Kihara Received Recommendation Letter from Church-Linked Group

Tokyo, Oct. 28 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara revealed Friday that he had received a letter of recommendation for the October 2021 House of Representatives election from an organization linked to the controversial religious group known as the Unification Church.

Kihara, a member of the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, is the closest aide to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, also president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

"I myself, my staff and my office lacked awareness (about the inappropriateness of receiving the letter) at the time," Kihara, an LDP member, said at the day's meeting of the Lower House cabinet committee.

It was "wrong" to receive the recommendation letter from the Federation for World Peace, linked to the Unification Church, officially called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification," Kihara said, adding, "I deeply regret it and would like to offer an apology."

But he stressed that he has never received specific policy requests from the Unification Church side.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]