304. There are 180 LDP members who belong to the International Federation for Victory over Communism, (a church-related group).”
He went further about spending 6 billion yen ($45 million at current exchange rates) in the 1986 election and called Unification Church members “well-trained special forces” who go door-to-door to win votes.
Moon kept up the boasts in a comment made on Sept. 16, 2004. “I became involved from the time of Prime Minister Kishi. When Nakasone was prime minister, I helped elect 130 Diet members.”
SAVED KANEMARU FROM ASSASSIN
Moon also referred to his tight ties with another influential LDP politician, Shin Kanemaru, a close associate of Takeshita.
Moon visited Japan on March 26, 1992, and met Kanemaru on March 31.
Moon had served an 18-month prison sentence in the United States for tax evasion.
Ordinarily, people with criminal convictions cannot enter Japan. But the justice minister at the time made an exception for Moon.
Kanemaru told The Asahi Shimbun in April 1992 that he lobbied Justice Ministry officials to allow Moon to enter the nation.
On March 20, 1992, Kanemaru was giving a speech in Tochigi Prefecture when a member of a right-wing group fired three shots at him from close range.
None of the bullets hit Kanemaru.
On April 3, two days after returning to South Korea, Moon said: “Kanemaru invited me to Japan. None of the three bullets fired from 5 meters even hit his body but went somewhere. He was protected by God. I let him live because it would not do to have accidents between Japan and Asia if I did not meet with him.”
KOREA REUNIFICATION PLAN
Masaki Nakamasa, a professor of the history of political philosophy at Kanazawa University, was at one time a member of the Unification Church.
He said he had heard about Moon’s expectations to have Shintaro Abe become prime minister and how he felt betrayed by Nakasone.
Nakamasa said high-ranking church officials in Japan who heard sermons by Moon would pass on those teachings to Japanese members after adjusting discrepancies and toning down radical expressions.
He added that church members were instructed to never take notes about what Moon said or to pass on those comments to outsiders.
“Moon sought to strengthen ties with conservative Japanese politicians to improve the church’s political influence within South Korea so the church could play a leading role in bringing about unification of the two Koreas," Nakamasa said.
Source: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/photo/46020571
