FEBRUARY

True Father had been a student leader in Korean independence activities while studying in Japan from 1941 to 1943. He was interrogated numerous times and placed on a watch list. On returning to Korea, True Father took employment at the Kyeongsung branch of the Kashima Gumi Construction Company in Seoul’s Yongsan District while continuing his religious and independence activities. In October 1944, Japanese police stormed into True Father’s lodgings because one of his friends who had been arrested for being a communist had mentioned his name to interrogators.

Once arrested and incarcerated at the Gyeonggi Province Police Station, True Father was subjected to brutal torture in an unsuccessful effort to have him reveal names of people who had worked with him while in Japan. In A Peace-Loving Global Citizen, True Father details the several types of torture. Police broke all four legs of a table against his body, stomped on him “mercilessly with their spiked boots,” beat him while he was being hung from the ceiling, and forced water down his esophagus. With the war winding down and unable to obtain information, the police released True Father on February 1, 1945. True Father noted, “My body did not recover easily from the torture.”

The “Watergate Crisis” gripped the United States following exposure of White House involvement with a break-in at the Democratic Party’s campaign headquarters during the 1972 presidential election.

True Father was concerned that the crisis was weakening America in the face of communist aggression and issued an “Answer to Watergate” statement on November 30, 1973, which called upon Americans to “Forgive, Love and Unite.” True Father then launched a forty-day National Prayer and Fast for the Watergate Crisis (NPFWC). Unificationists conducted vigils, rallies, letter-writing and leafleting in all fifty states. At the National Christmas Tree lighting in Washington, D.C., in 1973, 1,200 pennant-waving, banner-carrying Unificationists from all over the country demonstrated in support of the president and garnered national attention.

President Richard Nixon emerged from the White House later that evening to personally thank the Unificationists who were holding a candlelight vigil across the street at Lafayette Square. True Father subsequently was invited to the annual Presidential Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton Hotel on January 31, 1974. The next day, February 1, 1974, True Father had a twenty-minute meeting with President Nixon in the Oval Office of the White House. He reportedly told the president, “Don’t knuckle under to pressure. Stand up for your convictions.”

In 1988, following South Korean President Roh Tae-woo’s declaration of greater freedom and the Seoul Olympics, the number of newspapers in Korea doubled.

True Father founded the Segye (“universal”) Times. He intended it to be the “window on the world” for the Korean people. According to True Father:

The last part of the 20th century is an age when the world is governed by the media. The power and responsibility of the media are becoming stronger than those of an atomic warhead or any military might. Accordingly, when the media put forward sound arguments based on a consistently true viewpoint about values, the media will become the standard-bearers of world peace.

Most of the established newspapers in South Korea increased their page numbers to make things difficult for the newly established papers. Due to the efforts of Unificationists, many from overseas, in newspaper distribution and the commitment of True Father, the Segye Times flourished. ROK President Kim Dae-jung participated in the paper’s 10th anniversary celebration in 1999, saying, “I set a high value on theSegye Times’ decade of efforts of capable journalism, and I hope it becomes prosperous as a worldwide newspaper, as its name implies.” It has since become one of Korea’s leading newspapers.

True Father’s 70th birthday celebration was auspicious as it occurred when communism was crumbling. Ten years previously, in 1980, True Father refused to celebrate his 60th birthday as communism was on the march, especially in Latin America. Instead, he founded CAUSA International and engaged in an all-out campaign during the 1980s to halt its spread. By 1990, the Berlin Wall was open and the Soviet Empire was collapsing. True Father commented:

I am well known around the world as a leader in the anticommunist and victory-over-communism movements. The purpose for which I conduct a movement for victory over communism is not to kill communists but to liberate them with truth and true love so that they may live. This is the reason I am working to help the communist world today and rescue it from its current distress. For that reason, I have been welcomed even in the Soviet Union and China. Even Kim Il Sung in North Korea cannot be my enemy.

True Father celebrated his 70th birthday in the context of the Second Summit Council for World Peace and the Eighth International Conference of AULA (Association for the Unity of Latin America) held in Seoul. Twelve former heads of state and prime ministers, and 56 dignitaries including ambassadors, legislators, royalty and nobility from 20 nations, took part in a congratulatory banquet attended by 2,000 VIPs in all. In his banquet speech True Father said, “Never during my life did I even dream that someday when I lived to be seventy, there would be such a large banquet and so many distinguished guests would gather to congratulate me.”

Two months later, the 3rd Summit Council and the 9th AULA International Conference would convene in Moscow simultaneously with the 11th World Media Conference. There True Parents met Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. This paved the way for expanded activities of the Unification Church there and, as some contended, the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union (later the Commonwealth of Independent States) and the Republic of Korea.

