TM Reports written after Prime Minister Abe’s assasination detail how church officials tried to cling to their positions of influence with LDP politicians, despite mounting public pressure.

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated by Tetsuya Yamagami while delivering a campaign speech in Nara City on July 8, 2022.

Public opinion turned against the Unification Church after it emerged that Yamagami’s mother was a member and had made large donations to the organization. In addition to the church itself, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) also found itself in a precarious position due to its close relationship with the church for over half a century.

The TM Report documents how, in the wake of Abe’s assassination, the Unification Church and LDP prioritized self-preservation without a second thought to those harmed by their ties.

Church grasped Yamagami family situation just two days after assassination

Two days after Abe’s assassination, Kim Sang-hyu, a Unification Church leader in Nara, explained the situation in a TM Report dated July 10, 2022.

First, he described the day of the assassination.

We held a rally for Kei Sato, the LDP’s officially endorsed candidate for Nara Prefecture, starting at 10 a.m. The candidate himself was unable to attend because former Prime Minister Abe was scheduled to give a support speech for him in front of Yamato-Saidaiji Station at 11 a.m., so his wife came in his place, and we held the gathering at our Nara Church.

 

After the gathering ended, some of the congregation went to the station to watch former Prime Minister Abe’s speech, while the rest held a phone-bank drive to help secure S’s [Sato’s] victory.

 

While I was coordinating the phone drive, at around 11:40 a.m. some parishioners came in trembling and in tears, saying they had seen former Prime Minister Abe shot twice and fall to the ground. We went to the Cheonshimwon sanctuary and prayed together that the prime minister would be all right.

Kim then explained Yamagami’s family situation. In the original text, Yamagami’s mother is referred to by name, but here she will be referred to as “A”.

I heard from Lee Bom-suk, the training center director, that A and her eldest son had participated in the 40-day training program at Cheongpyeong [a Unification Church facility in South Korea] to treat mental health issues, and that her second son, Tetsuya, had also once attended a one-night, two-day training session at Cheongpyeong.

 

A’s husband had taken her family name upon their marriage. Although he had been working alongside his father-in-law with the intention of taking over the family business, they did not get along well, and their frequent conflicts ultimately drove him to take his own life.

 

Amid all this, A was evangelized by a young member of the church. As a member of our KJ Church, she reportedly donated hundreds of millions of yen, even selling her house to make the donations.

 

Later, upon learning of his mother’s donations, A’s eldest son became strongly opposed to the church. He apparently smashed a “heavenly fortune stone” [a spiritual sales item] in their home in front of Pastor Wada, and even visited the church armed with a knife!

 

With their mother-son relationship crumbling, A went to Yeosu [South Korea], a base for the church. Not long after she returned to Japan, her eldest son took his own life.

Kim believed that Yamagami harbored a grudge against the church.

Given his family situation, it seems the perpetrator harbored a grudge against the church. Apparently, his sister lives near A’s house. She is said to have a subdued personality and to have started attending church with A when she was young.

Abe was “the gift that Mother gave me”

Two weeks after the assassination, Masayoshi Kajikuri, president of the International Federation for the Victory over Communism (IFVC) and chairman of Universal Peace Federation (UPF) Japan, apologized to Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja in a TM Report dated July 23, 2022. He was apologizing for the loss of Abe, who he referred to as “the gift Mother gave me.”

Revered and Beloved True Mother,

 

I write today with a heavy heart, feeling so ashamed that I cannot raise my head.

 

On July 8, the news of Prime Minister Abe’s passing left me so shocked that the world literally went black before my eyes, a feeling I cannot put into words. I have always believed that Prime Minister Abe, drawing on his three-generation connection to the True Parents, was destined to become a witness to True Mother, representing the Japanese people of this generation, an elevated figure comparable to John the Baptist.

 

I have always believed that Abe was a gift given to me by True Mother, True Father, and my own father, so that I might fulfill the mission entrusted to me, and I worked to gain his trust little by little.

Kajikuri worried that the media would target the Unification Church.

I was still reeling from the feeling that a huge hole had been torn in my heart when I saw a news report that the suspect, who had been arrested at the scene of the crime, claimed his motive for the murder stemmed from a deep-seated grudge against our church and that he had been shocked by Prime Minister Abe’s Rally of Hope video message. This news came as yet another shock to me.

 

Every time the media reported on the background of the incident and suggested that UFP was to blame for the prime minister’s death, I struggled in solitude, carrying the burden of this terrible tragedy in my heart.

However, Kajikuri took courage in the fact that, even though Abe had been killed, Han was still alive.

A few days later, when I learned that the suspect, Yamagami, had originally targeted you, Mother, I felt as if my breath had been taken away. We could have lost Mother. The moment that thought crossed my mind, I felt an absolutely blood-curdling shock.

