CONNECTING THE DOTS

Shinzo Abe Assassination Puts Focus on Right-Wing Church Known for Mass Weddings

The Unification Church appears to be the religious group the suspect said he had a “grudge” against.

A Japanese church with an unusual penchant for holding mass weddings has emerged at the center of the investigation into former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s assassination. Tetsuya Yamagami, the man accused of killing Abe, told police that he had a “grudge” against a specific religious group because of how it treated his mother. At a press conference on Monday, the Unification Church, a Christian organization with links to conservative political parties across the globe, did not explicitly say they were the church Yamagami was referring to but they did confirm his mother’s involvement. Church officials said Yamagami’s mom joined the church in 1998 and came back into the fold last year after losing touch for a while. Still, it’s unclear why Yamagami targeted Abe. The former PM spoke at a church-affiliated gathering in 2021 but the church insisted it didn’t have a direct relationship with him.