Japanese Government Fines Tongilgyo... Dissolution Order Request Undecided

Yomiuri "Illegal Evidence Collection Not Easy"
Asahi "Considering Filing Dissolution Order in October"

Japanese media, including the Yomiuri Shimbun, reported on the 3rd that the Japanese government plans to impose a fine (an administrative sanction similar to a Korean administrative fine) on the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church), which has been embroiled in controversy over large donations, for failing to properly respond to an investigation under the Religious Corporations Act.

Since July, after Tetsuya Yamagami, who assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, revealed his motive by stating that "my mother made large donations to the Unification Church, which ruined our family," criticism of the Unification Church in Japan has intensified, prompting the government to exercise its "right to question" and conduct an investigation.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has exercised the right to question seven times so far, requesting reports on over 600 items related to the church's large donations, overseas remittances, and organizational operations. However, the materials submitted by the church have gradually decreased, and they have sometimes refused to comply citing freedom of religion and other reasons.

Accordingly, the Japanese government has decided to impose administrative sanctions under the Religious Corporations Act, which allows fines of up to 100,000 yen (approximately 900,000 KRW) on representatives of religious corporations. MEXT plans to hold a Religious Corporation Review Board meeting soon to proceed with the approval process for the fine.

Since this is the first case in which the Japanese government has used the "right to question" under this law to investigate a religious organization, the imposition of fines is also unprecedented. The right to question under this law was introduced through legal amendments following the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack by Aum Shinrikyo in 1995.

On July 11, 2022, Tomihiro Tanaka, chairman of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church) Japan Church, holds a press conference in Tokyo. [Image source=Kyodo News, Yonhap News]

However, although there were initial expectations last November that the exercise of the right to question would lead to a dissolution order under the Religious Corporations Act, media outlets have offered differing views on future developments as the investigation is now nearing its final stages.

The Yomiuri Shimbun cited a MEXT official saying that the government initially exercised the right to question with the dissolution order in mind, but collecting evidence to prove the organized, malicious, and continuous nature of illegal acts is difficult, so the government is considering its future response, including whether to exercise the right to question further.

The Mainichi Shimbun reported that MEXT is also conducting victim interviews and plans to request a dissolution order from the court once sufficient evidence is gathered.

On the other hand, the Asahi Shimbun reported, "Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wants to show the Liberal Democratic Party's break from the Unification Church through a dissolution order request," and that the Japanese government is considering requesting a dissolution order as early as mid-October.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.