Ogushi Admits Signing Unification Church "Policy Accord"

Tokyo, Oct. 26 (Jiji Press)--Japanese State Minister for Digital Transformation Masaki Ogushi said Wednesday he had signed a de facto policy accord with an organization linked to the controversial religious group known as the Unification Church.

The signature is dated Oct. 3 last year, before the election for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Japan's parliament, held on Oct. 31 in the same year, Ogushi said at a meeting of the Lower House's Committee on Health, Labor and Welfare in response to a question from an opposition lawmaker.

Ogushi, a Lower House lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, denied having been supported by the Unification Church side for the election in exchange for signing the policy accord, while admitting that he received a letter of recommendation.

The state minister said he had never attended a gathering of the Unification Church, but had sent a message for the group once. "I deeply regret this," he said.

The policy accord called for working for certain policies including constitutional amendment that were similar to policies of the LDP, he said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]