 

Then it occurred to me that perhaps Prime Minister Abe died in place of Mother, and I began to dwell on what Heaven might be trying to teach us through this tragedy.

 

You, Mother, are still alive. And so I found the light once more and was able to regain a heart filled with hope and gratitude before Heaven.

Hagiuda “encouraged” the Unification Church

Eiji Tokuno, former president of the Unification Church, discussed the church’s relationship with LDP lawmakers following Abe’s assasination in a TM Report dated July 27, 2022.

He began by lamenting the fact that some lawmakers had quickly distanced themselves from the church.

As I reported a little while ago, the core issue is that Diet members are being grilled by the media about their ties to us on an almost daily basis.

 

Most are Diet members belonging to the LDP. There are a few who boldly respond to such questions by saying, “Yes, I have ties to the church, is that a problem?” Unfortunately, they are in the minority.

 

The majority of lawmakers have responded evasively, stating that they “were unaware of the Unification Church’s involvement,” that they have “absolutely no connection” to the church, or that they “have never received any election support” from us.

Nevertheless, Tokuno stated that some lawmakers remained sympathetic to the church.

Former Environment Minister Yoshiaki Harada is among the Diet members who has answered questions about his ties to the church without reservation. Harada is a figure well known to you, True Mother, as well as to Policy Director Jeong Won-ju and Director-General Yun Young-ho.

 

He always attends our meetings and is particularly active in the tunnel to Japan project. He served as president of the IAPP [International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace] in Japan until recently.

Koichi Hagiuda, who served as the church’s liaison to Abe, offered words of encouragement, according to Tokuno.

Furthermore, Minister Hagiuda, the current Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, gave neither a denial nor a frank answer but responded to the media with tact.

 

In private, Hagiuda encouraged us, saying, “I’m fine. There’s no need to worry — there are no problem on my end. You’re probably going through a tougher time right now than I am. Please do your best to get through this.”

 

As True Mother, Director Jeong, and Director-General Yun are all aware, Minister Hagiuda has long served as an intermediary who always connected us with former Prime Minister Abe. He is a Diet member we could describe as a providential figure, and he currently holds the important position of Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. I, too, have known him for a long time — ten years, to be exact.

Tokuno was also deeply moved that Nobuo Kishi, Minister of Defense and younger brother of Shinzo Abe, had openly acknowledged his ties to the Unification Church during a press conference.

Today, there was a moving press conference. I believe the chair, chief secretary, and Chairman Kajikuri have already reported this, so I am repeating what has already been said. Nobuo Kishi, the younger brother of former Prime Minister Abe, held a press conference today. I personally have known him for a long time — 10 years. He is the younger brother of former Prime Minister Abe, currently serves as the chairman of the Japan-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship League, and is a staunch anti-communist.

 

Japanese society is watching closely to see how Kishi will respond to the media. This is because, given the Unification Church’s influence, it would not be surprising if he were to blame our organization for the assassination of his older brother, former Prime Minister Abe.

 

However, thankfully he responded to questions from the press as follows, due, I believe, to our long-standing and sympathetic relationship.

 

“I know a few people from the Unification Church. I meet with them, and they support me during elections. In elections, it’s important as a legislator to gather as many supporters as possible,” Kishi said, conveying to the media his view that “there is no problem whatsoever” with his ties to the church.

 

His response to the media was truly moving, and we must be grateful to him. It was a wonderful response to the media’s malicious questions.

 

Despite being the brother of the victim, of former Prime Minister Abe, Kishi did not utter a single word of resentment toward us. He neither rashly denied his connection to the Family Federation nor pretended to be unaware of it; instead, he spoke honestly and impartially before the media. It was a truly moving interview. I am confident that his remarks will have a positive influence on other Diet members as well.

Church hoped for “cover fire” from the US

As time passed following Abe’s assassination, the LDP increasingly turned its back on the Unification Church.

In a TM Report dated September 3, 2022, Kajikuri described how he had once attended a meeting between former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Fumio Kishida, then chairman of the LDP’s Policy Research Council. However, after becoming prime minister, Kishida — fearing scrutiny over his ties to the Unification Church after Abe’s assassination — was attempting to distance himself from the organization.

The situation is serious. With the Kishida administration’s approval ratings continuing to fall, his political base weakening, and growing pressure to publicly explain how the LDP will sever ties with our organization — which has been labeled an “antisocial group” — the Kishida administration and LDP Secretary-General Motegi have decided to issue separate statements on behalf of the government and the ruling party, respectively.

