<figure id="attachment_426850" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-426850" style="width: 1110px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="0dbdfdac"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/05/5b0a233624a72026191559fdd2379615.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-426850" class="wp-caption-text">For more than 20 years, Suzuki Eight has been pursuing the issue of the former Unification Church</figcaption></figure>
<h2> believers travel to Korea every day.</h2>
 On March 25, the Tokyo District Court issued an order for the dissolution of the Family Association for World Peace and Unification (former Unification Church) under the Religious Corporation Law.
 However, because the church filed an immediate appeal against the order, the case has to wait for the High Court to hear the case. If the High Court upholds the dissolution order, it is expected to take several months to six months or more before the settlement process begins, in which the property owned by the church will be used for compensation and other purposes.
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 In the meantime, there are whispers that the former Unification Church may be &#8220;transferring its property to Korea,&#8221; confides Eito Suzuki, 57, a journalist who has been covering the former Unification Church for more than 20 years.
 (The following statements in parentheses are his.) &#8220;5. From May 12 to July 28, about 300 believers are scheduled to travel to Korea every weekday except Saturdays and Sundays, and at this rate, about 21,000 people will travel to Korea. Ostensibly, the training is to &#8220;allow Japanese believers who could not make it to the entrance ceremony at Cheonwon Palace, the new &#8220;holy site&#8221; in Korea, to participate in the ceremony.
 Initially, it was supposed to be a three-day, two-night training program, but it was initially planned that &#8220;all travel expenses, including airfare, lodging, and meals, would be covered by the former Unification Church in Japan, and that believers would only have to pay for their training in Korea (a few thousand yen).
 However, there is also information that &#8220;in reality, each church was to bear about 150,000 yen,&#8221; and in that case, 100,000 yen per person, less 50,000 yen for actual expenses, was to be paid as a &#8220;commission&#8221; to the Korean headquarters through an affiliated company. In this case, the actual cost of 50,000 yen was deducted and 100,000 yen per person was paid to the Korean headquarters through an affiliate as a &#8220;commission. It has been pointed out that the true purpose of this scheme is to &#8220;transfer the cash pooled at the Japanese headquarters to the Korean headquarters. The assets of the former Unification Church
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Assets of the former Unification Church"></div>
<figure id="attachment_426851" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-426851" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="3e1ea930"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/05/9b4a0e9e0dff87708bb665b7952bbddd.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-426851" class="wp-caption-text">The former Unification Church-owned music studio that Friday Digital featured in an October &#8217;23 article. It is said to have been built for rock musician Kojin Moon (who died in March &#8217;08), the eldest son of Oyasun Moon&#8217;s founder, Moon Sun Myung Moon.</figcaption></figure>
<h2> Total assets are 120 billion yen.</h2>
 What will the 100,000 yen &#8220;brokerage fee&#8221; be used for?
 According to the decision document of the dissolution order, as of the end of the second term, the former Unification Church had 82 billion yen in cash and deposits, which together with church facilities and other real estate, amounted to more than 120 billion yen in assets.
 Before the shooting of former Prime Minister Abe, a large sum of money, 30 to 50 billion yen a year, was transferred to South Korea through financial institutions under the name of &#8216;overseas mission assistance cooperation expenses. Since this is no longer possible, they must have taken steps before the dissolution order was finalized.
 The travel expenses for believers traveling to Korea were set higher, and the difference was transferred to the Korean headquarters. If we collect 100,000 yen from each of the 21,000 believers, the simple calculation will amount to 2.12 billion yen.
 In the past, they used to give believers envelopes containing 1 million yen, an amount that did not violate the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act, and Unification Church officials in Korea would collect the envelopes at the airport and pick them up.
 But if they did that now, they would be out of the picture. Instead, they thought it would be safer to do it legally, by adding an extra 100,000 yen to the fee for each trip to Korea.
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 Speaking of the old Unification Church and money, I wonder if the so-called &#8220;psychic business&#8221; that caused so much trouble is no longer practiced.
