TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan will invest $1. 83 mil on a state memorial for slain previous leader Shinzo Abe, the government said upon Friday, despite increasing opposition from a general public angered by facts of the ruling party’s ties to the Unification Church.
Abe, Japan’s longest-serving but divisive leading, was shot and killed at an election rally on This summer 8, and although funeral services had been held soon after, Japan has decided to hold a state funeral on Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan arena on Sept. 27.
The government of Leading Minister Fumio Kishida, an Abe protege, decided the state memorial would be paid for solely with state funds.
But opinion polls display persistent opposition to the idea. In the latest, published on Sunday, 53% of participants were against a state funeral.
The public has been angered by revelations of ties between the judgment party and the Unification Church, which a vast majority of respondents in viewpoint polls feel never have been fully explained and have become a major headache for Kishida, dragging down their support.
The church, launched in South Korea in the 1950s and famous for its mass wedding ceremonies, has over the years confronted questions over how its solicits contributions.
Abe’s suspected assassin, imprisoned at the scene occasions after the shooting, bore a grudge against the church, alleging it bankrupted his mother, and he blamed Abe for promoting this, according to his social media marketing posts and news reports.
The man is undergoing psychiatric evaluation, media has reported.
“Abe had been highly regarded both inside Japan and internationally, and there have been a lot of messages of condolence (since his death), ” chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told an information conference.
“We believe it is necessary for Japan as a nation to respond to that because international etiquette, and thus we decided it is best to conduct this particular funeral as an established event hosted with the government and have worldwide visitors attend, inch he said.
Japan’s final fully state-funded funeral for a prime minister was for Shigeru Yoshida in 1967. Subsequent ones have been paid for by both the state and the judgment Liberal Democratic Celebration (LDP), of which Abe was an influential member.
Various current and previous world leaders are required to attend, with information reports saying plans were being created for former U. T. President Barack Obama to take part.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend, the Kremlin said within July.
($1 = 136. 7000 yen)
(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto, Elaine Lies plus Sakura Murakami, Modifying by Chang-Ran Betty, Robert Birsel plus Sam Holmes)