Photo/Illutration A photograph apparently shows, from right, Michael Jenkins, Fumio Kishida, Newt Gingrich and Masayoshi Kajikuri during a meeting in 2019. (Provided by a source)

A former leader of the Unification Church’s U.S. branch sat in on a meeting in Tokyo in 2019 between future Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, sources said.

Michael Jenkins visited Kishida, who was the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s policy chief at the time, with Gingrich at the party’s headquarters on Oct. 4, 2019, the sources said.

Masayoshi Kajikuri, chairman of the Japanese branch of the Universal Peace Federation (UPF), a friendship organization of the church, was also present, the sources said.

Then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who had close ties with the Unification Church, was initially scheduled to meet with the Gingrich side, government sources said.

But Abe had to deliver a policy speech in the two Diet chambers at the start of an extraordinary Diet session on the day of the meeting, so he asked Kishida to meet Gingrich in his place, they said.

The Asahi Shimbun has obtained a photo that appears to show Jenkins with Kishida, Gingrich and Kajikuri during the meeting.

Jenkins, president of the U.S. branch of the Unification Church between 2000 and 2009, has served as head of UPF International, which oversees UPF branches around the world, since May 2019.

The UPF was established by Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, and his wife, Hak Ja Han Moon, the current leader of the religious organization now formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.

The Asahi Shimbun on Dec. 4 asked Kishida’s office about the 2019 meeting with Jenkins and Kajikuri.

Kishida said through his office: “I met with Gingrich several years ago when I was chairman of the LDP’s Policy Research Council. At the time, he was accompanied by many people, but I am not aware of who was among them.”

Kishida told reporters Dec. 5 that he does not know if individuals related to the Unification Church were present at the meeting with Gingrich.

He added, “My perception has not changed even if there is a photograph.”

Asked if he checked records of meetings and other sources to see if church-related individuals were present, Kishida said he went as far as his side could go, but he did not ask Gingrich to provide information.

Kishida had also told reporters the previous day that as a former foreign minister, he met with Gingrich for a courtesy call. He did not mention Abe’s involvement in that meeting.

Abe was assassinated in July 2022 apparently over his connections with the Unification Church.

Shady ties between the church and several LDP lawmakers have since surfaced.

(This article was written by Nobuya Sawa, a senior staff writer, and Yosuke Takashima.)

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