updated March 17, 2023
Contents:
1. a. The Liberal Democratic Party’s Tangled Ties to the Unification Church
1. b. A press conference by NNLASS was held in Tokyo on July 29, 2022 on the former Unification Church/FFWPU “spiritual sales” involving over 34,000 court cases, and the organization’s involvement in Japanese politics
2. Prime Minister Kishi of Japan, organised crime and the Moon involvement in Japanese politics gained protection for the UC of Japan
3. Parents Form Organization Against Unification Association – Japan 1967
4. Happiness ginseng from earth-conquering Moonies – Japan 1978
5. Nobusuke Kishi wrote a letter to President Reagan to get Moon released from jail. Moon had been jailed for perjury, document forgery and tax evasion in 1984.
1.a.
The LDP’s Tangled Ties to the Unification Church
Japanese lawmakers’ collusive ties with the controversial religious group have emerged as a major national issue.
The Diplomat July 2022
https://thediplomat.com/2022/07/the-ldps-tangled-ties-to-the-unification-church/
1.b.
NNLASS Lawyers: The Activities of the Unification Church in Japan
▲ Left to right: Yasuo Kawai 川井康雄, Hiroshi Yamaguchi 山口広 and Masaki Kito 紀藤正樹
A press conference was held in Tokyo on July 29, 2022 on the Activities of the former Unification Church/FFWPU.
In Japanese with English translation
The event was organized by Mr. Tetsuo “Teddy” Jimbo 神保 哲生, co-chair of the community for media activity.
The lawyers speak on the reality of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification / former Unification Church and their spiritual sales fraud. The organization was founded by Sun Myung Moon in Korea in 1954, and is currently led by his widow, Hak Ja Han.
video published July 30, 2022
On July 29, 2022, lawyers from the National Network of Lawyers against the Spiritual Sales (NNLASS) 全国霊感商法対策弁護士連絡会, who have been working on relief for victims of the former UC/FFWPU spiritual sales, held a meeting at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan 日本外国特派員協会 in Marunouchi, Tokyo.
Three lawyers of the NNLASS liaison committee, Mr. Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Mr. Masaki Kito, and Mr. Yasuo Kawai, spoke at the event.
Mr. Kawai commented on the relationship between the Abe administration and the FFWPU/former Unification Church.
This transcript has been edited for clarity. It is not exactly verbatim, but tries to be faithful to the intended meaning. Some dates of letters and speeches, etc., have been corrected and various names and facts checked. Some material has been added, for example the Yamagami timeline and a quote from Sun Myung Moon.
Mr. Teddy Jimbo: “Thank you for coming to this press conference at the The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. My name is Teddy Jimbo. I am co-chair of the committee that organizes all the media activities such as this one today, and I am your moderator today.
We have three distinguished speakers with us today. They are real top experts on the issue of the so-called – it’s kind of a direct translation from the Japanese – spiritual sales. Cult organizations using their followers to sell goods for unreasonably high prices. There are many victims, and these three lawyers here with us represent those victims, many of whom have lost their life fortunes [savings] by having to donate all of the money they have and their fortunes [inheritances] as well. They will mainly talk about where the Unification Church activities stand right now here in Japan, which as you know is the money center for that church – although it is a religion that originated in Korea.
Each of the three lawyers will first speak briefly for 5-10 minutes, and then we will try to take as many questions from the floor as possible, as well as on-line. Let’s get right to it.
On the furthest left to you is Mr. Masaki Kito, next is Mr. Hiroshi Yamaguchi and Mr. Yasuo Kawai. They are top lawyers and they all belong to the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales, usually called NNLASS.
Mr. Kawai will speak first, then Mr. Yamaguchi, and then Mr. Kito will wrap up. I will try to limit these speeches to half an hour.
Let’s welcome Mr. Kawai”
▲ Mr. Yasuo Kawai (attorney at law) giving his presentation
04:15
1. Mr. Yasuo Kawai:
“Thank you very much. We have distributed to you some of the materials that we are going to use today.
The first page is a list of events in chronological order. The column on the left is the events related to the Unification Church. The center column is some of the events related to the late former Prime Minister Abe and on the [right] is what happened to the accused, Yamagami.
All the columns highlighted in yellow have some materials in the following pages. And at the end of each column you can see some highlighted numbers – these correspond to the pages of the material that you have in your hands.
So as you can see in the right hand column, the mother of the accused Tetsuya Yamagami joined the Unification Church in 1991 [1999 is incorrect] and she went bankrupt in 2002.”
Tetsuya Yamagami Timeline
1952 Tetsuya Yamagami’s mother born
1979 Tetsuya’s older brother born
1980 Tetsuya Yamagami was born in September
1984 His father (site director of a tunnel construction company) committed suicide in December
1985 His sister was born in February
1991 His mother joins the Unification Church. She donated 50 million yen of her husband’s insurance payout to the Unification Church
His older brother has craniotomy surgery for pediatric cancer, blind in one eye
Tetsuya visits South Korea many times with his mother and sometimes with his brother; some visits are lengthy
His paternal uncle (a lawyer) discontinues financial support for the family, but his mother is relentless
The main financial support at that time was his mother’s father (construction company management)
1994 His uncle discovers that the mother is a member of the Unification Church
1995 Entered Koriyama Prefectural High School in April
1998 Graduated from high school on March 17th.
1998 Enrolled in a vocational school for civil service exams with the help of his uncle. He later dropped out.
August: sold the land of mother and father (Higashi Osaka City) without permission
Mother’s father died in October; she was appointed CEO of the construction company founded by her father
To be confirmed: In about 1999 he was accepted into the prestigious Doshisha University, the most famous Protestant Christian college in Japan [Faculty of Engineering]. However, his mother made massive donations to the Unification Church, which caused her to go bankrupt [in August 2002] when Yamagami had not even completed two years at Doshisha. Unable to pay the tuition, he dropped out of Doshisha and enlisted in the navy. (Westwind7)
1999 March: His mother sold the house she inherited, etc., and donated more than 40 million yen to the FFWPU
2002 August: Became a fixed-term (Maritime) Self-Defense Force officer
December: His mother declared self-bankruptcy
2005 The Maritime Self-Defense Force’s term expired in August.
In September he returned to Nara to work at a measurement company.
2009 Mother’s construction company dissolved. Negotiate with her uncle, the church, and get back 50 million yen.
2015 Brother’s suicide. The funeral was in November. He was deeply affected by the death of his brother.
2020 October: Started working as a fork lift truck driver through a dispatch company. [He was described as quiet.]
2021 Abe made a video appearance at a Unification Church event in September.
2022 January: Workplace trouble continues. He sees Abe’s September video praising Hak Ja Han, leader the UPF and FFWPU/UC.
April: Completed a self-made gun at his home
His last work attendance is in late April.
On July 8 he shoots and kills former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Nara.
06:55
Mr. Yasuo Kawai: “Next are pages of charts. The material shows how fierce the solicitation of donations and the sales of spiritual products were in that period between 1999 and 2002. During this period there were some compulsory donations introduced to the Unification Church members, namely devotion donation of 1.6 million yen per person. The “Total living offering” of 2.1 million yen and ancestor [liberation and] blessing donation of 2.8 million yen. Those were compulsory. And in addition during the same period there were the “Last of Heaven and Nation” [Cheon Il Guk?] donation of 3 million yen per person, and there was the “Holy Book” providence book sales. Each book cost 30 million yen.”
______
Sun Myung Moon: “If we do not make the total living offering, it is like exploitation. You sit on stolen goods and still use them even though you know they are stolen. … In order to make the total living offering, we have to be able to erase our own name. Everything has to be offered; total negation. By doing so, we can be reconnected to God.”
January 27, 2002 Kona, Hawai’i
Translation by Rev. Peter Kim; Notes by Tyler Hendricks
http://www.unification.net/2002/20020127_1.html
______
08:40
Mr. Yasuo Kawai: “The following pages show you some of the actual materials used by the members to keep track of how many of the collection of money targets they were attaining. You can see on the first page of the pile of documents the region by region sales of all different goods and also donations.
And I would like to add one more thing, pages 5-7 have no dates printed on them but these were prepared in May 2000.
This shows the compulsory amount of money each individual person, or the section, each region, had to collect.
This chronological chart on the first page also shows the help the Unification Church gave that was related to politicians.
10:52
As you can see in 2005 and 2006 the late former prime minister Abe sent congratulatory messages to UPF (Universal Peace Federation) events. And on June 16, 2006 we sent a public letter to Mr Abe telling him that UPF is a front organization of the Unification Church and his act of sending a congratulatory message would generate new victims and we expressed our strong wish and request for him to stop doing such things.
The material on pages 8-10 shows the letter that we sent. Then, since we did not receive any response, we sent another letter which is on pages 11-13 and this was a protest letter to Mr. Abe.
13:12
And on this page if you look at the year 2007 you can see a very plain fact that in October the Tenshudo「天守堂」case in Okinawa occurred. (see note below) That was the first criminal case against an organization or entity related to the Unification Church. And if you look in the center column you can see that Prime Minister Abe resigned in the same year in September [just before the case]. Then again the second Abe administration began in December 2012. In the time between (2007-2012) there were some criminal cases, arrests and searches. But since December 2012, when Mr Abe became the prime minister again, there have been no criminal cases against the UC.
