Govt to strengthen measures against spiritual sales

e government intends to strengthen measures against so-called spiritual sales tactics, in response to problems linked to the Uni cation Church, formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unication, according to sources.

e government plans to include in its second supplementary budget for scal 2022 funding for such measures as providing nancial assistance to local governments to combat such tactics, which have been used by the Uni cation Church as well as improving services of the National Consumer Affairs Center, the sources said.

Speci cally, ¥500 million will be allocated as a special subsidy to fully fund measures by local governments to ght malicious business practices, including spiritual sales tactics that involve preying on people’s fears to cajole them into buying items at exorbitant prices.

e government also intends to extend the search period for information on consultation cases on PIO-NET, an information network linking the National Consumer Affairs Center and local government consumer a airs entities.

Another envisaged measure is to conduct online training for consumer a airs counselors regarding spiritual sales tactics in order to reinforce the consultation system.

To prevent problems from spiritual sales, the government will aim to enhance consumer education by creating educational materials and videos to raise awareness, according to the sources. (Nov. 6)