TOKYO Kyodo -- Japan's lower house chief Hiroyuki Hosoda denied support from the controversial Unification Church in past elections, but revealed additional meetings with the group, a lawmaker said Friday.
In a statement released in late September, Hosoda admitted to taking part in four gatherings between 2018 and 2019 that were hosted by the religious organization, some consider it a cult, and its affiliated groups.
The 78 year-old speaker of the House of Representatives said on Friday he attended four more events related to the organization, bringing the total to eight, and sending messages three times on similar occasions.
Hosoda, who faces a backlash over his ties to the Unification Church, denied any support in past election campaigns or donations from the group, founded in 1954 by a staunch anti-communist in South Korea.
A spokesman for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Shunichi Yamaguchi, met with Hosoda earlier in the day. He told reporters that the speaker apologized for having caused trouble. Yamaguchi, chairman of the Committee on Rules and Administration of the Lower House, said Hosoda's additional explanation was very detailed and he fulfilled his responsibility as a lawmaker.
Controversy around the LDP's ties to the Unification Church has become a major issue for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, which was founded in October 2021.
Before joining the LDP, Hosoda headed the largest faction of the ruling LDP before the intra-party group was taken over by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was fatally shot during an election campaign speech in early July.
In September, Hosoda said that he was once interviewed for a publication linked to the organization, now known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.
Opposition parties, however, claimed Hosoda's explanation in the one-sided statement was insufficient, urging him to explain further his connections with the religious group.
The Unification Church has attracted public attention since Tetsuya Yamagami, the man who killed Abe, was quoted by investigative sources as saying his family was financially ruined after his mother made huge donations to the religious organization.
Yamagami also reportedly said he believed Abe was linked to the group. The former prime minister appeared in a video message aired at an event held in 2021 by an organization affiliated with the group.
The connections between the LDP members and the Unification Church have raised fears that the organization may have tried to exert political influence through the party.
An extraordinary parliamentary session kicked off on Monday, with Kishida facing several setbacks, such as the issue of the Unification Church and the contentious state funeral held in late September for Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister.
A memorial speech for Abe is scheduled to be delivered during the ongoing Diet session through December.
Former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, an opposition lawmaker who served as Abe's immediate predecessor in the latter's second term as prime minister, accepted a request from the LDP to give a memorial speech.
The funeral had split public opinion, so executive members of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan boycotted the service.
A CDPJ lawmaker, Noda, said it was unnatural that a former prime minister does not participate in a funeral for a former prime minister.