A religious group that started in South Korea but has spread its influence around the world has been linked to the assassination of the former Japanese Prime Minister.
According to police and Japanese media, the alleged attacker, who was arrested on the spot, was angry about Abe's reported ties to the Unification Church. The family was bankrupted because of his mother's donations.
The ties between the church and Japan's top leaders were revealed this week, and many Japanese were surprised. The ruling party's conservative views have steered the policies of modern Japan.
The church has deep ties to the governing party and Abe's family.
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The unification church is what it is.
A year after the end of the Korean War, the church was founded by the self-proclaimed messiah Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
Anti-communism and the unification of the Korean Peninsula was championed by the church.
The church is best known for mass weddings where it pairs off couples, often from different countries, and renewed the vows of those already married at big, open places. Hundreds of thousands of people in Japan are members of the group.
In the 70s and '80s, the church was accused of using brainwashing to get people to give money to Moon. Many new religious movements faced similar accusations in their early years according to the church.
In Japan, the group has faced lawsuits for allegedly forcing members to buy expensive art and jewelry or sell their real estate to raise money for the church.
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The church has a link to world leaders.
Moon worked to transform his church into a worldwide religious movement and expand its business. Moon was sentenced to prison in New York for tax evasion. He passed away in the year 2012
Donald Trump is one of the conservative world leaders the church has developed relations with.
The grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un was associated with Moon.
Moon said in his book that he asked Kim to give up his nuclear ambitions and that he had no intention of using it to kill Koreans.
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What was Abe's connection to the church?
Powerful lobbies supported Abe because of his conservative views on security and history. He appeared in a September event.
At the meeting of the Universal Peace Federation, Abe praised the group's work toward peace on the Korean Peninsula and its focus on family values. One of Abe's key positions was to emphasize traditional family systems.
He said in the video that he appreciated the focus on family values. There are so-called social revolutionary movements with narrow- minded values.
The Japanese Communist Party and a group of lawyers who have watched the Unification Church activities have criticized reports of his appearance.
The leader of the church in Japan said that Abe was not a member and that he supported the peace movement.
The group cited by the suspect was not publicly identified by police.
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What does it mean for Japan's governing party?
The ties between the church and Japan's governing party go back to Abe's grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, who served as prime minister and shared worries with the US over the spread of communism in Japan in the 1960s.
Experts say that the Unification Church's anti-communist stance matched the views of the man who was arrested as a war criminal.
The relationship with the church was public. At one point, the church headquarters was located in a building next to Kishi's Tokyo residence, and he was seen with Moon in photos taken at the church. According to media reports, the suspect thought that the church came from Japan.
Masaki Kito, a lawyer and expert on religious businesses, said that the church was seen as a tool to promote anti-communist views in Japan. It was important for the group to show its close ties with politicians.
Experts say that ties between church-affiliated organizations and Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers have developed over the years, though the group denied it.
A survey of 128 lawmakers obtained from police and published in the Weekly Gendai magazine in 1999 shows that the International Federation for Victory Over Communism is funded by the Unification Church.
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What are the opinions of the church and its critics?
When it opened a branch in Japan, the church refused to give any preferential treatment to Kishi. Abe was in favor of Hak Ja Han Moon's peace movement, but denied any money going to the LDP.
Yamagami wasn't a member of the church, it said. The church said it did not have a direct relationship with Abe.
The National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales, who watch the church, say they have repeatedly asked Abe and other LDP lawmakers to stop appearing at or sending messages to the events organized by the Unification Church or affiliates.
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What does it mean for the party?
Koichi Nakano is an international politics professor at Sophia University in Tokyo. The church's relationship with the LDP's right-wing factions and its ultra-right-wing policies could come under scrutiny.
Nakano said that it could lead to revelations of how the party's views have distorted postwar Japanese society.
Takuya Tasso, the governor of Iwate in northern Japan, said Friday that he knew about the LDP's links to the church and that it should be thoroughly investigated.
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Hyung-jin Kim is an Associated Press writer.
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