Another very important factor concerning the Unification Church is recruitment without revealing the organization’s true identity. When they recruit new members they don’t disclose that they are the Unification Church – or a religious organization at all. While the potential members are being recruited, they don’t realize that it is a religion. However the indoctrination process to the UC belief system has already started. And after the name of the Unification Church was changed to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification in August 2015, these kinds of activities of disguised recruitment accelerated.
On pages 22-35 of the materials you can find our letter of request to not permit the change of the name of the organization. In our letter dated March 26, 2015 we pleaded for the government not to allow the Unification Church to change their name. This letter was directed to the Cultural Affairs Agency of the government. But the minister who was in charge of the Cultural Affairs Agency had started to make speeches at events related to the Unification Church in around April 2012, and he also gave interviews that were covered in magazines that were related to the UC.
18:12
After the start of Abe’s second administration, the politicians no longer hid their affiliation, or relationship, with the Unification Church. They started to participate in events hosted by UC related organizations. Then we sent an open letter to all the Diet [parliament] members on two occasions. The first was on June 1, 2018 and the second was on February 27, 2019. These are in the materials in your hands on pages 36-39.
So then the late former prime minister Abe sent a video message on September 12, 2021 giving some words of tribute to the leader of the Unification Church organization, Hak Ja Han. Following that we sent a public letter on September 17, 2021 protesting and asking [Shinzo Abe] to stop giving such tributes to the leader of the organization.
LINK:
https://www.stopreikan.com/kogi_moshiire/shiryo_20210917.htm
Then in this context, this year on July 8th as you know, the tragic event of the fatal shooting occurred. In response to this case we released two statements which have been translated in English. They are part of the materials which we distributed to you today. And of course we do not condone the act of the accused, but we would like you to understand the context which I have just explained, how the politicians were related to the Unification Church. We are hoping this relationship will end and also that more victims and damage will not be generated in the future.
That is all from me.”
Statement on Fatal Shooting of Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
July 12, 2022
National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales
Statement in Response to the Statement of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification
July 20, 2022
National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales
2. Mr. Hiroshi Yamaguchi
22:00
Mr. Hiroshi Yamaguchi: “My name is Yamaguchi and I am one of the National Representatives of the National Network of Lawyers Against the Spiritual Sales. I would like to briefly talk about the issues that concern us from the establishment of the organization until today.
Sun Myung Moon, who founded the Unification Church, was born in 1920. Around the 1950s there was a crisis on the Korean peninsula. [In June 1950 the Korea War broke out.] At that moment Moon was in prison in North Korea. He often spoke about the hardships he experienced during this period.
Although this organization was established in Korea, Japan has been their main base for recruitment of members and their fundraising.
25:18
And the reason why Japan is the main base for their recruitment and fundraising comes from the teachings Sun Myung Moon gave to the Japanese members. According to his words, Japan is the Eve nation and Korea is the Adam nation.
Sun Myung Moon claims the Eve nation has the responsibility to indemnify the crimes and sins committed in the past.”
[Eve was blamed for the “fall of man” in the Bible. During the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula from 1910-1945, metals, food and other resources were taken from Korea to Japan, and Korean men and women were forced to support the Japanese war effort in factories and coal mines, etc.]
“That was the reasoning why the members had to recruit more people in Japan and to raise more money in Japan. Their teachings said the Japanese had to send members and money to Korea. These were the words of Sun Myung Moon, the true messiah, and so they were considered to be the words of God in their faith.
So let’s talk about how the Unification Church was certified in Japan as a religious organization.”
[“In 1964 the Unification Church of Japan headed by Chairman Osami Kuboki was authenticated as a religious corporation.” – Professor Yoshihide Sakurai]
“In Japan as long as any entity has fulfilled the formalities required by law, even Aum Shinrikyo or the Unification Church can get certified, and the certification as a religious organization means they automatically get tax exempt status.
Another important factor is that in 1967 there was a meeting between Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, and Nobusuke Kishi, Ryochi Sasakawa and Yoshio Kodama at the foot of Mount Fuji. They talked about how to fight against communism. The politicians and the right-wing bosses had a discussion and as a result they decided to establish the Federation for Victory over Communism. At the time Nobusuke Kishi was one of the people who proposed to start the organization together with these other people.
▲ Lawyer Hiroshi Yamaguchi holding a Unification Church book that shows Sun Myung Moon with former US president Eisenhower in 1965, then US president Nixon in 1973 and former Japanese president Kishi in 1973. Such images persuaded members that Moon was important and successful, as well as impressing outside contacts.
30:10
So another characteristic of the Unification Church is that this is not just a simple religious organization, but it has different sections for politics, publications, media and academics. So the Unification Church repeatedly advocated the importance of not just religion but political and media activities as well.
Sun Myung Moon lived in the United States for years and got close to the then President Nixon, and he praised President Nixon very much. In 1982 he founded the Washington Times in the US.
The Washington Times after that he got close to President Bush senior and his widow, Hak Ja Han, has supported the former president Trump. Those former presidents loved the Washington Times. In the United States in 1977 there was Koreagate, and also the tax evasion, perjury, document forgery and financial wrong doings of Sun Myung Moon were investigated. As a result, in 1984 Sun Myung Moon was convicted and imprisoned in the Danbury correctional facility in the United States for about a year.
So as a result of his experience in the United States he started to emphasize befriending politicians. Sun Myung Moon tried to befriend politicians [and religious leaders] in order to bring pressure on the US governmental investigative and judicial agencies to not investigate some possible tax evasion or the illegal spiritual sales [or breaking of immigration laws]. Getting close to politicians was one of the missions of this organization.
35:12
I myself have been helping the victims of the Unification Church who were coerced to make large donations to the Church under pressure from the illegal activities of the organization. The reason I have been doing this for 35 years is that all the victims I have encountered are such good people, good citizens, who are truly worried about the possible misfortune of their family members, or the agonies their late husbands are suffering after death, or that their children may not be able to get married because their ancestors are suffering agonies in hell. So they are good people, good citizens, who are trying to save those family members by spending a lot of money on spiritual sales goods and making large donations. I believe these tactics are very dirty and I am very angry at what the Unification Church has been doing.
And I would like to speak about the children of the members and how much suffering they have had to experience. There are two types of suffering; the first is poverty because of a lack of money in the family. This has meant that many second generation have not been able to go to college, and families have not been able to afford necessary health care. The second type of suffering is that the children have to go to mass weddings where they can’t fully choose their own partners by themselves. Those two things are what they were taught by their parents as how things should be. These have given a lot of difficulties to the second generation members of the Unification Church. And I believe the accused Yamagami is one of them.”
[After two years Yamagami was unable to complete his course at Doshisha University because his mother went bankrupt. His brother was unable to pay for his cancer treatment and committed suicide. Yamagami was deeply distressed about the death of his brother.]
“Although what Yamagami did was totally wrong, I can imagine how that was for him.”
3. Mr. Masaki Kito introduced the court cases against the former Unification Church/FFWPU.
This transcript has been edited for clarity. Various facts have been checked and some information has been added.
Mr. Kito: “I would like to introduce the court cases concerning the Unification Church in Japan.
Through this you can understand how extraordinary or abnormal the situation of the Unification Church in Japan is.
[As Mr Kawai noted, there have also been successful criminal court cases against the UC such as the Tenshudo (2007) case and also the Shinsei (2009) case.]
“We have two major categories of injury/damage in civil court cases against the Unification Church of Japan. There have been various civil court cases.”
█ Type 1 Financial Problems
Financial damage due to spiritual sales, illegal solicitation of donations, etc.
█ Type 2 Recruitment Problems
Recruitment using undue mind control techniques, etc., hiding the true identity of the UC in order to indoctrinate people without them being aware of what is being done to them.
___
First court case precedent decision for Type 1
█ The first decision in Japan occurred in Fukuoka District Court, May 27, 1994.
This was a donation case; the victims of the UC claimed damage based on torts
The court decided the donations to the UC were obtained Illegally
___
First court case precedent decision for Type 2
█ Recruitment case, a precedent was set in the Okayama Branch of the Hiroshima High Court on September 14, 2000
█ Another recruitment case: Sapporo District Court on June 29, 2001
Both these cases necessarily included Type 1 financial issues.
___
After these cases NNLASS won many civil cases of both Type 1 and Type 2 against the Unification Church in Japan.
Type 1 cases in the different districts are shown with green arrows; Type 2 are shown in red.
These cases, as shown by the arrows, indicated that the Unification Church organization was operating systematically all over Japan.
Unification Church Illegal Activities
We have won cases all over Japan in District Courts and in the Supreme Court from 1994 to 2004.
█ Donations
May 27, 1994 (in Fukuoka) and September 18, 1997
█ Recruitment to the group
June 6, 1998 and February 9, 2001
█ Spiritual sales
March 23, 1999 and June 8, 2001
█ Recruitment to mass weddings
August 21, 2002 and February 26, 2004 (in Tokyo)
These cases indicate that all of the core activities of the religious group known as the Unification Church have been acknowledged to be illegal by the Supreme Court of Japan.
___
So I think the problematic activities of the Unification Church in Japan is very special compared to in other countries. So please understand our situation in Japan. I think the Unification Church is a very illegal religious group [that has committed many crimes].
The Unification Church in Japan now
█ They have not stopped their illegal activities at the present time
█ The group has no common sense to comply with the law, or apologize and compensate even past victims.
That is the situation in Japan
Thank you very much for your attention”
47:50
Mr. Teddy Jimbo: “Thank you very much Mr Kito.”
