Abe shooting suspect's mother allegedly donated over S$1 million to Unification Church

Yamagami was forced to give up college due to financial constraints.

Fasiha Nazren | July 17, 2022, 12:32 PM

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The man arrested for the shooting of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe reportedly told the police that he had targeted him due to his affiliation with the Unification Church.

A report by The Japan Times said that Tetsuya Yamagami blamed the church for bankrupting his mother due to its forceful donating practices.

What's Unification Church?

Also known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, the Unification Church is an organisation founded in 1954 by the late South Korean Rev. Sun Myung Moon.

The church is known for its mass weddings and has been accused of "devious recruitment tactics" and "brainwashing adherents into turning over huge portions of their salaries" to the church, according to a report by Associated Press.

Multiple donations amounting to 100 million yen

Yamagami's uncle shared that his mother had donated about 100 million yen (S$1,010,188.10) to the Unification Church, according to The Japan Times.

He added that Yamagami's mother joined the church in 1991 after her husband's suicide in 1984.

As a devoted member of the church, she made multiple donations.

Yamagami said that his mother sold land belonging to his grandfather without permission to make some of these donations, according to sources.

She became bankrupt in 2002. However, she continued giving smaller amounts of donations to the church.

His uncle said that Yamagami was forced to give up college due to financial constraints.

In a report by Nikkei Asia, the church issued a statement saying it has yet to calculate the amount donated by Yamagami's mother.

However, it had returned 50 million yen (S$505,094.05) to his mother between 2005 and 2014.

Initially targetted church leader

Yamagami said that he initially targeted the head of the Unification Church, who is based in South Korea.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic meant that he couldn't come to Japan.

Instead, Yamagami changed his target to Abe, whom he believed had links with the organisation.

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Photo from Getty and Wikipedia.