On Feb. 1, 2015, the largest Interfaith Peace Blessing in the Philippines was held at the Marikina Sports Complex in Marikina City in the eastern part of Manila. An estimated 150,000 people, garbed in white, came from all over Metro Manila and neighboring provinces. From as early as 9 in the morning, participants started to arrive for the Blessing and continued until around 3 in the afternoon. Sun Jin Moon, who delivered the Blessing Address on behalf of her parents, UPF Founders Dr. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, said:

“All the couples in their white clothes! You look so noble and angelic. It feels as if we are in the true Garden of Eden: the garden of pure love and boundless joy!”

Distinguished leaders from the Philippines and other nations, in particular the delegates from the Asian Summit in Manila City that had just finished, took part in the historic event which had the theme “Strengthening the Families, Rebuilding the Nations, Creating a World of Lasting Peace.” Former Prime Minister of Nepal His Excellency Madhav K. Nepal delivered a congratulatory message. Five-time Speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives Honorable Jose De Venecia Jr. also delivered a very dynamic congratulatory message. He then encouraged Prime Minister Nepal to organize a large-scale Interfaith Peace Blessing event in Nepal, the nation where the highest peak of the world is located. Vice Mayor of Marikina City Honorable Jose Fabian Cadiz, representing Mayor Del De Guzman, welcomed all the participants. He expressed the full support of the Marikina City government for the noble activities being carried out by UPF around the world, especially in regard to the strengthening of marriages and families.

True Parents began the Second World Tour on February 2, 1969. It would take them to 21 nations over a three-month period until May 2. The First World Tour in 1965 had the purpose of blessing Holy Grounds worldwide. The Second World Tour had as its major purpose giving the Holy Marriage Blessing to overseas members. This included 13 American couples, 8 couples in Germany and 22 couples in Japan, 43 couples in all. Their Blessing was connected with the 430 Couple Blessing in Korea the previous year.

In addition to the Blessing, American Unificationists learned of “Victory over Communism” and CARP activities in Korea and Japan as well as economic enterprises. This had the effect of broadening the scope of activity in the United States. The tour also broadened the mindset of Unificationists in Korea.

True Mother was pregnant during the tour and gave birth to Hyun Jin Moon on May 10, 1969, eight days after returning.

Under the auspices of The Washington Times, numerous dignitaries, including U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and Congressmen Henry Hyde, Danny Davis and A.C. Watts, joined 200 civic and political leaders to present True Father with a Lifetime Achievement Award for “Freedom, Faith and Family” on February 2, 2000. This followed the “America Honors Rev. Sun Myung Moon on his 80th Birthday” celebration on January 22, which was attended by numerous religious leaders. Unificationists understood that the two events “restored” the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus 2,000 years earlier by religious and secular leaders.

In his speech “The Cosmos Is Our Hometown and Our Fatherland,” True Father said, “Our fatherland is wherever God can be found.” He further stated: “We no longer live in an age dominated by nationalism, or even in an age of globalism. These have already passed. National purpose and global concerns still exist, of course, but we now live in an age when the universe is to be united with one God.” Heaven and earth, he said, “should become a ‘house’ of true love.” Planet Earth, he concluded, “is the hometown of all humankind, and the spirit world is the eternal fatherland where all humanity will eventually arrive.”

True Parents began their Third World Tour on December 5, 1971, visiting 15 countries in 156 days, returning to Korea on May 8, 1972. The main purpose of the Third World Tour was to initiate the public declaration of True Parents’ teachings.

During a training program for American Unificationists from December 31, 1971, to January 3, 1972, True Father made known his intention of holding “revival meetings” in seven major cities: New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and Berkeley. Both East and West Coast centers were to select members, 72 in all, who were to come to New York for a two-week training session. From there, they would travel from city to city to hold the revival meetings.

True Father rented the Alice Tully Hall in New York City’s Lincoln Center for three nights (February 3, 4 and 6, 1972) and charged the local center with making plans for the first of the seven revival meetings. By January 8, the New York center had chosen its theme, “The Day of Hope: The Day of the True Family,” and designed what would be the tour’s official poster. On January 14, the 72 pioneers arrived. For nearly three weeks, they hit the mid-winter streets of New York, selling revival tickets at $6.00 each ($18.00 for three nights) to hear an unknown evangelist. True Father’s topics were “One God, One World Religion,” “Ideal World for God and Man” and “The New Messiah and the Formula of God in History.”