 

Our connections have always been with individual lawmakers, rather than an official relationship with LDP headquarters. Since Prime Minister Abe took office, I have focused on building relationships with faction leaders, but the reality is that I have no official channel for communication with LDP headquarters.

 

In fact, they are forcing lawmakers to sever ties with us. Due to shifts in the power dynamics within the LDP, lawmakers in the Abe faction find it difficult to speak out, and even those we have relationships with have no choice but to keep their distance for the time being due to public opinion.

In a TM Report dated December 30, 2022, Tokuno said he expected the government to file a request with the court to dissolve the Unification Church.

According to Attorney Fukumoto’s view, from a purely legal standpoint, the government would clearly be in the wrong — it would be violating the Constitution by infringing on freedom of religion.

 

We are certain to win. Even if the government files a petition for our dissolution, we still have a chance of ultimately winning in the High Court.

 

However, as the outcomes of many past trials involving high-profile politicians have shown, the situation remains unpredictable. Ultimately, the outcome is not determined purely by legal arguments; unfortunately, public opinion influences not only, needless to say, the government, but also the Legal Affairs Bureau and can even affect the court’s ruling.

How could the Unification Church escape its predicament? Tokuno proposes a standard tactic that the church often used on LDP politicians, one that had even swayed Abe in the past.

This is just a suggestion based on my personal impression, but I believe that cover fire from the US could influence the outcome of this trial or the final decision of the Kishida administration.

 

I believe that pressure exerted on the Japanese government or LDP lawmakers by figures such as former House Speaker Gingrich, former Secretary of State Pompeo, or House Minority Leader McCarthy — who is set to become the next speaker of the House — will have a significant impact on the Kishida administration. I hope this matter will be proactively pursued.

(Korean–Japanese translation: Kang Min-ju)

Reporting on the “TM Report”

Regarding the TM Report, the Unification Church has refuted it, while the LDP has turned a blind eye.

On January 16, 2026, the Unification Church’s Public Relations Department of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification published “Our Organization’s View on the ‘TM Special Report’.”

Within their announcement, there is a report by a staff member who is said to have worked under Yun Young-ho, a former World Headquarters director who compiled the TM Report. It points out that the report is highly likely to contain deliberate omissions, alterations, and additions, concluding that it is “extremely lacking in credibility.” The report’s author remains anonymous, and no details regarding their position or role are disclosed.

It also states that, regarding the relationships with Japanese politicians described in the TM Report, “it cannot be ruled out that the expressions within the report go beyond the established facts, that the context has been embellished, or that the report includes content that cannot be verified as factual.”

From the Unification Church side, on January 8, 2026, former Chairman Eiji Tokuno also posted a statement on X. He acknowledged that “it is true that it includes a report I sent to the former World Headquarters Director to report to leader Han” while adding that “it also contains many personal opinions and wishful predictions.”

In September 2022, two months after the assassination of former LDP President Shinzo Abe, the LDP conducted an investigation into its ties with the Unification Church and concluded that “the party has no organisational relationship with the Church.” The investigation was severely inadequate, relying solely on self-reporting by lawmakers. Despite this, current party president Sanae Takaichi has shown absolutely no intention of evaluating the TM Report. On January 26, 2026, she appeared on TBS’s news23. When Akiko Oishi, co-chair of the Reiwa Shinsengumi, pointed out that Takaichi’s name appears in the TM Report, Takaichi called it a “document of unknown origin” and went so far as to say “that would amount to defamation”.

Tansa reviewed the entire 3,212-page Korean version of the TM Report.Making use of AI-based analysis, examining the document together with translators and our reporting partner, the Korean investigative journalism organization Newstapa.

Extensive research has been conducted on the Unification Church and a vast body of investigative findings has been accumulated by journalists and researchers, as well as by lawyers and religious scholars who have worked on victim support and countermeasures. Tansa respects the work of its predecessors and has utilised their findings to examine the TM Report.

As a result, we have determined that the TM Report is a crucial document in unraveling the longstanding codependency between the Unification Church and the LDP.

While continuing to report on the TM Report, we will pursue further investigation. If you have internal information regarding undisclosed ties between the Unification Church and the Liberal Democratic Party, we encourage you to contact Tansa. We will responsibly protect and keep confidential the identity of our sources.

For those wishing to provide information, please refer to the page. It contains details on contact methods, points to note, and key aspects of the Whistleblower Protection Act.

The Unification Church changed its name to the “Family Federation for World Peace and Unification” in 2015, and the media refers to it as the “Former Unification Church.” However, because there is continuity in the fundamental problems inherent to the Church, Tansa will refer to it as the “Unification Church.”

 

January 27, 2026

Tokyo Investigative Newsroom Tansa

 

(Originally published in Japanese on February 8, 2026. )

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