Here is a chart of the cases handled by the National Network of Lawyers Against the Spiritual Sales (NNLASS) over the past 35 years
“統一教会” 霊感商法の被害件数
Damage caused by the spiritual sales of the FFWPU/Unification Church
▲ Over 34,500 cases against the FFWPU/former UC for “spiritual sales” fraud from 1987-2021. An network of 300 lawyers have been dealing with the cases with victim losses totaling about 123.7 billion yen ($923 million). 1987 was the worst year with losses of 16.3 billion yen. Each year there are more cases.
Questions and Answers
Mr. Teddy Jimbo: “So we are going to go to Q and A. Please come up to one of the two microphones on either side of the head table.”
Ms. Isabel Reynolds from Bloomberg News: “I’d like to ask about something that I have heard and I would like to try and have confirmed. You mentioned that in the Unification Church Japan is seen as the Eve country and Korea as the Adam country. I have also heard that most of the people that are targeted for these donations, and for membership, are women, and I was wondering if you have any data on that?”
Mr. Yamaguchi Hiroshi: “So, yes I would say that the majority of those targeted are women, and since there are far more female followers in the UC, when it comes to the mass weddings there is a lack of males. So the UC finally started to recruit Korean men from the general public [non-believers] in Korea. So there are many Japanese women that got married to Korean husbands living in Korea, but they are trying to raise their children without sufficient language skills. This is becoming a new social issue that we have to address.”
51:40
Mr. Teddy Jimbo: “Isabel has a follow up question she wants to ask, “Is there any reason why Japanese women are the primary targets?””
Mr. Yamaguchi: “Of course it’s wonderful that there are marriages between Japanese women and Korean men. It is wonderful for the good exchange between these two countries; to have two countries close to each other and friendly with each other, but this could be a different story and so that is why I am worried. And the reason why more women are recruited, not just to the Unification Church but to other religious organizations such as Soka Gakkai and others, is, according to a religious sociologist in Japan, is because Japanese women have a tendency to have difficulty understanding or sorting out their issues concerning their physical bodies. This has not been fully scientifically explained. So more Japanese women have a tendency to be attracted to such religious groups in Japan.”
Mr. Teddy Jimbo: “So in front of Mr Yamaguchi and Mr Kawai is a religious holy book, the Cheon Seong Gyeong, which is signed by Sun Myung Moon. This book was sold for 30 million yen ($30,000). After the Press Conference you can come up and see the actual signature of Mr Moon. This is the actual holy book.”
55:00
▲ Lawyer Hiroshi Yamaguchi holding a copy of the Cheong Seong Gyeong book of Sun Myung Moon’s words which, with his signature, each family in Japan was required to buy for $30,000 per book. This was part of the spiritual sales scam.
“I am Toshio Wada (?) with Arc Times (?). First of all I was recently struck by the New Yorker article which described the reporting situation in Japan. It said that the connection between Mr. Abe’s family and Sun Myung Moon was little discussed in Japanese mainstream media. I agree with that analysis. There is a great divide in Japanese mainstream media. Nihon TV and TBS have been fairly aggressive on focussing on the cult and the current issue. But NHK, Asahi Shimbun and Asahi TV and ??? have been kind of silent. It has been strange, and also has been noted by the US media. So what do you make of this? And just quickly, the Washington Post recently reported that the Unification Church has been attracting world leaders through paying top dollar, so they have been paying big money for appearances, for speeches by political leaders. Back in the 1990s it was $80,000, and it was the same money in Japan at that time. This issue is not being discussed in the Japanese media. Do you have any sense that Japanese politicians, like Mr Abe, (or others from?) the LDP, have been paid for their appearances or for sending congratulatory telegrams to the UC?
59:20
Mr. Kito: “I would like to answer the question about the media. To be honest with you, I don’t know why this is happening now. But if any major issue or event occurs in society, first just one or a few media outlets start with big coverage, and then gradually all the media outlets follow. So that is what usually happens. I don’t think the current situation is that special. And I have a very strong belief that the facts or the truth can really prevail in the media in the end. So that finally all the media will cover all the truth and facts about this issue. That is my strong belief.”
Mr. Yamaguchi: “I would like to add some words. The quality level of the work of television, media and the newspapers is much lower than in the past. I believe that at the beginning of this present case, all the major media just said “a specific religious group” and they did not mention the name of the Unification Church, while at the same time the international media were actually naming this organization as the Unification Church. I am sort of desperate about the situation of the major Japanese media. Maybe this comes from the difference of generation between Mr Kito and myself.”
Mr. Kito: “I would like to answer the answer about money paid to politicians. I would imagine that in Japan the same thing is happening. The Unification Church in Japan often do carry cash instead of using bank accounts so that there is no proof of that. If it is proven that money is transferred to politicians there would be a major issue of a question of bribery. The fact is that in the past nobody has proven that there were large transfers of money from the Unification Church to politicians.”
1:03:40
Mr. Jimbo: “I would like to at least pick up one question from on line. This from Fred Varcoe who is a decision (?) member [and former FCCJ secretary] and also our colleague on the tax committee. He asks: “Do the tax benefits of religions make it easier for fraudulent organizations to exist? And do you think all tax benefits should be removed from religions?” Also he asks, “How similar or different is Soka Gakkai from groups like the Unification Church?”
Mr. Yamaguchi: “The tax exemption question is something that the various NNLASS lawyers individually have different opinions about. I myself believe that certain religious corporations should remain tax exempt. Mr Yamaguchi mentioned that Mr. Kito thinks all tax exemptions should be eliminated. But Mr Kito just said that he doesn’t have that idea, but has a little different idea. But time is pressing and it takes a lot of time to explain my opinion so will I refrain from answering the question at this point.
Mr. Jimbo: “Mr.Kito is going to have to go. The other two lawyers will stay to take one or two more questions.”
Mr. Kito: “Thank you very much for listening to us.”
Mr. Jimbo: “Thank you very much Mr. Kito. Georges has a question.”
“My name is Georges Baumgartner. I work for Swiss Television. … I am reminded of a lawyer who worked in Yokohama. He was defending victims of Aum Shinrikyo and after a deal with TBS he disappeared, along with his family, and they were all killed. … I would like to ask the other lawyers if they have received threats, and can they expect any help from the police? And lastly, Is there any difference between Moon of the Unification Church and Soka Gakkai?”
1:10:30
Mr Kawai: “I would like to answer the question about whether the police can help the victims of the Unification Church. It is not a simple case of threats or intimidation or anything like that. They just hide their true nature and real identity and gradually implant the idea that a spirit world actually does exist, and a hell really does exist and their ancestors are having a lot of difficulty and are in agony in hell. Those ideas are implanted and then they are told there is misfortune happening to their families, or will happen to their families, because of the agony of their ancestors. And because of that implantation process they gradually start giving up their money to the Unification Church. It is not a simple thing, so the police have difficulty to jump into this situation to help.”
1:13:30
Mr. Yamaguchi: “As lawyers working on these Unification Church cases, in 1987 I engaged in this kind of work for the victims of the Unification Church. There were many cases where there were difficulties having 2-300 telephone calls to my private home every day for three weeks straight. According to one of the ex-members of the Unification Church, they handed out over 100,000 copies of bills (leaflets) which slandered me, having my name and photograph. These were handed out in my neighborhood as well as in Shinjuku ward. So that happened. Many of my friends tell me I should be careful, but I am still alive. Concerning the difference between Soka Gakkai and the Unification Church, there have been no criminal cases and no civil cases confirmed with Soka Gakkai. That is the main difference.
Mr. Jimbo: “We’ll have to make this the very last question. By the way there are 300 lawyers registered with this National Network of Lawyers Against the Spiritual Sales, so maybe there are too many targets for them.”
Mrs. Sara Hussein (?) Agence France-Presse, Liberacion newspaper (?): “As I can see from your presentation, there have been many civil cases but there have not been many criminal cases. Is that because there is a connection between these religious organizations (including the Unification Church) and politicians, or are there no laws in Japan to control the activities of cultic groups like this because of the politicians and the religious organizations”
Mr. Yamaguchi: “Having laws and regulations to control the activities of religious groups is very difficult for everyone, not just in Japan, but in other countries as well. In the United States there are no strict rules, I would say what they have is rather loose. In France there is the About-Picard law, but it has not been used very much. The issue of legislation is very controversial and difficult. I receive many messages from the general public asking why I am not working on making rules and regulations. I want people, and particularly politicians, not to engage with the activities of those illegal groups [such as the former Unification Church] and to instead follow normal ethical standards. So for that end I believe what is covered by the media outlets is very, very important.”
Mr. Jimbo: “Thank you very much. I still see some hands up, but we are going to have to let them go. Both lawyers have agreed to stay a little longer to exchange name cards with you and to answer some questions in person. As is customary, I would like to present to the lawyers a one year guest membership to the club. Please come and have a drink with us. [to the audience] Thank you for coming to the press conference.”
Notes
1. The Tenshudo, Okinawa 2007 case
特商法違反 ２００７（平成１９）年１０月から１２月
沖縄の「天守堂」の従業員２名が１０月２５日、店主と従業員２名が１１月２２日、代表者Ａ男が１２月５日に、いずれも特定商取引法違反の容疑で逮捕され、後に逮捕された３名が１２月１４日と１２月２５日に罰金刑に処せられた。
印かん販売目的を告げずにビラを配布して来店した客に「家庭運が悪い、今年から来年にかけてすごく悪い年なんです。特別な印かんで運勢は上がっていく」などと長時間、執拗に迫って威迫して困惑させたというもの。
Violation of the Special Sales Act from October to December 2007
Two employees of Tenshudo in Okinawa were arrested on October 25th. The store owner and two employees were arrested on November 22nd, and the representative, a man, on December 5, 2007. All of them were arrested on suspicion of violating the Special Sales Act. Three employees who were arrested were later fined on December 14 and December 25.