 &#8220;It seems that the so-called &#8216;psychic sales&#8217; or &#8216;ancestral divination&#8217; is still practiced in Korea. The Japanese religious headquarters is not involved in this, but as far as I know, it seems that believers are paying money in Korea at the same time.
 Ancestral exorcism is a &#8220;how much for how many generations of ancestors&#8221; method, and it seems to amount to 15 to 20 million yen if you go back several generations. The client is told that he must also exorcise and disannul the central spirit, or that there are 13 central evil spirits. This is also a psychic business.
 Because of the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Law, you cannot take more than one million yen in cash to Korea. So the Ancestral Unification is divided into several sessions, and the ceremony is held at a church facility at the headquarter of the Order in Korea.&#8221;
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 What will happen to the real estate owned by the former Unification Church?
 The amount claimed by the victims of the former Unification Church through collective arbitration is a little over 6 billion yen, and even if new victims emerge in the future, a large estimate of 20 billion yen would be enough to cover the costs. Assuming that the property owned by the former Unification Church is 120 billion yen (including real estate), the remaining amount is approximately 100 billion yen. Real estate such as church facilities will also remain.
 The former Unification Church claims that if the dissolution order is confirmed, all the property owned by the church and real estate such as churches attended by its members will be confiscated by the government, but this is a false claim. Compensation to the victims can be paid in cash. Real estate will be sold and converted into cash only if the compensation cannot be covered by savings in terms of protection of religious freedom.
 According to Article 50 of the Religious Corporation Law, &#8220;The property of a religious corporation after settlement shall be (1) as provided for in the regulations. (ii) If not provided for in the rules, the property may be disposed of for the benefit of other religious organizations or for public benefit projects. (iii) Property not disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs shall be used by public utilities and local governments that belong to the national treasury, and shall belong to the national treasury&#8217;.
 According to the former Unification Church&#8217;s notification to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, &#8216;The remaining assets upon dissolution of the corporation shall belong to the national government, local governments, or other religious corporations selected by a two-thirds majority vote of the responsible board of directors and the board of trustees.'&#8221;
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Possibility of blocking the dissolution order"></div>
<figure id="attachment_426852" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-426852" style="width: 3567px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="19d05c99"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/05/b0de639c074affa55c09511820e59183.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-426852" class="wp-caption-text">Controversial &#8220;video message&#8221; presented by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the &#8220;Think Tank 2022 Hope Forward Convention,&#8221; an online event of the United for Peace in the Sky held on September 12, &#8217;21</figcaption></figure>
<h2> UPF paid 300 million yen for President Trump&#8217;s speech.</h2>
 According to Eight, pressure may come from an unexpected source to &#8220;block the dissolution order of the former Unification Church. It is President Trump, 78, who sent a video message to an event co-sponsored by the UPF (United for Peace in the Firmament), an affiliated organization, with the denomination.
 Paula White, an advisor to the Religious Affairs Department who heads the Trump administration&#8217;s newly created White House department dealing with religious freedom, is a sympathizer of the former Unification Church. White was present at the former opening ceremony of the Tian Yuan Palace and at the joint wedding ceremony.
 Korean media reported that the former Unification Church has made large donations to government officials and politicians. It is possible that a considerable amount of money is also flowing to Mr. White. In fact, there were reports in South Korea that a former Unification Church official in South Korea said, &#8216;In Japan and the U.S., the payoffs to politicians are decided.
 President Trump also reportedly received 250 million yen in three separate speaking fees from UPF International, a former Unification Church-affiliated organization, and the UPF has admitted to having paid President Trump 300 million yen in speaking fees.&#8221;
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 Will the former Unification Church make any moves in this summer&#8217;s Upper House election?
