Photo/Illutration The Justice Ministry building in Tokyo (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Justice Minister Yasuhiro Hanashi announced on Aug. 15 that he will establish a new liaison committee to sort out how to help potential victims of the Unification Church.

People who the committee's work is aimed at helping include those who say they were scammed through the organization’s so-called “reikan shoho” (psychic marketing) as well as those who have requested help from the government after their experiences with the church, officials said.

The minister will organize the committee, which is designed to interact with all the parts of government that will be involved in the process and will consist of officials from relevant ministries and agencies. It will hold its first meeting on Aug. 18.

A representative from the National Police Agency and the Consumer Affairs Agency will also participate in the committee.

Ever since former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead in July while he was campaigning in Nara, the number of requests for help from people who have suffered at the hands of the Unification Church has significantly increased, sources said.

The suspect in Abe’s killing told police he was motivated by his grudge against the Unification Church, formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, and said he believed Abe had ties to it.

His mother is a long-standing member of the church and her donations to it had ruined her family financially.

“With regard to requests for help coming into various ministries and agencies, we need to quickly establish a program to save the victims (of the Unification Church), not just pass them around within the government,” Hanashi said.

The liaison committee will try to come up with a better picture of the situation by collecting information on issues related to the church and then sharing any intelligence gathered between ministries and agencies, according to the minister.

Those issues will include problems faced by those who were born into the church.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed his Cabinet to take all possible measures to help victims of the Unification Church on Aug. 10, the day he shuffled his Cabinet.

Taro Kono, the minister in charge of consumer affairs, announced on Aug. 12 that he will set up a committee within the Consumer Affairs Agency by the end of the month to discuss how to respond to dubious marketing practices by the Unification Church. 

These include having its members reportedly scam people by preying on their anxieties to pressure them into buying expensive vases and other items.

Related News