Japan PM promises law to help Unification Church victims

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday he will speed up the drafting and passage of a law to regulate the collection of donations by religious groups and protect families of believers after he met with victims of the Unification Church and was heartbroken by their “horrendous experiences.”

Also Tuesday, a government committee drafted standards to be used to compile questions for use in investigating the controversial South Korean-based religious group, whose decades of cozy ties with Japan’s governing party surfaced after the July assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Kishida is attempting to calm public outrage over his handling of his party’s extensive ties to the church. The economy minister was forced to resign last month over his failure to explain his links to the group.

Abe was fatally shot at an outdoor campaign rally in July. The suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, told police he killed Abe because of his apparent links to a religious group he hated. A letter and social media postings attributed to Yamagami said large donations by his mother to the church bankrupted his family and ruined his life.

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The police investigation of Abe’s killing led to revelations of widespread ties between the church and members of the governing party over shared interests in conservative and anti-communist causes. There is a growing call for Kishida’s party to investigate further to determine if its policies were affected by the church’s views.