The new religious denomination was founded by Moon Sun-myung in 1954 and is also known as the United Church and Moon Sect.

Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, died in public during a speech in July. The man suspected of murder, Tetsuya Yamagami, claims that he shot the former prime minister because of his alleged ties to the United Family.

The man’s mother is said to have donated a large sum of money to the church community, destroying the family’s finances.

The weakened Kishida

The church denies wrongdoing, but a number of former members have criticized the church’s methods, and the ruling LDP’s relationship with the deeply conservative church has received a lot of attention. This has significantly weakened Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

About half of the party’s elected representatives have ties to the religious community. Kishida has promised to cut all ties, but many Japanese want a better explanation of how the church may have influenced party policy.

In August, seven ministers had to resign from their posts because of ties to the sect.

Keiko Nagaoka, Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports and Technology, told reporters on Monday that Kishida had instructed him to open an investigation and that it would begin immediately.

It is hoped that Kishida himself will speak on the matter on Monday. Local media wrote that the mandate of the investigation was to find out whether the church had acted contrary to its status as a religious group and acted dangerously for the welfare of society.

Possible order of disbandment

The investigation can end with an order to disband the church in accordance with the laws and regulations for religious people. In this case, the church will lose the tax exemption it is entitled to as a religious community, but the church will be able to continue operating.

Only two religious groups have received such disbandment orders in Japan, according to local media, among them the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday sect, which was behind the 1995 Tokyo subway nerve gas attack.

Other groups cheat members. The government is said to be skeptical of issuing such an order against the United Church out of respect for religious freedom.