Regarding his meeting with the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives four years ago, Prime Minister Kishida said that he was trying to confirm with the former Speaker of the Unification Church whether any members of the Unification Church were present, but even if they did, the recognition that he was not aware of anyone at the time did not change.
The Asahi Shimbun reported that Prime Minister Kishida's meeting with former US House Speaker Gingrich four years ago, when he was serving as chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's Political Research Committee, confirmed that the former Speaker of the House of Representatives was present at the time with the heads of the Japan organization, a friendship group of the former Unification Church.
Prime Minister Kishida told reporters on the morning of the 4th, "We are trying to contact Mr. Gingrich to confirm with him, but even if there is a former Unification Church official in the group, it does not change the recognition that he does not know who he is."
In addition, he said, "It is not correct to point out that he had a relationship with the former Unification Church because he had a related person in the group."
In response to a reporter's explanation that "the former chairman explained that the meeting arrangements were made by the friendship group of the church," he said, "I have checked the meeting records at the time and the people involved, but the points pointed out have not been confirmed.