Leaflets which did not explain the purpose of selling stamps were distributed. “Your family fortune is bad. You will have a very bad time from this year to next year. Your fortune will improve if you purchase a special seal.”
The salesperson was very persistent and the customer felt intimidated and confused
2. Soka Gakkai (Japanese: 創価学会, “Value-Creation Society”) is a Japanese Buddhist religious movement based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese priest, Nichiren, as taught by its first three presidents. It is the largest of the Japanese new religions.
3. The About-Picard law was introduced in France in June 2000. It allows judges to order the dissolution of any sect whose members are convicted of a criminal offense. It also bans sects from advertising, and prohibits them from opening missions or touting for new members near schools, hospitals or retirement homes.
But the law’s key weapon is the new crime of mental manipulation, defined as “exercising, within a group whose activities are aimed at creating or exploiting psychological dependence, heavy and repeated pressure on a person, or using techniques likely to alter his judgment, so as to induce him to behave in a way prejudicial to his interests”.
The law was denounced by both the Church of Scientalogy and the Unification Church as fascist, anti-democratic and in breach of basic human rights laws.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/jun/23/jonhenley
The views expressed at this event are not the views of the FCCJ. The FCCJ accepts no responsibility or liability for any view expressed.
Lawyers accuse Abe shooting-linked church of entrapping many families
By Peter Masheter, KYODO NEWS – July 29, 2022 – 23:10
The Unification Church … has emotionally entrapped many people such as the accused gunman’s mother, lawyers committed to helping victims of the religious body said Friday.
The three lawyers … told a press conference that the church, formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, receives donations by instilling fear in believers for relatives both living and deceased, including the specter of hell.
The National Network, comprising of about 300 lawyers, was established in 1987. The Network has repeatedly petitioned the government and politicians, including Abe, not to recognize the church. As of 2021, it had taken consultations nationwide on 34,537 cases, with losses totaling about 123.7 billion yen ($923 million).
The speakers condemned the shooting of Abe by Tetsuya Yamagami on July 8 in the western city of Nara as “wrong,” and a statement from it called it a “despicable act.” One of the lawyers, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, said many victims he has met are good people whose fears are exploited by the church.
“To stop their families being victims of misfortune, to stop their deceased relatives from suffering forever in hell, to help their son get married, they try to save them from misfortune, they give money to the church,” he said. Yamaguchi also said an “overwhelming” number of believers in Japan are women, and religious groups in the country generally have more female followers.
Police say Yamagami may have identified the former prime minister as a target after watching a September 2021 video address from him to an event held by an organization associated with the church.
In the message, which prompted protest from the lawyers’ group, Abe lauds the organization, the Universal Peace Federation, for its “focus and emphasis on family values.”
Investigators have gradually revealed a picture of Yamagami who claims his mother’s membership to the church blighted the lives of him and his siblings.
His uncle has previously told reporters that Yamagami’s mother impoverished the family by donating around 100 million yen to the church and even selling real estate to do so.
Japan, Yamaguchi said, is a major center of fundraising and recruitment for the church because of the teachings propagated by its now-deceased founder, Sun Myung Moon, claiming the country is an “Eve” to Korea’s “Adam” that must atone for its sins. Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. [The church also uses a distorted version of the Comfort Women issue to guilt Japanese members.]
As the shock from Abe’s sudden death has dissipated, a number of lawmakers from the Liberal Democratic Party, led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, have been revealed to have connections to the church.
Speaking at the press conference, lawyer Masaki Kito said he hopes financial questions will lead to future developments, saying, “The Unification Church tries as much as possible to avoid using wire transfers, credit and bank books, it’s a system for amassing money by cash.
“If transfers to politicians can be proven, then I think the movement of money will become a focal point.”
The Daily Beast (Updated July 30, 2022)
“Manabu Yanagi, a retired police detective in Nikko City in Tochigi Prefecture, told The Daily Beast, “The news is shocking. The ties between an anti-social group of fraudsters and the ruling party of Japan are disturbing. It needs to be made clear what exactly those ties were.”
At a press conference on July 12, Lawyer Hiroshi Watanabe said, “To the victims of the Unification Church, it seems that the police didn’t properly investigate the group (on criminal charges of fraud and extortion) because they were well-connected to politicians. We feel the same way.”
Yoshifu Arita, a journalist and Japanese parliamentarian, said on a television broadcast aired July 18 that he was told by a senior police official, “The reason we didn’t crack down on this group [when we should have a decade ago] was the intervention of politicians.””
Lawyers probe adoptions arranged by former Unification Church
Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022 12:05
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20221115_32/
NHK has learned that lawyers in Japan have begun investigating adoptions arranged by the religious group formerly known as the Unification Church.
Some children of group members say such adoptions are carried out based on their parents’ beliefs. …
The group teaches that having and raising many children is important, and releases videos and publications that say families with children have a duty to share that “blessing” with childless ones.
Lawyer Abe Katsuomi, who began the probe, says the group’s actions could go against the purpose of the adoption system – providing an environment to ensure children’s wellbeing. …
Waseda University Professor Tanamura Masayuki, an expert on the civil code and the adoption system, also says the group may be violating child welfare and other laws.
He stresses that the government must ensure children’s safety and look into whether the group has been acting lawfully.
The former Unification Church says it has overseen 745 adoptions so far. …
2.
Prime Minister Kishi of Japan, organised crime and the Moon involvement in Japanese politics gained protection for the UC of Japan
▲ Sun Myung Moon with Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke
extracts from an article by Richard J. Samuels
Japan Policy Research Institute – Working Paper No. 83, December 2001
… Kishi Nobusuke (1896-1987) [Japanese Prime Minister 1957-1960], who was also an architect of the “transwar” system of industrial and economic policy. Yoshida and his disciples represented the more decorous “mainstream” of LDP [Liberal Democratic Party] hegemony and worked comfortably with the “orthodox” business community (seitoha zaikai). Kishi, by contrast, managed to maintain contacts with the mainstream while also connecting the non-zaibatsu business community and selected parts of the discredited prewar world of ultra-nationalist politicians and control bureaucrats (tosei kanryo) to the postwar conservative hegemony.
The political choices of each contributed significantly and quite directly to the “structural corruption” (kozo oshoku) that came to be a central feature of Japanese politics and that sustained conservative power. Yoshida’s contribution was made before the consolidation of the conservative camp, Kishi’s came later. The system was not the result of their collusion, but of their vigorous political competition. Yoshida never belonged to the Liberal Democratic Party. The LDP was created by Kishi and his allies to take power away from Yoshida …
Even in a Cold War world of cynical opportunism and rapidly shifting alliances, Kishi’s postwar “resurrection” was remarkable. Kishi had been General Tojo’s closest deputy for nearly a decade, until the fall of Saipan. Yet, in June 1957, in the same U.S. Senate chamber where a decade and a half earlier a declaration of war against Japan had been approved, Vice President Richard Nixon banged the gavel to introduce Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke, proclaiming him an “honored guest” who was “not only a great leader of the free world, but also a loyal and great friend of the people of the United States.” …
Kishi began building his political career long before the end of the war. He first ran for elective office in 1942, while serving as Minister of Commerce and Industry. The election, under the auspices of the corporatist Imperial Rule Assistance Association (Yokusan Seiji Taisei Kyogikai – IRAA), was minimally competitive, as two-thirds of the successful candidates had been “approved” and subsidized by the state. Future LDP leaders Hatoyama Ichiro, Kono Ichiro, and Miki Bukichi were among the eighty-five successful independent candidates, as was the future political “fixer,” Sasakawa Ryoichi.
▲ Sun Myung Moon with Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke
The wartime campaign gave him considerable insight into the darker side of campaign financing. There were rumors that Kishi had already enriched himself and his political allies while serving as a bureaucrat in Manchuria. Connections to the opium trade through radical nationalists and to industrialists, combined with his personal control of the movement of capital in and out of the puppet state, made Kishi singularly influential – and likely very rich. Indeed, while still in China Kishi became known for his consummate skill in laundering money. It was said that he could move as much money around as he wished “with a single telephone call,” and that he did so both legally and illegally and for public and private purposes. By the time Kishi returned to Tokyo in 1939, he had built up an impressive network of political allies inside and outside government. He was already the prototypical LDP political elder. …
Kodama Yoshio (1911-1984) cast a ubiquitous shadow over many of the less pleasant aspects of pre- and postwar Japanese politics. After serving time in jail for plotting the assassination of leading prewar business and party leaders, he spent the war years in China where he procured strategic materials for the military. The activities of his “Kodama Agency” reportedly included drug trafficking, smuggling, and black marketeering. War profits made Kodama a personal fortune, which he was quick to turn to political advantage. He was said to have been released from Sugamo prison after making a deal with the occupation authorities to work for U.S. intelligence. …
Kishi first called upon Kodama, whose modus operandi, according to Jacob Schlesinger, “was blackmail, intimidation, and violence,” to provide protection for Indonesian president Sukarno during the latter’s visit to Tokyo in early 1958. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police had refused to help on grounds that it was a personal, rather than an official visit. Kishi again called upon Kodama in 1960 to use his gangland connections to battle student demonstrators and to help the government protect President Eisenhower …
▲ Left to right: Choi Won-pok (a ‘second wife’ of Moon), Hak Ja Han, Sun Myung Moon, Sasakawa Ryoichi, unknown, Eu Hyo-won (who wrote the 1957 Divine Principle and was the main lecturer and organizer of the UC in Korea in the late 1950s and 1960s) and Kuboki Osami (leader of the UC of Japan).
