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 events in the past, reaffirmed Friday that he has cut all ties with the religious group.

The 53-year-old minister admitted Tuesday that he and his secretary had attended events related to the Unification Church a total of 37 times, but failed to report them to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s internal survey in September 2022.

Makihara said he couldn’t make the initial survey deadline to report such encounters as it was difficult to determine events in his past schedule were related to the Unification Church. He added that he finally reported them to the party in February 2023.