Court in Japan orders the dissolution of the Unification Church

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Court in Japan orders the dissolution of the Unification Church

2025-03-25 22:07 Last Updated At：22:10

TOKYO (AP) — The Unification Church in Japan was ordered dissolved by a court Tuesday after a government request spurred by the investigation into the 2022 assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The South Korea-based church said it was considering an immediate appeal of the Tokyo District Court’s revocation of its legal status, which would take away its tax-exempt privilege and require liquidation of its assets.

The order followed a request by Japan’s Education Ministry in 2023 to dissolve the influential South Korea-based sect, citing manipulative fundraising and recruitment tactics that sowed fear among followers and harmed their families.

In the ruling, the court said the church’s problems were extensive and continuous, and a dissolution order is necessary because it is not likely it could voluntarily reform, according to NHK television.

“We believe our claims were accepted,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters, adding the government will continue efforts to support victims of the church.

The Japanese branch of the church had criticized the request as a serious threat to religious freedom and the human rights of its followers.

The church called the court order regrettable and unjust and said in a statement the court's decision was based on “a wrong legal interpretation and absolutely unacceptable."

Tomihiro Tanaka, president of the church's Japanese branch, accused the government of “fabricating damages." The church is “not a malicious group that should be dissoloved,” he told a news conference on Tuesday.

The investigation into Abe's assassination revealed links over decades between the church and Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party. The church obtained legal status as a religious organization in Japan in the 1960s during an anti-communist movement supported by Abe’s grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi.

The man accused of killing Abe resented the church and blamed it for his family's financial troubles.

The church, which officially calls itself the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, is the first religious group subject to a revocation order based on violations of Japan’s civil code. Two earlier case involved criminal charges — the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, which carried out a sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, and Myokakuji group, whose executives were convicted of fraud.

To seek the church's dissolution, the Education Ministry had submitted 5,000 documents and pieces of evidence to the court, based on interviews with more than 170 people.

The church tried to steer its followers’ decision-making, using manipulative tactics, making them buy expensive goods and donate beyond their financial ability and causing fear and harm to them and their families, seriously deviating from the law on religious groups, officials and experts say.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs said the settlements reached in or outside court exceeded 20 billion yen ($132 million) and involved more than 1,500 people.

Lawyers representing those seeking damages from the church welcomed the court decision as a major first step toward redress.

“We must pursue our effort to achieve redress and to prevent future problems,” head lawyer Susumu Murakoshi told reporters, demanding the church accept the dissolution order and offer an apology and compensation to all victims.

The church was founded in Seoul in 1954 by the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the self-proclaimed messiah who preached new interpretations of the Bible and conservative, family-oriented value systems.

Nicknamed the “Moonies,” after its founder, the church developed relations with conservative world leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump, as well as his predecessors Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

The church faced accusations in the 1970s and 1980s of using devious recruitment tactics and brainwashing adherents into turning over huge portions of their salaries to Moon. In Japan, the group has faced lawsuits for offering “spiritual merchandise” that allegedly caused members to buy expensive art and jewelry or sell their real estate to raise donations for the church.

The church has acknowledged excessive donations but says the problem has lessened since the group stepped up compliance in 2009.

Experts say Japanese followers are asked to pay for sins committed by their ancestors during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, and that the majority of the church’s worldwide funding comes from Japan.

The Latest: US strikes Venezuela, captures Maduro and his wife

The United States hit Venezuela with a “large-scale strike” early Saturday and said President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were captured and flown out of the country after months of stepped-up pressure by Washington — an extraordinary nighttime operation announced by President Donald Trump on social media hours after the attack.

The legal authority for the strike — and whether Trump consulted Congress beforehand — was not immediately clear. The stunning, lightning-fast American military action, which plucked a nation’s sitting leader from office, echoed the U.S. invasion of Panama that led to the surrender and seizure of its leader, Manuel Antonio Noriega, in 1990 — exactly 36 years ago Saturday.

Maduro and his wife, captured overnight from their home, were being transported via a U.S. warship to New York, where they were to face criminal charges. The U.S. is now evaluating next steps for Venezuela, Trump said Saturday on Fox News, “We’ll be involved in it very much.”

Here's the latest:

Trump told Fox News he spoke to Maduro several times, including most recently a week ago.

Maduro denied that in an interview on New Year’s Eve, saying he had only spoken to Trump in November.

Trump’s dramatic action against Maduro is the polar opposite of the clemency he granted to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández.

Trump in December pardoned Hernández though he was sentenced to 45 years in U.S. prison for helping drug traffickers to safely move hundreds of tons of cocaine north through his country to the U.S.

Hernández, who enjoyed support from officials in the first Trump administration, was convicted by a U.S. jury in New York — which Maduro is now set to face.

When asked in an interview with Politico about the pardon, Trump said, “I don’t know him” and “I know very little about him,” but added that he was told that Hernández “was set up.”

“The country, uh, deals in drugs, like probably you could say that about every country, and because he was the president, they gave him like 45 years in prison,” he said.

