The decision by the district court in Tokyo means that the church will lose its status as a registered religious community and thereby a number of tax exemptions, as well as that its assets will be liquidated. However, it can be appealed to a higher instance.
The Moon movement, also known as the Unification Church or more formally the Family Federation for World Peace and Unity, has come under scrutiny in Japan after the murder of the country's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022.
The murderer held Abe responsible for his mother having donated enormous sums of money to the Moon movement and thereby making their family bankrupt. When the spotlight then fell on the movement's influence in the country, shady connections to some members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party were revealed.
The movement is accused of having collected money and recruited members in a manipulative manner.
Dissolving religious communities is a sensitive issue in Japan, where the imperialist empire in pre-war times cracked down hard on all religions other than Shintoism.
This is the first time it has happened through administrative law in modern Japan. It has previously only occurred when communities have been found guilty of serious crimes, such as after the Aum Shinrikyo sect's sarin gas attacks in Tokyo's subway in 1995.
The Moon movement or Moon sect, also known as the Unification Church or Family Federation for World Peace and Unity, was founded in 1954 in South Korea by Sun Myung Moon.
It came to Sweden in 1969 and is said to have around 100 members here.
The movement is notorious for its mass weddings where the couples are chosen by the pastor, often shortly before the wedding. It has been accused of extensive brainwashing of its members. It was not said outright, but many members believed that Moon was the new Messiah.
The movement later developed into a business empire and has founded and acquired media companies around the world.
Hyung Jin Moon is Sun Myung Moon's youngest son and was appointed as his father's successor as leader in 2009. After his father's death in 2012, Hyung Jin Moon left his position and started a new branch of the movement in the USA.
