Photo/Illutration Former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama responds in an interview with The Asahi Shimbun. (Taishi Sasayama)

An organization invited two former Japanese prime ministers to attend an important event for the Unification Church in South Korea, but both declined the offers.

Officials of the Universal Peace Federation (UPF), which is affiliated with the Unification Church, asked Yukio Hatoyama, the first prime minister from the Democratic Party of Japan in 2009, to attend a UPF event in 2019, church sources said.

A year earlier, Yasuo Fukuda, a Liberal Democratic Party prime minister for one year from 2007, was also asked to attend the UPF event planned for Seoul.

Both Hatoyama and Fukuda told The Asahi Shimbun that they rejected the invites because the Unification Church, now formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, was in the news over its suspicious methods in obtaining huge donations from followers.

The Asahi Shimbun asked all other former prime ministers if they received similar invitations from the UPF.

All replied in the negative, although Tomiichi Murayama’s family members said he received an invitation from an organization with the word “World” in its name.

But no confirmation could be made if the organization was linked with the Unification Church because the former prime minister did not respond to the invitation.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told The Asahi Shimbun that he has not received an invitation.

So far, the only former prime minister involved in an UPF event is Shinzo Abe, who sent a video message to an event in September 2021.

“I pay my respects to President Hak Ja Han and everyone else,” Abe says in the video. “I highly commend the focus on family values."

Hak is the widow of Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon and now heads the Unification Church.

According to church sources, UPF events are considered extremely important, and invitations are regularly sent out to important figures around the world.

Among those asked to attend in person or send video messages are former U.S. President Donald Trump as well as a former president of Brazil and past Indian prime ministers.

The Japanese arm of the Unification Church apparently tried to persuade former prime ministers to take part as a way to demonstrate the group’s close ties to powerful individuals.

When Abe sent the video message, the church emphasized that he came from a political dynasty in Japan, with a grandfather who served as prime minister and a father who was once foreign minister.

In response to questions from The Asahi Shimbun, Hatoyama said he was asked a number of times in 2019 to attend the UPF event.

When he declined, a church official said the sky was the limit for an appearance fee. Although no specific amount was specified, Hatoyama said he still refused.

However, Hatoyama acknowledged that he received help from volunteers linked with another organization affiliated with the Unification Church when he ran for a Lower House seat in Hokkaido when he was an LDP member in 1986.

Hatoyama said he was never approached by church officials during his time as prime minister.

A Unification Church official told the Asahi that the organization has not invited former prime ministers and had no way of knowing what its affiliated groups were doing.

The UPF did not respond to questions as of March 1.

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