Japan ruling party policy chief paid fees to Unification Church-linked group

Senior ruling party lawmaker Koichi Hagiuda said Thursday that he had paid ¥90,000 in membership fees to an organization linked to the religious group known as the Unification Church.

Hagiuda, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party’s Policy Research Council, paid ¥15,000 to the Women’s Federation for World Peace Japan six times between 2012 and 2019 in the name of his supporters’ group and an LDP branch, according to his office.