By Tim Kelly and Ju-min ParkJapanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reshuffled his cabinet on Wednesday, as his party's ties to the Unification Church have dented public support following the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last month. The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, known as the Unification Church, was founded in South Korea in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon, an anti-communist and self-declared messiah. Politicians gained access to church members for help with campaigns, he said. Nobuo Kishi, Abe's younger brother and the outgoing defense minister, told reporters he received support from church members as campaign volunteers. These so-called spiritual sales by the Unification Church and other groups have cost followers nearly $1 billion and resulted in some 35,000 compensation claims since 1987, according to a lawyers group.

Source: The Guardian August 12, 2022 04:01 UTC