The tour was a constant battle against anonymity and, in the Eastern cities, against the elements. In New York City bitter weather limited attendance to between 350 and 450 people for the three nights, even though many more tickets had been sold. In Washington, a blizzard not only hindered the turnout but stranded pioneers in Frederick, Maryland. Nonetheless, by Berkeley, each night was a full house. The initial 7-city Day of Hope Tour was followed by 21-, 32- and 8-city tours, culminating in True Father’s New York speech in 1974 when as many as thirty-five thousand ticket-holders were turned away from the already filled-to-capacity Madison Square Garden. Barely thirty-two months after his initial Lincoln Center speeches, True Father had become a household name in America.
 

Accompanied by True Mother, Mr. Eu (then president of HSA-UWC, Korea) and Mr. Kuboki (then president of HSA-UWC, Japan), True Father arrived at San Francisco International Airport on February 4, 1969 and at Washington FFWPU headquarters on February 9th. True Father spent the next 39 days in the United States during his second world tour in February and March, 1969. It was during this stay that the attending American Unificationists heard of anti-Communist and student activities of the Korean and Japanese Unificationists, as well as Mr. Eu’s Divine Principle lectures, for the first time. In addition, True Father’s tour of machine shops in New York City raised Unificationist members’ consciousness with regard to economic enterprises.

True Father launched the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS) in 1972. For nearly thirty years, annual conferences in great world cities brought together eminent scientists, including Nobel laureates, in sessions focused on absolute values and cross-disciplinary unity. From 2000-2016, True Parents turned their attention to other pressing matters of world conflict and suffering. However, those years witnessed a steep rise in in threats to humanity’s future from pollution and the destruction of the environment. In 2017, True Mother revived ICUS, calling upon scientists to address environmental concerns.

ICUS XXIII convened at the Lotte World Hotel in Seoul on February 4-5, 2017 under the theme, “Earth’s Environmental Crisis and the Role of Science.” In her remarks to scientists, True Mother stated,

When God created the cosmos he set up the principle of circulation, so it would last for eternity. However, because of the humankind’s mistakes, our beautiful earth is sick … If we would have followed the direction God established at the Creation—the principle of circulation—no pollution would have developed. In many ways scientific civilization caused much pollution. This is the reason I am reviving ICUS. We have to stop the threats that endanger human life and the survival of the planet.

A ceremony was held to offer Cheongshim International Hospital to Heaven on February 5, 2003. The construction began in September 2000 and was finished after two years and five months.

True Parents bestowed on the hospital the motto “Perfection of unification with heavenly character is possible through united mind and spirit.” In her congratulatory remarks, True Mother said, “The Cheongpyeong Heaven and Earth Training Center and the Cheongshim International Hospital are the homeland for the hearts of Unification families around the world.” Located in a beautiful mountain landscape, Cheongshim International Hospital serves its patients with both Western and Oriental medicine and the most up-to-date equipment. (Courtesy of the History Compilation Committee)

True Father proclaimed Cheon Il Guk (“the Nation of Cosmic Peace and Unity”) on November 15, 2001. This was the Unificationist equivalent of the Kingdom of Heaven and the culmination of his ministry. In 1993, he had announced the transition to the Completed Testament Era, which was understood to mark a shift in the order of salvation from the individual to the family. Cheon Il Guk advanced beyond the family to the creation of a heavenly nation. For the next twelve years, True Parents set numerous conditions for the establishment of Cheon Il Guk.

One of the most important of these was the Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony for the Parents of Heaven and Earth Opening the Gate of Cheon Il Guk on February 6, 2003. Its centerpiece was the marriage of True Parents on the foundation of Cheon Il Guk. Their Blessing was to supersede church-level and national-level Blessings. It was followed by the “Coronation of the King of the Blessed Families” to substantiate the original Heavenly Kingship. Both ceremonies were conducted at Cheongpyeong Heaven and Earth Training Center before more than 10,000 guests including 200 dignitaries from the World Summit on Leadership and Governance. Brazilian soccer legend Pele presented True Parents with a specially engraved plaque.

True Parents blessed couples on a mass level during the 1990s. This was referred to as the “globalization” of the Holy Marriage Blessing and focused largely on previously married couples. Unificationists worldwide conducted marriage rededications, which then were sanctified by True Parents at International Marriage Blessings broadcast globally by satellite.

On February 7, 1999, True Parents conducted the largest Blessing to date for 360 million couples. The main venue was Seoul Olympic Stadium which was packed with 100,000 participants, many of whom had been brought by 3,000 buses. Although conducted in mid-winter, the weather cooperated and conditions on the day of the ceremony were quite good. What was known as “Blessing 99” penetrated Korean society more powerfully than previous ceremonies, in part due to Korean President Kim Dae-jung’s presence at the Segye Times’ 10th anniversary six days prior to the event. He shared the podium with True Parents and participated in an anniversary cake cutting.