 Satoshi Hamada, 48, a member of the NHK Protect the People Party, is likely to run in the national proportion, but he has appeared at events related to the former Unification Church and asked questions in the Diet that would favor the former Unification Church. There is talk that the former Unification Church may vote for Mr. Hamada as an organizer.
 In addition, Mr. Hiroshi Ogasawara (62), the head of the political organization &#8220;Nihon no Kami wo Mamoru Kai&#8221; and the leader of the Ogasawara Family Church, is likely to run for the Upper House election from the Chiba Prefecture electoral district.&#8221;
 If the LDP fails to win a majority in the Upper House election, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is expected to resign. Sanae Takaichi, 64, has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the post of Ishiba, but how does the former Unification Church view him?
 It is said that the former Unification Church had been approaching Takaichi for some time and was enthusiastically supporting him. Her policies, such as the enactment of the Anti-Spying Law, are in line with the ideology of the Victory Coalition, and her restorationist ideology is also quite close to the old Unification Church&#8217;s claims.
 She may not be a partner of Mr. Koichi, but I think the former Unification Church is hoping that Mr. Koichi will become the prime minister president and &#8216;withdraw the request for a dissolution order.
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 In South Korea, there was a shocking incident for the former Unification Church. The South Korean District Public Prosecutor&#8217;s Office in southern Seoul had banned President Han Hak-ja, 82, from leaving the country by May 24. Why?
 We have information that Han Hak-chul-ji was actually stopped at the airport on his way out of the country. She claims that she was &#8216;trying to go on a world tour pilgrimage,&#8217; but prosecutors may suspect that she may have fled the country.
 Prosecutors are investigating a former leader of the former Unification Church for violating the Anti-Contraband Law by giving diamond necklaces and brand-name bags to Kim Keon-hee, the wife of former President Yun Seong-yeol (64), through a person related to her when he was number two in the church.
 Although the former Unification Church claims that the gifts were the personal acts of a former leader, it is suspected that he may have asked Yun&#8217;s side for favors in order to gain access to the South Korean government&#8217;s projects in Cambodia and to obtain Official Development Assistance (ODA) from the government.
 Is there a &#8220;massive transfer of funds using believers,&#8221; as Mr. Ait pointed out, or is there still ancestral exorcism being conducted in Japan and South Korea?　What is the cost of such activities?　Are there any plans to support a particular candidate in the Upper House election?　The Public Relations and External Affairs Department of the former Unification Church (Family Federation for World Peace and Unification) responded as follows.
 Since May, a travel agency has been planning a study tour to Cheongpyeong, South Korea, to visit Cheonwon Palace and other church-related facilities, and many church members are actively participating in the tour. The travel agency&#8217;s tour application capacity is 300 people, which does not mean that 300 people participate in every tour. We believe that the training tours organized by the travel agencies contribute greatly to the nurturing of Church members, and we support the transportation expenses for those who participate in the tours. Mr. Suzuki&#8217;s claim that 100,000 yen per person, less 50,000 yen for actual expenses, will be paid as &#8220;commission&#8221; to the head office in Korea through an affiliated company is not true.
 The &#8220;Ancestral Unification&#8221; is a religious ceremony conducted at a Korean Family Association facility in accordance with the Family Association&#8217;s doctrine. We will refrain from answering questions regarding the amount of donations.
 Our organization does not systematically support any particular political party or politician. Each individual member of the church decides who to support according to his or her own ideological beliefs and convictions.
 In 2025, a year of upheaval for the former Unification Church, we must keep a close eye on future developments.

 Yuria Fukatsuki

 Masayoshi Katayama (2nd)

 The former Unification Church was finally ordered to dissolve. What is attracting attention is the whereabouts of its assets amounting to 120 billion yen. According to Eight Suzuki, believers have been traveling to South Korea almost every day since the beginning of the Golden Week holidays, and the funds are being transferred through them.

Transfer of Funds by &#8220;Mass Travel of Former Unification Church Members to South Korea&#8221;! Allegations of &#8220;legal money laundering&#8221; pointed out by Suzuki Eight

Transfer of Funds by “Mass Travel of Former Unification Church Members to South Korea”! Allegations of “legal money laundering” pointed out by Suzuki Eight

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