The Words of the Burton Family
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The Words of the Burton Family |
The Korean News program, "Nyuseu Chujok" or "Pursuing the News", a program of the respected Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS), broadcasted an hour-long expose of the phenomenon of abduction of Japanese women and deconversion efforts in Japan on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010.
SBS reporter Kim Hee Nam introduces viewers to Mr. Toru Goto and several other victims of forced conversion, many of whom continue to suffer the harmful after-effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. The program starts with pictures of Mr. Goto's emaciated body and a woman whose body is covered with a red angry rash. Reporter Kim explains that both persons were victims of kidnapping and confinement, one of them confined for 12 years 5 months.
Four other Japanese victims of abduction relate their stories in great detail of torture to Mr. Kim. The reporter takes a camera crew to Japan to revisit the apartment where one of the victims was held for months. He interviews a minister, "Pastor Shimizu," who admits to serving as a "faithbreaker," although he insists that no coercion is used.
The reporter interviews Mr. Kazuhiro Yonemoto, an investigative journalist, who has compiled in a book the testimonies of those who have survived kidnapping and confinement. Mr. Yonemoto explains that those opposed to the Unification church are disgusted by the thought that Rev Moon himself is deciding on whom one should marry.
Reporter Kim concludes in his report: "Through this investigation we were able to prove that there is indeed a problem of forced kidnapping and confinement, as well as an organization that is orchestrating faith-breaking in the background. Further, we have real suspicions that large sums of money have been exchanging hands as a result of this faith-breaking activity."
The documentary breaks new ground in confirming the claims of Unification Church spokesmen and victims who have complained publicly for years that the human rights of Unificationists have been denied by Japan's law-enforcement agencies. The testimonies and independent summaries by SBS reporters contradict the claims of leaders of the anti-Unification Church law groups, , who have insisted for years that organized, forced conversion does not exist or is exaggerated by spokesmen for the Unification Church in Japan.
In other developments related to the crisis of abduction in Japan, a Unificationist has recently been released from confinement after being held against her will for more than six weeks. The woman, whose name has not been released for publication, is in her mid-twenties and it is believed that she was abducted between August 12 to August 15, 2010. The woman, Ms. "M.H.," had been abducted and confined once before in 2006 and was allegedly subjected to faith-breaking deconversion by Kyoko Kawasaki, a Japanese Christian Minister with the United Christian Church of Japan, according to sources in the Unification Church of Japan.
The Unificationist pastor of the victim's church and a church attorney discovered the residence where she was being confined on September 29, 2010. Church officials have yet to report how she obtained her freedom.