Sasakawa Ryoichi (1899-1995) was the more complex of the two Kishi-era kuromaku. Drafted into the Imperial Navy as a pilot in 1918, Sasakawa returned home after two years of service to expand the family fortune by speculating in rice futures. He later turned his energies to rightwing politics, possibly including membership in the violent Black Dragon Society. In 1931, Sasakawa used his own resources to establish the National Essence Mass Party (Kokusui Taishuto). His 15,000 party members, one of whom was Kodama Yoshio, wore black shirts and modeled themselves on the Italian fascists. Sasakawa was a maverick. He controlled a small independent air force of twenty-two airplanes, which he made available to the Navy for training, and took it upon himself to airlift supplies to the Japanese troops after the 1931 Manchurian incident. Later he was arrested for alleged plans for “patriotic violence,” including plots against the prime minister and other government officials. After spending two and a half years in jail (1935-1938), he flew one of his planes to Rome to meet Mussolini. … but his postwar political career was cut short by his arrest and imprisonment as a war criminal. …
▲ Sasakawa Ryoichi with Mussolini
Another aspect of Sasakawa’s postwar political agenda, anti-communism, dovetailed neatly with his efforts in conservative politics. Working closely with Kishi, he cultivated relationships with other anti-communists throughout Asia. In the mid-1960s,
this brought him into contact with the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church.
In 1967, Sasakawa invited the Unification Church to use his motorboat racing center in Yamanashi prefecture for its first rally in Japan. The following year, three months after the Reverend Moon established his “Federation for Victory over Communism” (Shokyo Rengo) in Korea, Sasakawa agreed to become its honorary chairman in Japan. Kishi was impressed by the Federation, suggesting that “If all younger people were like Shokyo Rengo members, Japan would have a bright future.” In this way, Sasakawa and Kishi shielded what would become one of the most widely distrusted groups in contemporary Japan.
Although loathed and feared for its alleged kidnappings and mind control of young Japanese, the Unification Church proved (and may still prove) to be of incalculable benefit to many Japanese politicians.
It built its Japan headquarters on land in Tokyo once owned by Kishi.
▲ Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke with UC of Japan President Kuboki Osami at the UC headquarters in Tokyo
By the early 1970s, a number of LDP politicians were using Unification Church members as campaign workers. While the politicians were required to pledge to visit the Church’s headquarters in Korea and receive Reverend Moon’s lectures on theology, it did not matter whether they were members of the Church. Actual Church members – so-called “Moonies” – were sent by the Federation to serve without compensation as industrious and highly valued campaign workers.
In return, for many years the Church enjoyed protection from prosecution by Japanese authorities for their often fraudulent and aggressive sales and conversion tactics.
Not incidentally, by the 1980s, Japan reportedly provided some four-fifths of Unification Church revenues worldwide.
Over time, the Kishi and allied factions transferred the Kishi-Sasakawa-Moon link to other party leaders. In 1974, Fukuda Takeo, the direct inheritor of the Kishi faction, praised Reverend Moon as “one of Asia’s great leaders,” while Nakasone Yasuhiro, the youngest member of the Kishi Cabinet and scion of the allied Kono faction, similarly honored Moon. Abe Shintaro, Kishi’s son-in law and inheritor of the faction from Fukuda, also depended upon “Moonies” in his election campaigns.
A list prepared by the Japan Communist Party of 126 LDP and DSP politicians who used “volunteers” from the Federation for Victory over Communism to staff their campaigns includes Ozawa Ichiro, Hashimoto Ryutaro, and other senior party leaders. In the 1990 general election, the Unification Church announced that it had provided financial and campaign support to more than one hundred Japanese Diet members.
As a measure of the influence Moon enjoyed in Japan, in 1992 the government gave him special permission to enter the country even though Japanese law forbids entry to a foreign national who has served more than year in jail. Moon had served eighteen months in U.S. jail for tax evasion and had been barred from entering Japan on these grounds for nearly a decade. In March 1992, Kanemaru Shin, vice president of the LDP and the head of the largest faction within the party, intervened on Moon’s behalf with the Minister of Justice.
RICHARD J. SAMUELS is Ford International Professor of Political Science and director of the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has written numerous books on Japan, including Rich Nation, Strong Army: National Security and the Technological Transformation of Japan (Cornell University Press,1994), which won the 1996 John Whitney Hall Prize of the Association of Asian Studies. He has recently completed a comparative political and economic history of Italy and Japan, of which this paper is an edited excerpt. It is used with the permission of Cornell University Press. Professor Samuels received an Abe Foundation fellowship in support of this research and was affiliated with the Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo. In October 2001, Samuels was appointed Chairman of the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission.
To read the whole article see:
http://www.jpri.org/publications/workingpapers/wp83.html
Working Paper No. 83, December 2001
Kishi and Corruption: An Anatomy of the 1955 System
by Richard J. Samuels Japan Policy Research Institute
The Unification Church encyclopedia also referenced this document after the sanitized biography of Kishi:
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Kishi_Nobusuke
3.
Parents Form Organization Against New-Religious Sect
Mainichi Shimbun, Tokyo, Japan, September 17, 1967
Some 80 parents from throughout the country Saturday formed a national organization to protect their sons and daughters who, they claim, have fallen prey to a neo-religious sect created by a South Korean, aimed at unifying all religious, thoughts and even the world.
At the inaugural meeting held in Tokyo the parents said that their children, mostly high school and university students, were bring misled by a so-called “Unification Association” even to abandon school lessons and desert parents and kinfolk.
The unification movement is said to have been launched by Mun Seon Myong [Moon Sun Myung], 47, as a “free sex group” after the end of the Korean War some 13 years ago. Almost nothing is known about the founder.
▲ Sun Myung Moon, left, at around the time Choi Sang-ik was sent to Japan to begin the organization there. Moon Sung Jin, born in 1946, is his son from his first marriage, to Choi Seon-gil. On the right is Kim Young-Oon who wrote the first ever Divine Priniciple, published in English 1956. The first Korean edition was published in 1957.
It has also been engaged in Japan in 1959 by a Korean missionary [Choi Sang-ik aka Masaru Nishigawa or Papasan Choi] and officially recognized as a religious establishment in 1963.
▲ Choi Sang-ik, known as Masaru Nishigawa in Japan, or as Papasan Choi in the US. His wife was known as Mamasan. She was one of the students expelled from Ewha Womans University in Seoul in 1955 during the Unification Church sex scandal of that year. Moon was sentenced to two years in jail for his crimes.
The organization is said to have a membership of some 3,000 persons, Including 1,500 university students and 1,000 high school students.
It has also been engaged in religious activities in the United States, West Germany and several other countries, informants here said.
Some of the parents present at the meeting Saturday said their children had not attended classes for more than one year and seldom returned home since becoming ‘believers’ of the neo-religious sect.
The believers, both boys and girls, live together at several dormitories built by the church, they explained,
They are obligated to go on a preaching tour for 40 days throughout the country, during which time they earn money for their own use by collecting and selling waste articles, they said.
During the tour, the parents said, missionaries have to live on crusts of bread. Consequently, most of them suffer from malnutrition at the end of the 40-day preaching tours, they added.
At Saturday’s meeting, the parents issued a statement protesting the association’s activities “to mislead naive boys and girls into believing such thoughts as to deny the existence of state and social structures.”
They said they would enlarge the newly-formed organization to include other parents throughout the country in an attempt to bring legal action against them and other leaders of the unification movement.
The statement said such unification activities are really “revolutionary” in nature, aimed at disrupting family life as well as the social structure.
Later in the day, parents participating in the meeting demonstrated in the Shibuya area of Tokyo, where the Unification Association is headquartered, to demand the return of their children.
Informants here said the Association might expand its activities into the political field in the future, as in the case of the neo-Buddhist sect “Sokagakkai.”
They pointed out that one difference between this sect and Sokagakkai is that the former [the Unification Association] primarily caters to youths, especially students.
___
Ewha Womans University sex scandal as told in the 1955 newspapers
Moon’s theology for his pikareum sex rituals with all the 36 wives
Sun Myung Moon found guilty in 1955; started two year jail sentence
Papasan Choi and Boonville’s Japanese origins
4.
Happiness ginseng from earth-conquering Moonies – Japan 1978
by John Roberts Far Eastern Economic Review
June 23, 1978 pages 57, 59 and 60.
BROWSING through a Tokyo department store a few weeks ago, I was accosted by a young lady, clad in traditional Korean costume, selling ginseng extract. It was excellent — so good that I took the trouble to decipher the fine print on the label to learn the source. The name of the company — Shiawase Shoji (Happiness Company) [Happy World] — sounded vaguely familiar: it was an affiliate of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, otherwise known as the Unification Church. I had been touched (for a stiff ¥10,000 [US$44]) by the self-anointed “Reverend” Moon Sun Myung, founder and Messiah of the quasi-Christian evangelical creed that is out to conquer the earth. That was humiliating enough, but subsequently I learned that the Unification Church was really an organ of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency and possibly nurtured by the American CIA.