Gen. Alexander Haig, former U.S. secretary of state under Ronald Reagan and White House chief of staff under Richard Nixon, participated in a conference preceding the Blessing and provided another focal point. In an introduction to True Father, Gen. Haig described how their lives first intersected during the Korean War, praised True Father for his conciliatory approach to President Nixon during the Watergate Crisis, and again praised him for his role in the downfall of communism.  At a well-attended press briefing, Gen. Haig said opposing the values espoused at the conference “would be like being against motherhood.”

True Parents blessed 1,800 couples (technically, 1801) in what the Guinness Book of World Records then recorded as the largest mass wedding in history on February 8, 1975. The ceremony, conducted in Seoul’s Jangchung Gymnasium, brought together couples from 25 nations, including 891 couples from Korea, 797 from Japan, 76 from the United States, 35 from European countries and two from the Republic of China. Over 10,000 guests witnessed the event, after which couples boarded ninety-four sightseeing buses for a parade through the streets of Seoul.

True Parents blessed the 1,800 Couples 14 years after their Holy Marriage Blessing in 1960. It closed out the second 7-year or national-level course and opened the way to the Unification Church’s international work. Some 300 members from the 1,800 Couples went out to 123 nations as foreign missionaries, pioneering the worldwide providence. True Father noted that 1,800 represents three times six, equaling eighteen or “the complete subjugation of the satanic number 6.” The 1,800 Couples, he said, “represent all humankind.” Upon their Blessing, he declared, “we enter the age to embrace the world.” This year marks the 40th anniversary of the 1,800 Couple Blessing.

The Central Training Center was founded in Sutaek-ri, Guri city, Gyeonggi Province, on February 10, 1970. The “A” building was completed twenty-eight days after construction began. True Parents named the facility the HSA-UWC Central Training Center. Countless Unification Movement members and non-member leaders have been educated at this site, and it is still serving as one of the Family Federation’s most important educational facilities. (Courtesy of the History Compilation Committee)

The first Victory over Communism (VOC) rally was held in Suwun Hall in Seoul on February 10, 1978. With 134 foreign participants and over a thousand citizen-guests, the rally was successful. Dr. Sang Hun Lee, author of the VOC text, explained the significance of the rally, which was held to make a resolution to protect the Republic of Korea, one of the most ardently anti-communist countries in the world. Korean President Park Chung-hee and U.S. President Jimmy Carter sent congratulatory messages. (Courtesy of the History Compilation Committee)

Mr. Toru Goto, the world’s best-known survivor of coercive conversion in Japan, was freed from incarceration in a Tokyo apartment on February 10, 2008, after twelve years of confinement by family members. After three hunger strikes and “slow starvation” imposed on him for failing to acknowledge “issues” of the Unification Movement, his family ordered him out of the apartment due to fear that he would carry out another hunger strike and starve to death. Mr. Goto had no money and was physically debilitated.

Barely able to walk and wearing a light sweater, he feared he would freeze to death before morning. Fortunately, after being refused help at a police station, he encountered a Unificationist who helped him get to church headquarters. Around midnight he was taken to Isshin Hospital, where he was diagnosed as suffering from severe malnutrition as well as generalized muscular weakness, muscular atrophy, and anemia. He finally was discharged from the hospital on March 31.

He later noted, “I was continuously confined in a small room from the time I was 31 years old until I was 44 years old [12 years and 5 months]. They deprived me of not only my freedom of religion, freedom of marriage, freedom of choice in employment, freedom of movement and freedom of vote, but they denied and violated my human dignity. They spoiled my precious life. I continued to endure criticism, smear and defamation which degraded my humanity, and also physical violence in the confinement room. I endured forced starvation, while I was continuously pressured to withdraw from the church.”

