KARATSU, Saga Prefecture—A hole surrounded by concrete penetrates a mountain here, part of a project once touted by politicians as a potential symbol of unity between Japan and South Korea.

But the project is now described as “absurd” and a representation of the close ties between a religious group and Japanese politicians at the national and local levels.

The project—a Japan-South Korea undersea tunnel--has also been criticized as an elaborate tool of the group, the Unification Church, to bilk its followers of their money.

Under the now-stalled project, the International Highway Foundation, a Tokyo-based organization affiliated with the Unification Church, plans to build the 235-kilometer-long tunnel that would connect northern Kyushu and southern South Korea.

Overall costs are estimated at 10 trillion yen ($71 billion), according to records from the church and the International Highway Foundation.

The plan hatched in 1981 was the culmination of the “prayers of many years” of Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, a former official with the International Highway Foundation said.

“The project was based on Moon’s thinking that Japan should stop being an island nation by becoming connected with South Korea,” the former official told The Asahi Shimbun.

The hole in the mountain is located 1.5 km from the ruins of Nagoyajo castle in Karatsu city. The castle was known as the outpost for Japan’s invasions of the Korean Peninsula in the late 16th century.

A sign placed above the hole says in both Japanese and Korean that the opening marks entry of an inclined shaft drilled in a geological survey for the tunnel project.

Moon, who died in 2012, founded the Unification Church, whose official name now is the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, in South Korea in 1954.

Osami Kuboki, first chair of the Japanese arm of the Unification Church, assumed the top post of the predecessor of the highway foundation when it was set up in 1982.

Four years later, construction of the shaft began, and by 2007, the pit, 6 meters in diameter, had reached about 540 meters in length.

The cost to prepare for construction of the undersea tunnel was estimated at 4.57 billion yen.

About 2.18 billion yen was used to dig the shaft, but work was suspended after the hole reached the boundary of the land owned by the church. 

The land, formerly used as a cattle ranch, now belongs to the highway foundation.

A man in his 80s who lives in the neighborhood said last month that before the novel coronavirus pandemic, busloads of Japanese officials occasionally arrived there for inspections.

“I did not take much interest in whether the project would be completed because it seemed so unrealistic,” he said. “I do not think the project has caused friction with local residents.”

Support for Moon’s planned tunnel spread slowly across Japan, giving birth to many councils that promoted the project.

According to the Lower House’s secretariat, the Tokushima prefectural assembly in 2011 submitted to the Diet chamber a statement calling for an early realization of the tunnel.

A similar move was made by the Tsushima municipal assembly in Nagasaki Prefecture two years later.

In 2017, the Japan-South Korea tunnel promotion council was inaugurated at a meeting in Tokyo co-sponsored by the International Highway Foundation. Other entities linked to the Unification Church, including the Universal Peace Federation Japan and the council of peace ambassadors, were listed as cooperating groups.

“Let’s take a bullet train from Tokyo to Seoul,” Eiji Tokuno, chair of the foundation and the Unification Church in Japan, said at the meeting.

Attendees responded with a thunderous applause. Those in attendance included several Diet members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Ryota Takeda, a Lower House member of the LDP, gave a speech on behalf of party Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai.

“Nikai received the invitation, but he cannot come since the Diet is in session now,” Takeda, who served as Nikai’s special aide at the time, told the meeting. “We should strive to make this dream happen.”

Takeo Kawamura, a former chief Cabinet secretary who served as secretary-general of the league of Japanese Diet members working on friendly relations with South Korea, said in a video speech shown at the meeting, “We are aware that (construction of the tunnel) will be one barometer to indicate the ultimate union of Japan and South Korea.”

Academics have also taken part in efforts to promote the project.

A former president of Kyushu University chaired the liaison council in the southern main island for construction of the tunnel when it was inaugurated in 2015.

But the church’s dubious donation collection methods returned to the spotlight after the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July. Now, politicians are downplaying or denying any connections to the church.

At an Aug. 26 news conference, land minister Tetsuo Saito said the government has no direct involvement in the project.

“We have never considered the tunnel project when we were formulating plans to develop Japan’s land,” he said. “I believe the vision for the tunnel is quite absurd.”

Karatsu Mayor Tatsuro Mine also distanced himself from the tunnel plan, saying the project is an activity conducted on private property by a private organization.

“The city has no part in it,” he said. “I personally feel uncomfortable about the sign mentioning Karatsu whenever news media show it. I wish the sign would disappear.”

Press releases distributed by the Unification Church in 2014 stated that all followers were joining forces for an early realization of the Japan-South Korea tunnel project.

They also said the church and its followers had together donated more than 10 billion yen for the project undertaken by the International Highway Foundation.

Lawyers representing former followers of the Unification Church say the tunnel project has been used as a pretext for the church’s relentless solicitation of donations.

“The involvement of politicians and academics in the project has given it public credibility and ending up helping the church’s donation drive,” said Hiroshi Yamaguchi, a representative of the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales. “They should immediately end their involvement.”

Yamaguchi represented plaintiffs in a string of lawsuits filed in the 1980s seeking a return of their money given to the church and its affiliated organizations.

Hiroshi Hirata, a member of the Fukuoka Bar Association, represented a former follower in a lawsuit demanding about 180 million yen in compensation over donations connected to the tunnel project.

“The church took followers to the test drilling site on many backstage tours,” Hirata said. “The tunnel project gave the impression to followers that the church was committed to a significant activity and has been used as a pretext for soliciting donations to fund its activities.”

The highway foundation told The Asahi Shimbun that it has conducted surveys and research and acquired land for the project with donations made by numerous groups and individuals.

But it acknowledged the project has stalled, citing the souring of Japan-South Korea relations and Japan’s post-bubble economic slump.

“We cannot help admitting that it has not been easy to raise funds after around 1990,” the foundation said.

It also said lawyers critical of the church are deliberately raising the tunnel subject to damage the group’s reputation and spread groundless information.

Kawamura, who retired from politics last year as a lawmaker from Yamaguchi Prefecture, told the Asahi that he had never received backing from the church and that he was reluctant to send a message since he knew the religious group was involved in the tunnel project.

But he did send it at the request of a city assembly member in Yamaguchi Prefecture tied to the church.

In reply to an inquiry from the Asahi, Takeda said “No comment.”