Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at an Upper House Budget Committee session in Tokyo on Oct. 20. (The Asahi Shimbun)

New revelations about the nexus between Liberal Democratic Party members and the Unification Church indicate the religious group possibly influenced the ruling party’s policy agenda.

Organizations affiliated with the Unification Church have asked LDP lawmakers to sign “policy pacts” in exchange for support in elections. If LDP legislators have actually signed these agreements, suspicions would arise that the church’s political ties with the LDP are strong enough to sway policies.

The fresh revelations have further undermined the credibility of the LDP’s survey of its members’ ties with the Unification Church. The survey results did not mention the pacts.

The LDP should swiftly conduct a fresh inquiry to uncover any political interactions between its members and the church and publish the findings. All party lawmakers should be covered.

Sources with the Unification Church, now formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, said dozens of LDP lawmakers around the nation were asked to sign documents supporting the church’s policy proposals before the 2021 Lower House election and the Upper House election held in July this year.

The Asahi Shimbun has learned that at least five LDP lawmakers were asked to sign such documents. And some of them did.

It is common for political parties and election candidates to strike policy deals with supporting industry organizations and labor unions.

But this practice raises concerns if the organization involved has been accused of causing serious social problems.

If the LDP’s policy links with the church are hidden, voters have not been properly informed about material facts that could affect their decisions at the polls.

The policies pushed in the pacts included constitutional amendments, enhancement of security legislation, enactment of laws to support family education and help healthy development of youth, and cautious stances toward LGBT issues, such as legalizing same-sex marriages.

Some of these proposals have long been on the LDP’s policy platform. But some, such as LGBT issues, have divided party members.

There is no denying the possibility that the Unification Church may have influenced the LDP’s positions on such issues by helping members who have signed the policy pacts gain greater clout within the party.

How many LDP lawmakers have been contacted by the church for such policy pacts? How many of them have signed the agreements?

The LDP should make serious efforts to determine and disclose all facts about such contacts regarding past national elections.

The new investigation should not leave out Lower House Speaker Hiroyuki Hosoda, who has avoided commenting about his reported links with the Unification Church.

Although Hosoda is currently off the list of LDP Diet members because of his parliamentary position, he still ran as an official LDP candidate in elections. The party has the responsibility to clarify the related facts.

The LDP released the findings of its survey about its members and the church in September. The survey asked members about eight types of ties with the church, including its support in election campaigns and party members’ participation in events organized by the church or associated groups.

The eight types of relations did not include the policy pacts.

During an Oct. 20 Upper House Budget Committee session, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said it is necessary to confirm whether the survey results reflected facts related to such policy agreements.

As LDP president, Kishida should issue clear instructions for an investigation into the matter.

He also said he was convinced that such election-related contacts between LDP members and the church have not affected the party’s policies.

His words cannot be trusted unless the LDP conducts an exhaustive investigation to clarify all facts about how individual lawmakers have responded to the church’s requests.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 21

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