How Shinzo Abe’s Assassination Brought the Moonies Back Into the Limelight

A shocking act of political violence exposed the cult’s deep influence.

January 26, 2026

Revelations about the Moonies’ links to public officials—and allegations of financial and emotional abuse—have roiled East Asia.Illustration by Hokyoung Kim

Shinzo Abe, the former Prime Minister of Japan, was speaking at a political rally near a train station in the city of Nara when the shots rang out. It was an unfamiliar sound; it’s essentially illegal for Japanese civilians to own guns, and firearm-related deaths are very rare. The noise was so strange that only some of the rally-goers flinched.

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E. Tammy Kim is a contributing writer at The New Yorker who covers a range of subjects, including politics, labor, and East Asia.

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