The indictment accuses Maduro of leading a “a corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking.” It alleges that the drug trafficking efforts “enriched and entrenched Venezuela’s political and military elite.”

U.S. authorities allege that Maduro partnered with “some of the most violent and prolific drug traffickers and narco-terrorists in the world” to bring tons of cocaine into the U.S., according to the indictment.

Authorities estimate that as much as 250 tons of cocaine were trafficked through Venezuela by 2020, according to the indictment. The drugs were moved on go-fast vessels, fishing boats and container ships or via planes from clandestine airstrips, authorities allege.

The United Nations said it was “deeply alarmed” by the U.S. strikes and reported detention of President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. It expressed concern that the escalation was a violation of international law.

“These developments constitute a dangerous precedent,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, said in a statement. Dujarric said the U.N. worried about the larger implications for Latin America and the Caribbean and called on “all actors in Venezuela” to respect human rights and the rule of law.

China strongly condemned the U.S. strike in Venezuela and the action against its president, the Foreign Ministry said, adding the Beijing government was “deeply shocked” and firmly opposed to the operation.

“Such hegemonic acts of the U.S. seriously violate international law and Venezuela’s sovereignty and threaten peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean region,” it said.

It called on the U.S. to comply with international law and the principles of the U.N. Charter, urging it to stop violating the sovereignty and security of other nations.

Trump said a helicopter was hit during the operation in Venezuela and a few U.S. members were injured, but he believed none were killed.

“A couple of guys were hit, but they came back and they’re supposed to be in pretty good shape,” he said.

He said the U.S. lost no aircraft in the operation.

“We got it all back. One of them was hit pretty hard but—a helicopter—but we got it back.

“We had to do it because it’s a war,” he added a few moments later.

The Federal Aviation Administration has imposed a temporary airspace restriction on Puerto Rico’s international airport and surrounding regions.

An announcement by Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan posted on the social media site X said the restriction was placed because of the “security situation related to military activity” in Venezuela.

As a result, most commercial airlines to and from the airport that are operated by U.S. airlines have been suspended or may be canceled.

Foreign airlines and military aircraft are not included in this restriction, the statement said. “Passengers are urged to check the status of their flight directly with their airline before heading to the airport.”

Trump brushed off criticism from U.S. Democratic lawmakers that he did not seek permission from Congress ahead of time and that the strike was illegal. He called his Democratic critics “weak, stupid people” and blaming his political opponents for inflation in the U.S.

He said the operation in Venezuela was “really genius.”

“All they do is complain,” he said of the Democrats.

“They should say, ‘Great job.’ They shouldn’t say, ‘Oh Gee, maybe it’s not constitutional.’ You know, the same old stuff that we’ve been hearing for years and years and years,” Trump said.

Trump said the operation in Venezuela “wasn’t meant to be” a message to Mexico, but then he has proposed to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum that the U.S. “take out” cartels in her country and suggested the U.S. might take action.

“We’re very friendly with her, she’s a good woman. But the cartels are running Mexico. She’s not running Mexico. The cartels are running Mexico,” Trump said.

He said he’s asked Sheinbaum numerous times, “Would you like us to take out the cartels?” but she has said no.

“Something’s going to have to be done with Mexico,” Trump said.

Trump told Fox News that the couple were aboard the U.S. warship Iwo Jima and headed to New York, where they will face prosecution.

President Donald Trump said in an interview Saturday morning that the United States will be making decisions on what is next for Venezuela after capturing the Latin American country’s president and flying him out of the country.

“We’ll be involved in it very much” as to who will govern the country, Trump said.

“We can’t take a chance in letting somebody else run and just take over what he left, or left off,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News hours after the capture.

Venezuelan ruling party leader Nahum Fernández told The Associated Press that Nicolás Maduro and his wife were at their home within the Ft. Tiuna military installation when they were captured.

“That’s where they bombed,” he said. “And, there, they carried out what we could call a kidnapping of the president and the first lady of the country.”

Vice President JD Vance said in a statement on X: “The president offered multiple off ramps, but was very clear throughout this process: the drug trafficking must stop, and the stolen oil must be returned to the United States. Maduro is the newest person to find out that President Trump means what he says.

Kudos to our brave special operators who pulled off a truly impressive operation.”

In South Florida, Venezuelans celebrated the news of Maduro’s capture at a rally held outside a South American eatery.

People wrapped themselves in Venezuelan flags, ate fried snacks and cheered as music was playing at the event. At one point, the crowd chanted “Liberty! Liberty! Liberty!”

The rally took place in Doral, Florida, a city of 80,000 people surrounded by Miami sprawl and home to the largest Venezuelan community in the United States.

— EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote on X that she had spoken with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the EU ambassador in Caracas. “The EU has repeatedly stated that Mr Maduro lacks legitimacy and has defended a peaceful transition. Under all circumstances, the principles of international law and the UN Charter must be respected. We call for restraint.”

— Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for “de-escalation and responsibility. International Law and the principles of the United Nations Charter must be respected,” Sánchez wrote on X.

— Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it is “extremely alarmed” and called for “immediate clarification,” according to a statement posted Saturday on the ministry’s Telegram channel. The ministry said such actions, if confirmed, would constitute “an unacceptable infringement on the sovereignty of an independent state.”

— British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the U.K. was not involved in the U.S. operation in Venezuela and that he would seek more information from Trump. Without condemning the U.S. action, Starmer said he always believes that international law should be upheld. “But I think at this stage, fast moving situation, let’s establish the facts and take it from there,” he said.

At a pro-Maduro protest in the capital, Caracas Mayor Carmen Meléndez joined a crowd that demanded that Maduro be returned immediately.

“Maduro, hold on, the people are rising up!” the crowd chanted. They also said: “We are here Nicolás Maduro. If you can hear us, we are here!” Elsewhere, residents were still taking in the events.

“How do I feel? Scared, like everyone,” said Caracas resident Noris Prada, who sat on an empty avenue looking down at his phone. “Venezuelans woke up scared, many families couldn’t sleep. I have been on the street, I just got back from Maracay, everything is blocked, everything is bad, very bad.”

“They impose the law,” electrician Alfonso Valdez said about the U.S. government. “They are the police of the world … they are assassins.”

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado’s spokespeople declined to comment on the U.S. operation.

Machado was last seen in public last month, when she emerged from 11 months in hiding and traveled to Norway, where she was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi says Maduro and his wife will face criminal charges after an indictment in New York.

Bondi vowed in a social media post that the couple will “soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”

Maduro was indicted in 2020 in New York, but it was not previously known that his wife had been.

The Justice Department during Trump’s first term in office charged in the several indictments that Maduro had effectively converted Venezuela into a criminal enterprise at the service of drug traffickers and terrorist groups as he and his allies stole billions from the South American country.

The coordinated unsealing of indictments against 14 officials and government-connected individuals, and rewards of $55 million for Maduro and four others, attacked all the key planks of what then-Attorney General William Barr called the “corrupt Venezuelan regime,” including the Maduro-dominated judiciary and the powerful armed forces.

One indictment by prosecutors in New York accused Maduro and socialist party boss Diosdado Cabello, head of the rubber-stamping constitutional assembly, of conspiring with Colombian rebels and members of the military “to flood the United States with cocaine” and use the drug trade as a “weapon against America.”

Read our news report from 2020 on the charges

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau says the military action and seizure of Maduro marks “a new dawn for Venezuela,” saying that “the tyrant is gone.”

He posted on X hours after the strike. His boss, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, reposted a post from July that said Maduro “is NOT the President of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate government.”

Utah Sen. Mike Lee said Rubio informed him that “he anticipates no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in U.S. custody,” the lawmaker posted on social media.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, posted on X that he had spoken with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who briefed him on the strike. Rubio told Lee that Maduro “has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States.”

The White House did not immediately respond to queries on where Maduro and his wife were being flown to. Maduro was indicted in March 2020 on “narco-terrorism” conspiracy charges in the Southern District of New York.

President Gustavo Petro of Colombia, one of Trump’s fiercest critics, said the Colombian government convened a national security meeting before dawn Saturday and sent security forces to the border in preparation for a potential “massive influx of refugees” from neighboring Venezuela.

He said he’d also call on the U.N. Security Council to consider “the aggression against the sovereignty of Venezuela and of Latin America.”

“Without sovereignty, there is no nation,” Petro wrote on social media.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry condemned what it called a U.S. “act of armed aggression” against Venezuela in a statement posted on its Telegram channel Saturday.

“Venezuela must be guaranteed the right to determine its own destiny without any destructive, let alone military, outside intervention,” the statement said.

The ministry called for dialogue to prevent further escalation and said it reaffirmed its “solidarity” with the Venezuelan people and government, adding that Russia supports calls for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting.

The State Department issued a new travel alert early Saturday warning Americans in Venezuela urging them to “shelter in place” due to the situation.

“U.S. Embassy Bogota is aware of reports of explosions in and around Caracas, Venezuela,” it said without elaboration.

“The U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia, warns U.S. citizens not to travel to Venezuela. U.S. citizens in Venezuela should shelter in place.” The embassy in Bogota has been shuttered since March, 2019 but operates remotely.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio retweeted Trump’s announcement without comment, but his deputy, Christopher Landau, posted Trump’s statement, adding that it marked “a new dawn for Venezuela!” “The tyrant is gone. He will now—finally—face justice for his crimes,” Landau said.

Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodríguez says, “We do not know the whereabouts of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.” He added: “We demand proof of life.”

Trump said Maduro “has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement. Details to follow.” He set a news conference for later Saturday morning.

The explosions in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, early on the third day of 2026 — at least seven blasts — sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report hearing and seeing the explosions. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties. The apparent attack itself lasted less than 30 minutes, but it was unclear if more actions lay ahead, though Trump said in his post that the strikes were carried out “successfully.”