It is all too easy to become ensnared by the ubiquitous Moon Machine, whose moving parts are known by a variety of names. In the US and internationally there are (or were) the Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation, Day of Hope, Radio of Free Asia, Pioneer Academy, Asian People’s Anticommunist League, International Conference for Unity of the Sciences, Project Unity, One World Crusade, National Prayer and Fast for the Watergate Crisis, American Youth for a Just Peace (in Vietnam), Korean Folk Ballet, Little Angels of Korea, Freedom Leadership Foundation, International Congress for World Peace, Diplomatic National Bank, the News World and so on.
In Japan, most of the names are different. The Unification Church is known variously as Sekai Toitsu Kyokai, Toitsu Genri, or Genri Undo, with numerous variations. The main adjuncts or manifestations of the Church are the Kokusai Shokyo Rengo (International Federation for Victory over Communism or IFVOC), which is essentially the Japanese chapter or counterpart of the World Anticommunist League/Asian People’s Anticommunist League (WACL/ APACL); and the Genri Group under which various student activities are conducted.
At the master controls is [Osami] Kuboki, a person of obscure antecedents. He is president of the Church, the IFVOC, and also the International Cultural Foundation. As Henry O. Kuboki he is listed as a large stockholder in the Moon-affiliated Diplomat National Bank in Washington. Many other organizations are under the tight rein of Kuboki and Moon’s inner circle.
In a top position is Professor Juitsu Kitaoka, a leader of the United Nations Association and member of several pro-American rightist organizations. He is described as a violent anti-communist advocating rearmament, stronger police powers and capital punishment for communists, according to Ivan Morris, an authority on the Japanese right wing. Kitaoka is a long-time associate of Dr Tetsuzo Watanabe, a former film tycoon whose ideas are no less violent. Organiser of the APACL in Japan, Watanabe became international president of the WACL/APACL, the IFVOC’s alter ego. Watanabe was closely connected with US Army intelligence and maintained relations with prominent McCarthyites in the US.
Pastor Moon Sun Myung boasts a flock of 2,000,000 believers in 120 countries, with 380,000 in South Korea, 300,000 in the US and 260,000 in Japan. [Some reports in the US state there were never more than 6,000 core members in the 1970s.] But some of the church’s official figures are mutually contradictory and there is little correspondence between the figures of headquarters and the branches.
It claimed a membership of 260,000 in 455 congregations throughout Japan in 1976. This would make it about 1/40th the size of Soka Gakkai, the largest of Japan’s “new religions.” The IFVOC, the movement’s action corps, purports to have some 300,000 members and appears to comprise the WACL/APACL though the latter has a separate existence on paper. Less numerous than either the spiritual or the action arms, but perhaps more important ideologically, is the student contingent which has been called, variously, Genri Undo (Principles Movement), Genri Kenkyukai (Principles Research Society) and Genri Group. Genri Group says it has about 5,000 hard-core members but that it can mobilise 15,000 members at one time and is the second largest student group following the Communist Party-affiliated Democratic Youth League, the Japan Times reported in 1977.
▲ Pastor Moon at New York’s Yankee Stadium in 1976.
But there is something odd here. Genri Group claims to be growing, yet in 1971 the same Japan Times reported that Genri Kenkyukai had 33,000 members nationwide. Is it growing or shrinking?
At any rate, the student and youth movement is what the Moon Machine is all about. Genri Undo was established in Japan in 1960, the year of the great student uprising against the US-Japan military alliance. At that time, the student movement was firmly under the control of Zengakuren (the militant students group), which in turn was under strong Communist Party influence. Moral Rearmament (MRA) made strong and subtle attempts to win over the Zengakuren students to an anti-communist position, but its bland, middle-class image was not appealing. One hypothesis is that the cruder, more fanatical approach of Moon and his allies was considered to be more effective. The rise of Genri Undo accompanied the gradual decline and fragmentation of Zengakuren.
Of course, Genri Undo did not do all this alone. The full weight of the Government, the police and the legal system bore down on the universities which formerly had enjoyed considerable autonomy. Genri leaders, by their own admission, have been collaborating with the KCIA, and their movement worked in alliance with other student organizations, notably the centrist Soka Gakkai and ultra-nationalist groups such as underworld boss Yoshio Kodama’s Youth Thought Study Society, and of course the IFVOC, established jointly by Moon and gambling czar Ryoichi Sasakawa in 1967 with the participation of several prewar ultranationalist, terrorist and underworld bosses. Later, however, under president Sasakawa, a more presentable line-up of complaisant politicians, businessmen and scholars was mustered.
▲ Ryoichi Sasakawa, center, at Sun Myung Moon’s 1975 rally in Seoul.
The IFVOC was based originally on Sasakawa’s Federation of Motorboat Racing Associations, which grosses US$5 billion a year and employs tens of thousands of people, mostly young men. It appears that the IFVOC serves Sasakawa as a private police force for his motor-boat courses and also assists his favourite conservative candidates during their election campaigns. Sasakawa’s remarks indicate that he considers it as a patriotic militia in reserve for political crises, similar to Hitler’s brownshirts and the uniformed militarist party that Sasakawa, a self-proclaimed fascist, organized during the 1930s.
Not overlooking the university faculties, the Moon Machine established the World Peace Academy (WPA) in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan. The Japan Chapter, set up in 1974, is reported to include among its consultants James Stewart of the Asia Foundation (an old CIA front) and Masahide Kanayama, a paid lobbyist of the South Korean Government and allegedly of the KCIA. One of the WPA’s activities is the International Congress for World Peace, to be held in Japan this summer under the co-sponsorship of the International Cultural Foundation (ICF), another Moon front. The WPA seems to have enlisted the active support or participation of the potent Japan Federation of Employers Associations, the Japan Productivity Centre, the Nomura Research Institute and the Mitsubishi Research Institute in its National Goals project for the study of Japan’s strategy in the 1980s.
▲ UC members who sold Yewha guns
The Moon Machine in Japan operates a number of commercial ventures, which include trading companies, tourist agencies and publishing enterprises. In addition to the Happiness Company [Happy World] mentioned above there is a trading firm known as Toitsu Sangyo (Unification Industries) which raised eyebrows several years ago by importing several hundred shotguns and powerful air rifles manufactured by the Reverend Moon’s munitions factories in South Korea which assemble M-16 rifles on a knockdown basis under US licence and manufacture parts for the same weapons. Significantly, the shotguns and air rifles mentioned above were imported for the militant IFVOC, presumably to be used (when Der Tag / The Day comes) against targets whom the Messiah chooses to designate as communists.
According to the church, Toitsu Sangyo has 30 employees and a turnover of US$7 million from machinery, building materials, firearms, and allegedly some narcotics. Shiawase Shoji, with 30 employees and a turnover of US$17 million, handles health food, aphrodisiacs and art objects. Profits must be high, because the markup on ginseng is astronomical and most of the work (except book-keeping) is done by unpaid Moonies.
The Unification Church in Japan declared an income of about ¥3 billion in 1975. Most of it was from members who contribute 10% of their monthly earnings to it. The action arm, IFVOC, claims that its activities are supported by dues of ¥1,000 monthly from each of 380,000 members. In 1975, that could have added up to US$16 million exclusive of other sources such as a grant of US$160,000 from the church. But here again, the official spokesmen are conflicting and ambiguous.
▲ Ryoichi Sasakawa: Self-proclaimed fascist. Seen here with Mussolini
This picture is admittedly no more than an out-of-focus snapshot of the tip of the iceberg. Some of the Japan connections have been revealed or hinted at in the Koreagate investigations, but so far there has been no general exposé of what informed observers regard as a long-standing conspiracy of the KCIA and its extensions, including the Unification Church, to corrupt and subvert the Japanese Government. However, it has been reported that 200 Japanese right-wing politicians receive financial support from the Unification Church and its affiliates, or directly from the KCIA. This may be an understatement since at least 2,000 prominent Japanese politicians, businessmen and scholars as well as underworld bosses lend their support to Moon’s movement.
Let it not be thought that these adherents to the movement are gullible Moonies. They tend more towards Shintoism and conservative Buddhism than to evangelical Christianity, but those whose ideology is identifiable have certain familiar traits in common. For one thing, they loathe communism, an ideology that they tend to confuse with liberalism, and they are not fastidious about the means used in suppressing what they call dangerous thought, especially when profits or boodle [ = money, especially that gained or spent illegally or improperly] are involved.
Japanese reporting on the doings of the Moon Machine has been so scanty as to suggest a taboo in the daily press. However, one weekly magazine, Shincho, gave a glimpse of the upper-crust of Moonism that provides some idea of the cult’s influence. The event, said to be the largest banquet ever held at the Imperial Hotel, took place on May 7, 1974. It was hosted by the executive committee of The Day of Hope (Japan). (Its chairman, former prime minister Nobusuke Kishi, has been a leading figure in the WACL/APACL also.)
▲ Sun Myung Moon with Nobusuke Kishi (center); on the right is Osami Kuboki.
The guest of honour was Moon himself, and 1,700 prominent Japanese showed up to hear him speak. The guest list was not published, and the press was rigorously excluded, but among those reported present was (then) finance minister Takeo Fukuda, now Prime Minister. It is believed that most of the guests were executives doing business with South Korea (or ROK) and Taiwan, and conservative dietmen belonging to groups comprising the ROK-Taiwan lobby.
