Did Korean Origins Shape Dissolution Outcome?

Japan’s Family Federation dissolution ruling linked to broader history of distrust and long-standing suspicion of religions of foreign origins

In a 25^th June 2026 opinion column published in the South Korean daily newspaper Segye Ilbo, religion correspondent Jeong Seong-su (정성수) argues that Japan’s recent court-ordered dissolution of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification – in Korea often referred to as Unificationism (통일교) – raises broader questions about religious liberty, democratic principles, and the relationship between public sentiment and judicial authority.

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The column was written shortly after Japan’s Supreme Court finalized a lower-court decision ordering the dissolution of the religious corporation. While acknowledging that court rulings deserve respect and that unlawful conduct should be addressed through legal processes, Jeong expresses concern that the case may represent a troubling precedent in which popular hostility toward a religious minority has overshadowed fundamental protections for freedom of religion.

According to the author, the central issue is not whether individuals who allegedly suffered harm many years ago should receive justice, nor whether criticized fundraising or donation practices should be subject to legal scrutiny. Rather, the question is whether dissolving an entire religious corporation constitutes a proportionate response to the violations identified by the courts. Jeong notes that Japanese authorities relied primarily on findings of civil wrongdoing related to donation practices rather than criminal convictions involving senior leaders of the organization. In his view, this distinction is significant because the case marks the first time in modern Japanese constitutional history that a religious corporation has been dissolved on the basis of civil violations rather than serious criminal misconduct.

The columnist traces the origins of the controversy to the 2022 assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (安倍晋三). The assassin claimed that his family had suffered financial difficulties due to his mother’s donations to the religious organization. He cited this grievance as a motive for the attack. Jeong argues that while such claims deserved investigation and victims’ concerns warranted attention, the actions of a lone criminal and the continued existence of an entire religious body are fundamentally different matters. He suggests that a combination of intense media scrutiny, political distancing, and rapidly deteriorating public opinion created an environment in which collective blame came to be assigned to the religious organization itself.

A major theme of the article is the danger posed when public anger exerts excessive influence over legal and political institutions. Jeong contends that democratic societies are most vulnerable when emotional reactions and majority sentiment overwhelm principled protections for minority rights. In his interpretation, freedom of religion exists precisely to safeguard groups that may be unpopular or controversial. Rights that are granted only to organizations enjoying broad social approval cease to function as genuine freedoms and instead become privileges extended selectively by the majority.

The author also places the controversy within a longer historical framework. He argues that Japan’s modern reputation as a democratic society committed to religious freedom should not obscure historical patterns of suspicion toward foreign-origin religions and unfamiliar faith traditions. The column recalls the persecution of Christians during earlier periods of Japanese history, when many believers were executed and others were forced to conceal their faith for generations. It further references the difficulties faced by Korean religious and cultural communities during the colonial era, as well as the state’s efforts after the Meiji Restoration to establish an emperor-centered religious order through State Shinto.

Jeong suggests that contemporary hostility toward the Family Federation cannot be entirely separated from these historical experiences. In his analysis, the movement has faced not only opposition to its beliefs and practices but also an additional burden arising from its Korean origins. The author implies that questions of national identity, historical memory, and cultural difference may have contributed to the intensity of public opposition directed toward the organization in Japan. Jeong writes,

“During the period of Japanese colonial rule, the religious traditions and ethnic religions maintained by Koreans in Japan as a means of preserving their identity were likewise far from welcomed. Furthermore, after the Meiji Restoration [1868], the state established the State Shinto system, imposing an emperor-centered religious order on the population and creating a powerful culture of conformity through the alliance of religion and state power. The hostility now directed toward Unificationism cannot be separated from this historical and cultural context. In Japan, Unificationism has carried not only a religious stigma but also the additional burden of being perceived as a religion that originated in Korea.”

At the same time, the column argues that any historical assessment of the Family Federation should include consideration of both its positive and negative contributions. Jeong points to the participation of some Japanese members in anti-communist civic activism during the ideological conflicts of the 1970s. He also notes that large-scale international marriages involving Japanese and Korean participants have often been presented by supporters as contributing to people-to-people exchanges and reconciliation efforts between the two countries during periods of strained bilateral relations. While not dismissing criticism of the organization, the author cautions against reducing a complex religious movement to a single negative image without acknowledging other dimensions of its history.

The article further highlights concerns that have been voiced outside Japan. Jeong cites observations made in reports on international religious freedom, including statements describing the dissolution effort as a departure from established practice because it relied on civil violations rather than criminal offenses. He interprets such comments as evidence that international observers view the case as having significance beyond Japan’s domestic legal system. For the author, the issue touches on broader questions regarding the treatment of religious minorities and the limits of state authority over religious organizations. Reporter Jeong writes,

“In its International Religious Freedom Report, the U.S. Department of State described the Japanese government’s request for the dissolution of the Family Federation as a “deviation from the norm.” The report noted that this was the first effort to dissolve a religious corporation on the basis of civil violations rather than criminal offenses. This demonstrates that the international community is closely monitoring the issue not merely as a domestic matter, but as one involving the universal principle of religious freedom.”

In its concluding sections, the column returns to the philosophical and historical meaning of religious freedom. Jeong argues that governments possess the power to dissolve legal entities and organizations, but they cannot eliminate personal belief or religious conviction. Drawing comparisons to the survival of religious communities under persecution in various historical contexts, he contends that faith traditions often endure even when institutional structures are dismantled.

The author concludes by predicting that the Japanese Family Federation will face substantial administrative and organizational difficulties as a result of the court decision, yet will continue to exist as a faith community. More broadly, he argues that the ultimate significance of the ruling will be determined not only by contemporary legal standards but also by future historical judgment. In his view, the central question that remains open is whether Japan’s courts dissolved only a religious corporation or whether the decision also narrowed the scope of the religious freedom that democratic societies are expected to protect.

See also Supreme Court Upholds Dissolution of Federation

See also Japan: Only Freedom to Believe, Not to Practice

See also Ruling Leaves Serious Questions on Due Process

See also Japan’s Treatment of Faith Minority Families

See also Dissolution Case: Pseudoscience Shaping Verdict

See also: Verdict Under the Shadow of “Mind Control” Myth

See also Brussels Press Conference Condemns Dissolution

See also The Hidden Story Japan Doesn’t Want You to Hear

See also Japanese Court Assumes the Role of Inquisitor

See also Corporation Dissolved – Organization Remains

See also: The Contradictions of the Dissolution Order

Text: Knut Holdhus, editor

Featured image above: Faith of Korean origins in Japan. Illustration: ChatGPT, 25^th June 2026, edited.

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