Justice minister says he has severed all ties with Unification Church

Newly appointed Justice Minister Hideki Makihara, who has admitted to attending dozens of Unification Church occasions up to now, reaffirmed Friday that he has reduce all ties with the spiritual group.

The 53-year-old minister admitted Tuesday that he and his secretary had attended occasions associated to the Unification Church a complete of 37 instances, however didn’t report them to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s inside survey in September 2022.

Makihara stated he could not make the preliminary survey deadline to report such encounters because it was tough to find out occasions in his previous schedule had been associated to the Unification Church. He added that he lastly reported them to the party in February 2023.