Mom of Abe killing suspect is a member of the Solar Myung Moon-founded Unification Church

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TOKYO — The mom of the person arrested for the killing of former Japanese chief Shinzo Abe is a member of the Unification Church, the church’s Japan head stated on Monday.

Tetsuya Yamagami, an unemployed 41-year-old, was recognized by police because the suspect who approached Abe and opened fireplace throughout a marketing campaign speech on Friday, an assault that was captured on video and shocked a nation the place gun violence is uncommon.

Yamagami believed Abe had promoted a spiritual group to which his mom made a “large donation,” Kyodo information company has stated, citing investigative sources. Yamagami informed police his mom went bankrupt from the donation, the Yomiuri newspaper and different media have reported.

Tomihiro Tanaka, president of the Japan department of Household Federation for World Peace and Unification, generally known as the Unification Church, informed reporters at a briefing in Tokyo that Yamagami’s mom was a member of the church. He didn’t give her title.

Tanaka declined to touch upon her donations, citing the continuing police investigation.

Tetsuya Yamagami, who confessed to taking pictures former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in police custody on Sunday. Nobuki Ito / AP

Neither Abe nor the person arrested for his taking pictures had been members of the church, Tanaka stated. Abe was additionally not an adviser to the church, Tanaka stated, including the church would cooperate with police on the investigation if requested to take action.

Abe appeared at an occasion hosted by a corporation affiliated with the church final September the place he delivered a speech praising the affiliate’s work in direction of peace on the Korean peninsula, in line with the church’s web site.

Reuters was not instantly capable of contact Yamagami’s mom and couldn’t decide whether or not she belonged to some other spiritual organizations.

Police have confirmed that the suspect stated he held a grudge towards a particular group, however haven’t named it.

Yamagami’s mom first joined the church round 1998 however stopped attending in a interval between 2009 and 2017, Tanaka stated. About two to 3 years in the past she re-established communication with church members and within the final half 12 months or so has been attending church occasions at a frequency of about as soon as a month, he stated.

The Unification Church was based in South Korea in 1954 by Solar Myung Moon, a self-declared messiah and strident anti-communist. It has gained international media consideration for its mass weddings the place it marries 1000’s of {couples} at a time.

Moon, who spoke fluent Japanese, launched an anti-communist political marketing campaign in Japan from late Sixties and constructed relations with Japanese politicians, in line with the church’s publications.

Moon died in 2012. The church has about 600,000 members in Japan, out of 10 million globally, Tanaka stated.