The publication of The Sermons of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon was marked by a ceremony    on February 11, 2000, in the Little Angels Performance Hall that was attended by 1,500 people. The ceremony occurred on the occasion of the publication of the 300th volume of True Parents’ sermons. Hangeul Foundation Chair Han Gab-su and Korean Publishers Association President Na Chun-ho gave congratulatory remarks. True Parents donated the books to the National Assembly Library, the Gangnam Library and the University Library. To date, more than 600 volumes have been published. Other collections of their messages, such as Cheon Seong Gyeong, Pyeong Hwa Gyeong and Cham Bumo Gyeong, have been published based on this collection of sermons. (Courtesy of History Compilation Committee)

During 1970s speaking tours and afterwards, True Parents discovered the American hamburger. In his autobiography, As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen (2009), True Father wrote,

The meal I enjoy the most in America is McDonald’s. Some people call it junk food and don’t eat it, but I like eating at McDonald’s for two reasons. It’s cheap and it saves time … The message I give members every year is spend money carefully and conserve on everything… I want them to have the consciousness of conserving in order to help the country and save humanity. (336-37)

According to Sun Jin Moon, “For True Father, who was always on the go, the hamburger was the perfect 5-minute meal.” Combining hearty beef, nutritious vegetables and delicious bread, it was “an entire meal packed in a simple, easy-to-eat package.” She noted, “True Mother has fond memories of those times. So, with “Heaven G. Burger,” True Mother is sharing some very heartfelt memories from the early days of our movement, especially pioneering days in America.”

The “G” in its title means “gung” or palace. The two-story site was previously the location of a water-purification facility. At its dedication, True Mother prayed, “This place that we are offering you today is situated at the center of this holy ground like the yolk of an egg … allow your blessing upon it so it may become a place where people can come and foster dreams that are full of hope and happiness.”

From its earliest days, the American Unification movement anticipated the imminent arrival of True Father. Miss Young Oon Kim, the first church missionary to the United States, expected True Father’s arrival with Mr. David Kim in September 1959 and out of her meager funds rented an apartment and purchased bedding and other items. The original Bay Area group anticipated his arrival in the spring of 1961 and purchased a camper. The same expectation was a focus of the American church in 1964. Members throughout the country began a “High Noon Prayer Vigil” in anticipation, and by November word came that “Time is growing short.”

True Father departed from Korea for his first world tour in January 1965. After spending two weeks in Japan, he left for America. Miss Kim, who accompanied them to Japan, departed ahead of them to prepare Americans for his visit. At 5:30 a.m., on the still, cool morning of Friday, February 12, True Father first set foot upon the continent of North America. Twenty-seven “highly honored, greatly privileged and totally breathless” members greeted him at San Francisco Airport. The highlight and major purpose of True Father’s tour was the selection and sanctification of sacred grounds.

Three days later, True Father established the first Holy Ground in the United States on Twin Peaks overlooking San Francisco. In the next 44 days, True Father traveled by car to all 48 states, setting up a total of 55 Holy Grounds. A key part of each ceremony was the burying of a “holy rock” from Korea. A pebble was gathered from the grounds of the City Hall at each stop in America and put into a sack for later transport to Korea. True Father’s first visit to the United States lasted nearly five months, until July 1, 1965, when he departed for Europe.

On February 12, 2014, some 20,000 couples from 194 countries said, “I do” at a Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony that spanned the globe. True Mother officiated the 2014 Cosmic Blessing of 2,500 couples—including 50 couples from the United States—at the Cheongshim Peace World Center in South Korea. It was conducted on the first anniversary of the Cheon Il Guk Foundation Day Commemoration Ceremony. In the United States, couples took part via satellite in local ceremonies from Seattle to New York.

Many Unificationists expected that the Holy Marriage Blessing of 360 Million Couples of 1999, which focused largely on previously married couples, would be the final Marriage Blessing in the sequence of international wedding ceremonies conducted on a global and mass scale. Unificationists, therefore, were surprised when True Father announced a 400 Million Couple Blessing to be conducted in conjunction with his 80th birthday, on February 13, 2000. They were more surprised to learn that the 400 million were to be “matched couples only.” True Father envisioned that the 400 million “Youth Blessing,” in conjunction with the 360 Million Couple Blessing of 1999, “will influence the entire human race.”

In America, Unificationists targeted school graduations, movie theaters, ball parks, beaches, fairs and other places where young people congregated, passing out “Pure Love Pledge Cards.” The “Pure Love Pledge” called on young people to refrain from all sexual relationships before marriage; to respect and honor the ideal of purity in themselves and others; to learn how to practice pure love as a child, friend, spouse and parent; to dedicate themselves to absolute fidelity within marriage; and to encourage others to do the same. Legions of female Unificationists from Japan helped in the work.

True Parents conducted Blessing 2000, as they had in 1999, before a packed Seoul Olympic Stadium. Representatives from ten world faith traditions pronounced blessings, and the event, coordinated with the 2000 World Culture and Sports Festival, was a spectacular success. However, it was apparent that “matched couples” still made up a minority of the Blessing participants. True Father, therefore, designated it “Phase One” of the 400 Million Couple Blessing. Successive phases followed over the course of the next decade.