In this respect, it must be remembered that Kishi has long headed the Japan-ROK Cooperation Council through which most big deals between the two countries must be channelled if they are to be concluded successfully. And it is no accident that the principal figures in the council have been leaders or front men in a succession of very similar right-wing organizations from 1950s onward.
It may be recalled that Kishi, once a key figure in General Tojo’s World War II cabinet, became one of the most passionate spokesmen for Dr Frank Buchman’s Moral Rearmament (MRA) in 1950s and 1960s. The striking similarity between the moral precepts and secular programmes of MRA and Moon’s church is of interest here because the latter was born as an international movement at the very time when MRA was swiftly declining in Japan. Following the upheaval over the Security Treaty in 1960, which forced his resignation as prime minister, Kishi declared with characteristic hyperbole: “But for Moral Rearmament, Japan would be under communist control today.” Curiously, little was heard about MRA after the early 1960s. Instead, there was much bombast about the Asian People’s Anticommunist League, in which Kishi played the same role as elder statesman and spokesman. There are reports that in 1959 or thereabouts Moon played go-between for an alliance between the MRA leadership and the APACL. When the World Anticommunist League and IFVOC were formed in the late 1966 and 1967 respectively, Kishi again came to the fore, and today he is front man for the Day of Hope.
page 60:
So how did Moon, a country preacher with a criminal record, get into this high-powered act? Only recently, from a well qualified source, I found a plausible answer. In 1959 a confidant and disciple of Moon established the first mission of the Unification Church in Japan. This missionary, whose name is given as Choi Sang-Ik [Papasan Choi] had been held for deportation as an illegal entrant. A benefactor appeared in the person of Ryoichi Sasakawa who wrote a letter of guarantee for Choi, who in turn went out to propagate the faith in Japan and more recently has been an official of the Unification Church in the US.
▲ Choi Sang-Ik, with dark jacket, was known as Masaru Nishigawa in Japan. He was deported from Japan to Korea in 1964 and moved to the US in 1965.
The Moon Machine’s sponsorship by the KCIA is attested by a CIA report dated February 26, 1965 which states: “Kim Chong Pil organised (sic) the Unification Church … while director of the ROK Central Intelligence Agency and has been using the church, with a membership of 27,000, as his political tool.” It is quite clear that the invasion by President Park’s secret police was condoned and facilitated by Japanese military, police and intelligence authorities who have been fully aware of the Moon Machine’s illegal activities in collusion with the KCIA for years.
The situation is like that in the US where trespasses of the same elements have long been under benign scrutiny by the various intelligence authorities, as demonstrated by the voluminous government-sourced documentation presented during the Koreagate investigation. But observation of illegal activity without intervention is tantamount to collusion or obstruction of justice, and in that sense we can say that the American CIA, FBI and State Department have been accessories to the misdeeds of the Moon Machine. Revelations of the Fraser and Jaworski committees somehow stopped at the water’s edge when it came to exposing well-documented Korean depredations in Japan. Perhaps for diplomatic reasons, the US Government preferred to confine its investigation to events that occurred in the US, ignoring the fact that the Korean scandal is trilateral, with operations that involve and affect all three countries.
Also conspicuously absent from the investigation is evidence linking the CIA with the KCIA, its creation, and its grandchild, the Unification Church.
In court of law, the existence of such a link could not be proved but clues are everywhere. One of them is a series of documents (Supplement to Part 4) submitted in the March 1968 hearings of the Zablocki Committee. They concern a William A. Curtin Jr. and the Korean Freedom and Cultural Foundation. Curtin, an Army intelligence colonel, had been attached to the office of the Secretary of Defence. In 1959-60, he served a tour as adviser to the South Korean Army. In September 1960, he made a brief official trip to Japan and South Korea “where he met various ranking Korean government officials.”
His activities until his retirement in 1962 are not specified, but thereafter he devoted his time to conning prominent Americans into lending their names or financial support to the non-existent Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation (KCFF). This was nominally to promote friendly relations between the two countries in commemoration of the Korean War, but in practice it was used to raise funds for propaganda, suborning [bribe or otherwise induce (someone) to commit an unlawful act such as perjury] of American politicians and funding KCIA operations in Japan and Korea as well as the US, according to Department of Justice reports.
▲ Yoshio Kodama: Lockheed problems.
The foundation was formally registered in 1964 by Curtin (vice-president) and two American dummy directors. Astonishingly, the two honorary presidents were real presidents — Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower — and the KCCF president was Admiral Arleigh Burke of World War II fame.
The honorary chairman of KCFF was Kim Jong Pil, founder of the KCIA who used the Unification Church as his tool. Serving as vice-presidents were Dr Yang Yu Chan, ROK ambassador to Washington, and (later) Pak Bo Hi, the Reverend Moon’s right-hand man. The board of directors and advisory board — more than 100 persons in all — is a veritable roster of the American political and financial elite. How Curtin, reported by the FBI to be a dipsomaniac and a sick man (he died in 1965), could have assembled such a brilliant array of supporters is puzzling indeed. Probably, the dignitaries did not inquire too deeply into the affairs of the organization whose overt activities included the promotion of the Little Angels of Korea choral group and financial support for the APACL Freedom Centre (APACLFC) in Seoul, which was also a client of Asia Foundation. According to KCCF president Burke, the objectives of the APACLFC were “to pull together cold war specialists from many countries and give training to Asian peoples which will enable them to defend themselves from communist imperialism …”
Another project of KCCF was Radio of Free Asia (ROFA), established in 1966 with General Dwight Eisenhower, Admiral Burke, and Ambassador Chang as honorary heads and Pak Bo Hi as executive director. On the advisory council were six senators, 12 congressmen and eight state governors as well as Richard Nixon and Ed Sullivan. ROFA raised political funds for dubious destinations and beamed pro-American propaganda to Asia during the Vietnam War. The US Department of Justice heard many complaints about ROFA (some emanating from CIA sources) and in 1971 showed signs of investigating it on suspicion of violating the Foreign Registration Act and abusing its privileges as a tax-free foundation. Through divine providence or other means, Pak Bo Hi secured the legal services of Robert Amory Jr, former deputy director of the CIA and a law partner of Thomas G. Corcoran, an adviser to the CIA and a prominent lobbyist for the ROK and Taiwan. The Justice Department dropped the investigation like a radioactive potato, and the KCFF and ROFA continued their work for the KCIA unmolested until the Koreagate investigation brought them out into the shrivelling glare of public opinion.
These revelations do not tell us who or what is behind the Moon Machine’s brash operations in Japan. However, the Fraser Committee in Washington has been under increasing pressure from some quarters to investigate not only the US angle but also corrupt US-Tokyo-Seoul connections.
Some people want to know, for example, why Pak Bo Hi delivered US$3,000 in US$100 bills to Fumiko Ikeda, a Unification Church lecturer, at the office of the Little Angels group in Seoul — on orders from a KCIA chief in Washington. They would like to know also under what circumstances Pak, on several occasions, allegedly brought large sums of cash (as much as US$70,000 per trip) from Tokyo to Washington for investment in the Diplomat National Bank.
And how is it that Mitsuharua Ishii, the president of Toitsu Sangyo — and concurrently publisher of the Church’s Sekai Nippo (World Daily News) claiming 235,000 readers — is listed as a big stockholder in Diplomat National Bank? Whose money is it, and what is it used for?
As these bits of information fester, there are predictions in Washington that this month the Fraser Committee will at last drop the other shoe and expose some of these trilateral capers — possibly to the mortification of Japan’s ruling party. █
A Memoir from the Early Period of the Unification Church of Japan
By Rev. Ken Sudo – Page 14
…Mr. (Papasan) Choi…had made a connection with Mr. Sasagawa (a powerful right-wing multi-millionaire businessman, head of the Motorboat Association of Japan)…by the 11th of June, 1963…we began the training session in the motorboat race-camp building that could accommodate more than one hundred trainees…This Toda Training Center was where I worked as a lecturer until the end of my mission in training. (During this period, most of the present Japanese church leaders and members came through these training sessions and decided to join full time. This extensive list included Mr. Oyamada, Mr. Kamiyama, Mr. Furuta, Mr. Sakurai, Mr. Kajikuri, Mr. Ohta and a little later, Dr. Shirnmyo and Dr. Masuda.)
The training session at Toda Center continued until July, 1965.
Ryoichi Sasagawa Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcRAAMsnmYE
5.
Nobusuke Kishi wrote a letter to President Reagan to get Moon released from jail. Moon had been jailed for perjury, document forgery and tax evasion in 1984.
The case, which stemmed from Moon’s failure to pay taxes on the interest earned on more than $1.7 million, involved a “massive” and systematic effort to defraud the government and obstruct justice, including the manufacturing and backdating of documents, the government told the court.
Sun Myung Moon was in jail from July 20, 1984 – August 20, 1985 (he may have been released in July 1985)
The New York Times, October 2, 2021
Mrs. Tytell was an expert witness for the federal government in 1982 in the tax-evasion case against the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the head of the Unification Church. By analyzing changes in his handwriting — particularly how his printed “S” had turned cursive — she testified that he signed checks in 1974, not in 1973 as his lawyers had said.
At another point, Mrs. Tytell used paper-mill records and her knowledge of watermarks to prove that a piece of paper had not been produced until after the date written on it.
