Report: Abe assassin wanted to build bomb

Tokyo According to a media report, the assassin of the former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had initially planned a bomb attack. As the Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday, citing investigative circles, the 41-year-old former marine tried to build a bomb himself.

Tetsuya Yamagami shot and killed Abe with a homemade gun while delivering a campaign speech in the city of Nara on Friday. According to media reports, he said after his arrest that he acted out of hatred for a religious group that supported Abe.

>> Read here: Japan’s ex-prime minister Abe dies after being assassinated

His mother donated large sums of money to the religious organization, which ruined it. Neither the police nor Japan’s state-run media have so far wanted to name the group. However, the online magazine “Gendai Business” claims to have learned from investigative circles that this is the controversial Unification Church of the late Korean sect founder San Myung Mun.

Also known as the Mun Sect, the Unification Church has members in many countries, including Japan, and supports conservative political causes. Politicians like former US President Donald Trump and Abe are considered friendly towards her.

Mun, who was strongly anti-Communist, founded it in 1954. Thanks to a devoted following, he built a corporate empire that made him a billionaire. He was known for grand performances, which included mass weddings. There had previously been speculation on Japan’s social media that the Abe assassin could have meant this group. There is no confirmation for this.

>> Read here: Ex-Prime Minister Abe’s Assassination Attempt – Here’s How His Death Could Affect Japan

According to the media, the confessed assassin denied that he acted out of resentment against Abe’s political beliefs. Originally he wasn’t even aiming for the right-wing conservative politician, but for a leader of the religious group.

Police found explosives and homemade firearms in his apartment. The man testified that he was able to fire six bullets at once with the murder weapon, as the newspaper “Yomiuri Shimbun” reported on Sunday, citing investigative circles.

Overshadowed by the assassination attempt, the upper house elections took place in Japan on Sunday. A victory for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government camp emerged. A victory would have paved the way for the governing coalition to implement projects such as increasing the defense budget and restarting some nuclear power plants.

Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner Komeito are likely to secure their previous majority in the lower house of parliament, according to media reports based on voter surveys after the polling stations closed. As the broadcaster NHK reported on Sunday after the polling stations closed, citing its own survey, they probably won 69 to 83 of the 125 seats up for election.

The LDP alone increased its share from the previous 55 to 59 to 69 of the seats available for election in the future. The coalition partners already have 70 of the mandates in the upper house that were not up for election this time.

>> Read here: Assassination attempt on Shinzo Abe – The architect of the new Japan is dead. An obituary.

The elections to the less influential upper house, which take place every three years, are seen as a mood barometer for the government. Half of the 248 seats in the House of Lords are up for grabs every three years. The coalition also has the majority in the more powerful lower house.

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