Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio said he has no knowledge of having met with the Japanese branch head of a group associated with a religious organization widely known as the Unification Church four years ago.
The Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported on Monday that the branch head of the group was present at a meeting between Kishida and former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich in Japan in October 2019.
The group is called Universal Peace Federation, or UPF.
Kishida was the Policy Research Council Chairperson of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party at the time. The meeting was reportedly held at the LDP's headquarters.
Kishida told reporters on Monday that he met Gingrich in his position as former foreign minister. He said he remembers Gingrich was accompanied by many people, but he does not know who they were.
A reporter asked Kishida if he intends to check the matter himself as he has been calling on other LDP lawmakers to give a thorough explanation about relations with the former Unification Church.
Kishida said he has looked into the matter but he has no knowledge of the identity of each person who accompanied the former speaker.
A reporter told Kishida that there is information that he exchanged business cards with people who were with Gingrich. The prime minister said he does not remember if he exchanged cards with them.