“She was an exceptional witness,” Martin Flumenbaum, a prosecutor in the case, said in a phone interview. “She dominated the courtroom. I remember the jury being enthralled by her testimony.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/02/nyregion/pearl-tytell-dead.html
Nobusuke Kishi
November 26, 1984
President Ronald Reagan
The White House
Washington, D.C.
My dear Mr President,
Snow glistens around the summit of Mt. Fuji in Japan, telling us of the arrival of the real winter season. How is your land at this time of the year? I am very happy to hear that you are doing extremely well and seem to be in good health.
I would like [to] offer you my words of congratulation on the overwhelming of the earlier presidential election from the bottom of my heart. It was a sweeping victory, rare in the entire history of the United States of America.
I consider that the reasons for your phenomenal victory are as follows. Firstly, I believe your personal charm and grace is a large factor. Then, there is the wonderful support the American people have demonstrated toward your public messages; in other words, your philosophy, religious belief, and firm political ideals. Furthermore, your stance to part with the New Deal policies of the Democratic Party, ultimately derived from Marxism, which have been apparent since the time of President F. D. Roosevelt.
My interpretation is that the vast majority of the American people supported and agreed with you wholeheartedly on these points. I would also predict that the history of the 21st century will evolve around these ideas you have set forth in your messages.
page two
Today, I would like make a request to you, Mr. President. This request is about a person whom I believe you may be acquainted with, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. Rev. Moon is now under unjust confinement. With your cooperation, I would like to ask that he be released by all means from his unfair imprisonment as soon as possible.
This November, [19-22], the Seventh World Media Conference was held in Tokyo, and together with former Ambassador Douglas MacArthur II, I had the opportunity to serve as Honorary Chairman.
▲ The Seventh World Media Conference, November 19-22, 1984, held at the New Otani Hotel, Tokyo. Former Japanese Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi receives applause from Dr. Bo Hi Pak, conference co-chairman Jacques Soustelle and former U.S. Secretary of the Interior James Watt. The conference theme was “Media Credibility and Social Responsibility.”
Approximately [700] journalists from 87 countries in the world participated in the Conference, which was a great success. On the final day, present Ambassador to Japan, Honorable Michael Mansfield, also attended the farewell banquet to congratulate and encourage the group.
Rev. Moon is the founder of this Conference. My understanding of Rev. Moon is that he is a genuine man, staking his life on promoting the ideals of freedom and correcting communism. His existence is, and will be in the future, a rare, precious and indispensable one for the maintenance of freedom and democracy. I respectfully ask for your good decision on this case so that proper steps may be taken.
I entrust this letter to one of my most reliable friends, Mr. Kagehisa Toyama. Mr Toyama is the owner of R. F. Radio Japan, a broadcasting system. He is one of the few media men in Japan who has shown full understanding and support for the philosophy behind your policies from the past. In the Seventh Media Conference, Mr Toyama presented a talk entitled “Solidarity of Freedom,” which was very well received by guests from foreign countries as well.
If you would look through the printed speech of Mr. Toyama when you have the time, he would be most delighted.
Accompanying Mr. Toyama this time as an interpreter is Mr. Cappy Harada, a friend of Judge William P. Clark, Jr. I hope you will receive them although this must be an extremely busy time for you. I thank you deeply for your attention on this matter.
This concludes my request for you today, Mr President. We are both advancing in our years, so let us take care of ourselves and spend our days in good spirits.
With warmest regards, I am
Most sincerely yours,
Nobusuke Kishi
The LDP’s Tangled Ties to the Unification Church – The Diplomat July 2022
Inside the League – The Shocking Exposé of How Terrorists, Nazis, and Latin American Death Squads Have Infiltrated the World Anti-Communist League
by Scott Anderson and Jon Lee Anderson
Sun Myung Moon – The Emperor of the Universe
1. “Rev Sun Myung Moon: Emperor of the Universe” documentary
.
. BBC / A&E Network co-production, 2000
2. World Domination – Sun Myung Moon died before he could take over a single country.
Robert Parry on Sun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon and the United Nations
FBI and other reports on Sun Myung Moon
1. FBI Report (San Francisco office) on the UC / FFWPU, September 1975
2. Chicago Tribune, Monday, March 27, 1978 James Coates
. “The Moonies: Government Files Trace Church from Sex Cult to Korean CIA”
3. New York Times Magazine, May 30, 1976 Berkeley Rice
“The pull of Sun Moon”
4. Sun Myung Moon and Takeru Kamiyama jailed in 1984 for US tax crimes
5. The Moon Organization Academic Network, Fall 1991 Daniel Junas
6. Napa Sentinel, March-April 3, 1992 Harry V. Martin and David Caul
. “The Moonies – What Rev. Moon teaches the young”
United States Congressional investigation of Moon’s organization
1. Fraser Report – Conclusions and Recommendations (1978)
2. Michael Warder comment
3. Moonie “Dirty Tricks” against Donald Fraser, MinPost 2012
4. The Mysterious Death of Robert Boettcher in 1984, New York Times
5. Congressional Information Meeting on Cults 1979
6. Fraser Report: Summaries of Representative Documents including FBI Reports,
. State Department Memoranda, KCFF Minutes, etc.
7. Bo Hi Pak and the KCFF scam – and Sun Myung Moon’s ROFA scam
8. Bo Hi Pak and the “Unification Church Pension Fund International”
9. Minions and Master
10. Gifts of Deceit book review by Allen Tate Wood
Gifts of Deceit – Robert Boettcher
Politics and religion interwoven
1. Shadows on Rev. Moon’s beams. Politics and religion interwoven.
. Chicago Tribune – Sunday, November 10, 1974
2. Howling at the Moon – Chicago Reader Weekly Friday, November 22, 1974
3. Messiah Moon on the Run
4. The Unification Church: Christian Church or Political Movement?
– by Wi Jo Kang (1976)
5. Moon’s Sect Pushes Pro-Seoul Activities – by Ann Crittenden
.
. The New York Times, May 25, 1976
6. Panel Told Seoul Used Followers of Sun Myung Moon for Protests
.
. The New York Times, June 7, 1978
7. Unification Church Protected by the Regime in South Korea
.
. 週刊ポスト Shūkan Post magazine October 15, 1993
8. American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit
in the House of Bush – by Kevin Phillips (2004)
9. Missing Pieces of the Story of Sun Myung Moon
– by Frederick Clarkson (2012)
10. Sun Myung Moon was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
It seems the manufacture of Moon’s ‘Autobiography’ was an attempt to promote Moon for the Nobel Peace Prize. However, the publisher of the book was jailed for four years for fraud – for buying books from stores and republishing them to push the book up the best-seller list, and for other financial crimes.
11. ‘Privatizing’ Covert Action: The Case of the Unification Church
Dr. Jeffrey M. Bale Lobster #21. May 1991
Introduction NEW
Sun Myung Moon organization activities in Central & South America
The six ‘wives’ of Sun Myung Moon
FFWPU human trafficking is despicable
1. Meet Miki Dezaki, Director of the film, Shusenjo: The Main Battleground Of The Comfort Women Issue.
2. Thousands of Korean men and women tricked, kidnapped or forcibly abducted Korean girls to be ‘comfort women’. Statistical Yearbook of the Governor-General of Korea, from 1931-1943.
3. U.S. military documents featuring Korean POW testimony discovered at U.S. National Archives
4. Korean testimony documents highlight ethnic and gender discrimination under Japanese colonial rule
5. “The Comfort Women” (2008) book by Professor C. Sarah Soh (352pp)
6. “Comfort Women of the Empire” the battle over colonial rule and memory (2014)
帝国の慰安婦 植民地支配と記憶の闘い by Professor Park Yu-ha, 박유하, 朴裕河 (336pp)
7. Mun Ok-chu’s memoir
8. Chart of Comfort Station managers, revealing they were Korean
9. The Korean comfort station manager’s diary
10. Comfort Women Urgently Wanted – Ads in Korean newspapers
11. Comfort Women rescued by Japanese military police
12. Kim Tŏk-chin was recruited by Koreans at 17 to be a ‘comfort woman’
Various historical documents and oral histories
13. In 1965 Japan gave $800 million as reparations for Korean occupation
14. Military commentator Ji Man-won raised “fake comfort women” question
Footnotes
1. Professor C. Sarah Soh interviewed at SFSU in 1999
2. Extract Human Dignity and Sexual Culture: A Reflection on the ‘Comfort Women’ Issues by Professor Soh
3. Behind the Comfort Women Controversy: How Lies Became Truth by Professor Nishioka Tsutomu
4. The “Comfort Women” Issue and the Asian Women’s Fund.
5. GSOMIA lives, but what’s next for Japan and South Korea ties? – Japan Times
6. A few more of the hundreds of Korean newspaper reports on the continuous fight against Korean men and women who lured Korean (and Japanese) girls and women into prostitution. There were many arrests of traffickers and hundreds of girls were released.
7. Ex-Prostitutes Say South Korea and U.S. Enabled Sex Trade Near Bases in Korea.
8. Prostitution in Korea after the Korean War, including many newspaper articles from the time.
9. Professor Cho Heung-guk on “The problem of ‘Lai Tai-han’ – The children born between South Korean soldiers and Vietnamese women during the Vietnam war, and a second wave who have been born since diplomatic relations were established between the two countries in 1992. There are estimated to be between 5,000 and 30,000 from the era of the Vietnamese war and they were almost all abandoned.
Asian ginseng – there is currently no conclusive evidence supporting any health benefits