Japan Kishida's support hits low on his party's ties to controversial church

FILE PHOTO: Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to the media after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan, at his official residence in Tokyo, Japan October 4, 2022, in this photo taken by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo via REUTERS

Support for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government slid to the lowest of his one-year tenure on doubts about his party's disclosure of ties to the controversial Unification Church, an opinion poll showed on Sunday.

Kishida has struggled to overcome revelations of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) deep and longstanding ties to the church in the wake of the July assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.