The Constitution of Cheon Il Guk, which outlines the system and the standard of Cheon Il Guk, was dedicated and proclaimed on February 13, 2014. After Cheon Il Guk Foundation Day in 2013, True Mother directed that the Cheon Il Guk Constitution be established quickly and commissioned a Legislative Committee to complete the draft. The committee reviewed constitutions of eight nations and eleven religious denominations. Over the course of eight public hearings involving 1,035 persons from 21 nations, the Constitution was prepared for presentation on the first anniversary of Foundation Day.

Consisting of nine major sections, the Constitution is intended to establish the laws, principles and guidelines that will serve all the people of Cheon II Guk to actualize God’s peaceful ideal world. In addition to proclaiming the Constitution, True Mother announced the 12 Supreme Council members who will comprise the legislative body under the Constitution of Cheon Il Guk.

True Parents’ public speaking tour of 32 mid-sized cities of the United States began on February 15, 1974, in Portland, Maine, and concluded on April 21 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The speech that True Father gave throughout the United States, “The New Future of Christianity,” contained the statement “For the realization of God’s will, the returning Lord will not come on the clouds.” True Father also said that Jesus died when he did because John the Baptist failed to fulfill his responsibility. (Materials provided by the FFWPU History Compilation Committee)

In her keynote address read before more than 340 international delegates from 60 nations at the Korean National Assembly, True Mother called on participants to establish “an international association of parliamentarians dedicated to peace.” The meeting was part of a special International Leadership Conference (ILC) convened from February 12-16 to discuss the theme, “Addressing Critical Challenges of Our Time: The Role of Governments, Civil Society and Faith-Based Organizations.” True Mother stated,

If parliamentarians of the world join together in harmony and cooperation for the sake of peace, we can transform the current reality of our world, creating a world of joy, harmony and lasting peace … You are the representatives of the 7 billion people of the world. If you join together in this way, there is nothing we cannot accomplish.

Korean leaders, including the Chairman of the National assembly, Vice-Chairman of the National assembly and Chairman of the Korean Council of Foreign Relations supported the establishment of IAPP in their congratulatory addresses. Those present signed a resolution to establish the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace. True Mother called on the Universal Peace Federation to carry out a series of International Leadership Conferences in eight regions of the world to promote and launch IAPP. These culminated in the inaugural World Assembly of IAPP, convened at the Lotte World Hotel, Seoul on February 4, 2017.

Shortly after his incarceration in the Federal Correctional Institution at Danbury, Connecticut, True Father proposed that Unificationists produce and distribute sets of videotapes explaining the Unification Principle for Christian ministers throughout the United States. Originally the plan was to offer 30,000 videos to 30,000 ministers and to ask each of them to share their tapes with ten other ministers and with their congregations.

By October 1984, American Unificationists had distributed more than 30,000 tape sets. True Father felt that was not enough. So it was decided to distribute videotapes directly to 300,000 ministers. It required several months to produce, duplicate, label and package the videotapes, which was done entirely in-house. New Future Films worked with 25 staff members around the clock in areas set up on the sixth, eighth and tenth floors of the World Mission Center (New Yorker Hotel) with 800 video-copying machines in continuous use.

The crew managed to turn out 900 tapes daily. Another 23 members worked in the shipping department. Packets included three 120-minute-long videotapes on the Unification Principle, a brochure and booklet about the Unification Church, an Outline of the Principle text, a book of True Father’s talks titled God’s Warning to the World, and True Father’s personal “Letter from Danbury.” Twenty-eight tractor-trailers were required to ship all 300,000 packages to the mailing location. The project was completed on February 16, 1985. True Father stated, “I feel very good because that is all done now; that was an incredible operation.”

On February 16, 2002, True Parents blessed some 4,000 couples at the Olympic Fencing Gymnasium in Seoul. This was the main ceremony of the third phase of the International Holy Marriage Blessing of 400 Million Couples. Simultaneous ceremonies were held in locations around the world. The Blessing culminated the eighth World Culture and Sports Festival (WCSF) which was convened under the theme “Toward a World Culture of Peace of a New Dimension.”

True Parents officiated the “1.4 Cosmic Blessing Ceremony” at the Korea International Exhibition Center (KINTEX), located in Ilsan, South Korea, on February 17, 2010, or the fourth day of the first month of the Heavenly Calendar. Referred to publicly as the Interreligious Cross-Cultural Holy Wedding Ceremony, it was broadcast via the Internet to 192 nations. Including the 7,000 couples present at the event in Korea, a total of 43,000 brides and bridegrooms participated worldwide. Special congratulatory prayers were given by leaders representing the world’s major religions, including Catholicism, Buddhism, Protestantism, Islam, Shintoism and Hinduism.

