The assassin of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe is said to have originally targeted the leader of a religious group. The 41-year-old Japanese man arrested immediately after his attack testified during interrogation, the Japanese news agency Kyodo learned from investigators.
The man shot Abe from behind with a homemade gun from a distance of three meters during a campaign speech in the city of Nara on Friday. He was “dissatisfied” with Abe and wanted to “kill” him, he was quoted as saying. He harbors a grudge against a “certain organization” with which Abe has ties. . What is meant is an unnamed religious group, it said.
The vague term “certain” religious organization conveyed by the Japanese media fueled speculation on the Internet that it could possibly be the controversial Unification Church of the late Korean sect founder San Myung Mun. Also known as the Mun sect, the organization has members in many countries, including Japan, and supports conservative political causes. Politicians like former US President Donald Trump and Abe are considered friendly towards her. Mun, who was strongly anti-Communist, founded it in 1954. As the public television broadcaster NHK learned from investigative circles on Saturday, the assassin is said to have testified that his mother had joined the “certain organization” and had donated a lot of money to her, which had shattered the family.
The police searched the perpetrator’s home on the day of the attack. Several homemade firearms were seized. The 41-year-old unemployed had served in the Navy for three years until 2005 and is said to have received handgun training there.
The assassination caused horror all over the world. Japan is considered one of the safest countries in the world and has extremely strict gun laws. Among other things, experts are now concerned with why the security personnel on site could not prevent the attack. “I don’t think there are enough firearm precautions in Japan with its strict gun laws,” said a personal security expert from the newspaper Nikkei quoted. According to media reports, the National Police Authority now wants to check its security protocol for prominent personalities for deficiencies.
The assassination happened shortly before the elections to the upper house of the national parliament this Sunday. Despite the assassination, they should take place as planned, the government said.