True Parents initiated cosmic-level Blessings in 2009 following the 50th anniversary of their Holy Wedding (Korean count). Couples previously had received the Holy Marriage Blessing on the church and worldwide levels.

True Father explained that this was the third and final cosmic-level Blessing in which previously blessed and newly blessed couples would participate. True Parents conducted subsequent cosmic-level Blessings in 2010 and 2012.

The Cosmic Blessing Ceremony officiated by True Mother on February 17, 2013, five days prior to Foundation Day, was significant as it was the first such ceremony conducted since the ascension of True Father. At least 3,500 couples gathered for the Marriage Blessing at the Cheongshim Peace World Center in Gapyeong, Korea, and 12,000 altogether by video link to dozens of countries. In her prayer for the couples, True Mother said, “You have lit a beacon of hope for fallen humanity through the great Blessing ceremonies, which first commenced with the Blessing of 36 couples in 1960 and has now been held 53 times until today.”

On February 18, 1976, anti-Unification Movement organizations sponsored “A Day of Affirmation and Protest” in Washington, D.C., which included a two-hour presentation of grievances against the movement to U.S. Senator Robert Dole (R-Kansas) and representatives of seven U.S. government agencies.

The “Dole hearing” provided critics of the Unification Movement with a well-publicized, credible forum in which to air their grievances before important national-level figures.

More troubling was the fact that Unification Movement representatives were excluded from the proceedings. Senator Dole refused to meet with HSA-UWC President Neil Salonen, and Unificationists could only maintain a vigil of protest at the back of the meeting room. Whereas the Day of Hope tours of the early to mid-1970s were conducted within a climate of receptivity, the Yankee Stadium and Washington Monument rallies of 1976 unfolded within a climate of increasing negativity and even persecution.

The Wonmo Pyeongae (Eternal Parent’s Love) Foundation was officially inaugurated as a non-profit foundation on February 20, 2013 (Korea time) at the Cheon Jeong Gung in Gapyeong, Korea, before an audience of approximately 1,000 people. True Father originally proposed the idea for the foundation in 2011.

The Wonmo Pyeongae Foundation has five main functions: 1) scholarships for Unificationist undergraduate students and high-school pupils; 2) educational support programs and contests; 3) the Sunhak Peace Prize to commemorate True Parents’ contributions to world peace; 4) social contribution awards to candidates or organizations that have served in areas such as counseling, serving multicultural families, and service for the handicapped; and 5) scientific research on peace theory and support of symposia.

During her Founder’s Speech, True Mother said, “Dr. Sun Myung Moon devoted his lifetime to build a global family, and his desire is embodied through the Wonmo Pyeongae Foundation.” As its first project, the foundation during its inauguration ceremony awarded four billion won ($3.7 million) in scholarships to 745 selected individuals and organizations.

On February 21, 1977, True Parents officiated at the largest Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony yet held outside Korea. Seventy-four couples from eleven nations took part in the ceremony, which was conducted in the Terrace Room of the World Mission Center (New Yorker Hotel) in New York. True Parents previously had conducted a Blessing for 43 couples (13 couples in the United States, 8 couples in Germany and 22 couples in Japan) during their Second World Tour in 1969. True Father explained that the Holy Blessing of 74 Couples was made possible on the foundation of the victory of 1976 in America, notably the Washington Monument Rally. He said that he especially wished to give the Blessing to “sorrowfully separated couples from the 777 and 1,800 families” and those who had not been able to participate in the 1975 Blessing due to mission responsibilities.

For the first time since the Holy Blessing of 36 Couples, True Parents posed for photos with each couple individually. They also held a banquet for participants after the ceremony which included a number of “games” such as couples competing to stare into one another’s eyes the longest without blinking or trying to make one another laugh, then trying to make True Father laugh, unsuccessfully. Even though True Mother and the children joined in, True Father “refused to budge” until “there was a glimmer and he broke his seriousness to please us all.” It was reported, “The room filled with joy.” Col. Bo Hi Pak announced that such a banquet had not happened before.

In early 1980, elders of the Unification Church were eagerly preparing to celebrate True Father’s 60th birthday. This was because in East Asia, the 60th birthday has special significance, meaning that a person has completed five 12-year cycles of the Oriental zodiac. It signifies accomplishing one big cycle in one’s life and starting another and is considered the most significant birthday in an individual’s lifetime. Therefore, church leaders were immersed in a multitude of detailed preparations for that celebration.

However, unexpectedly True Father summoned Col. Bo Hi Pak and asked him to abandon all plans for a celebration and immediately go to Latin America. He had intuited the need for a new initiative to support Latin American governments, which were increasingly under pressure because of the communist takeover of Nicaragua in 1979 and the growth of communist insurrection in countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, and Peru. He gave Col. Pak instructions to establish contacts and offer resources in educating young people, the military, and civic leaders so as to avoid a fate similar to Nicaragua’s. This led to the founding of CAUSA International and a new chapter in Unificationists’ “victory over communism” activities.

True Parents dedicated the Cheon Bok Gung, or “Unification Peace Temple,” on February 21, 2010. In 2008, True Father had called for the establishment of a 20,000-member church in Seoul that would serve as a platform to influence the nation. He later increased the goal to a 210,000-person congregation that would influence Korea and eventually the world, not just socially and culturally but also spiritually.

Efforts to construct a “growth-stage” Cheon Bok Gung began in earnest with the acquisition of a large public building in Seoul’s Yongsan district. The church’s worldwide membership, led by Japan and Korea, donated nearly $100 million for the purchase and subsequent renovation costs. This was completed in early 2010, and Unificationists undertook an hour-long march from the previous church headquarters to the new sanctuary, which also would serve as International and Korean church headquarters. In his dedication prayer, True Father prayed that the Cheon Bok Gung “become the candlelight in a garden around which all people who resemble heaven in heart can assemble. … Let it serve as an ecumenical foundation and become the temple embodying the original essence of Your exemplary love as it governs beyond all people and the universe.”

Approximately 70,000 citizens of Nepal gathered to affirm marriage and family on February 21, 2015, as they filled the National Stadium in the capital, Kathmandu, to pledge to uphold premarital purity and marital fidelity. As many as 15,000 people were turned away. At the Multicultural Family Educational Peace Festival, which was organized by the Nepalese chapter of Universal Peace Federation (UPF), unmarried teenagers and young adults took a Pure Love Pledge in front of their peers and parents, promising to remain pure. Married couples reaffirmed their marriage vows of love and fidelity in front of their children, friends and neighbors, and the nation. Religious leaders from six faiths offered their prayers and blessings.

Nepal Parliament Member and Family Party President Ek Nath Dhakal, who promoted the festival, stated, “This is the 18th time that the festival has been held in Nepal.” The two-hour program was broadcast live on 10 television stations in Nepal and internationally via satellite. Nepal’s Vice President Parmanand Jha told his compatriots, “Without first creating true love and peace at home, we cannot dream of building a peaceful and loving nation.” Concluding his remarks, he added, “This is the way to build a nation of peace.” Dr. Sun Jin Moon, international chair of UPF, spoke about the universal nature of the Interfaith Peace Blessing, saying, “Our hope is that, beginning with this Blessing, each couple and family will cultivate a higher awareness of our Creator’s deepest heart and purpose.”

True Father received a revelation in 1946 which said, “Go across the 38th Parallel! Find the people of God who are in the North.” He immediately responded and arrived in Pyongyang on June 6. He began evangelical work but was arrested by communist police on August 11 and accused of being a spy from the South. He was brutally tortured and finally released on November 21. After recovering, he resumed evangelical work, and within a year his congregation had become quite large.

Some 80 ministers of established churches whose members had begun attending the new congregation’s services wrote letters of complaint, and True Father was arrested a second time by communist authorities on February 22, 1948. This time, in addition to accusations of espionage, he was charged with “disturbing public order.” True Father again was severely tortured, tried on April 7, convicted, sentenced to 5 years’ labor, and transported to Heungnam Prison on May 20, 1948.

True Parents gave the Holy Marriage Blessing to 430 couples (436, technically) on February 22, 1968. True Father noted that 1967 marked 4,300 years of Korean history (the Dangun era). He stated that the 430 Couples corresponded to the 4,300 years of Korean history and that the Holy Marriage Blessing connected Korea to the Unification Church. True Father also noted that it took the Israelites 430 years to return to Canaan from Egypt and that “we too have set out to restore the world, which is our Canaan.”

The following year, True Parents conducted their second world tour and blessed 43 couples worldwide, which connected to the 430 Couple Holy Blessing internationally. The 430 Couple Holy Blessing included the first non-Korean couple, Osami and Tetsuko Kuboki from Japan. Their Blessing connected Korea and Japan. True Father later stated, “The Blessing … is not just for Koreans. The fact that I connected the 430 Couples to the 43 Couples on the foundation of the family on the world level signifies the birth of a new race transcending ethnicity and nationality. That is how I see it.”

Volume 1, Number 1 of Unification News was published on February 22, 1982. The lead story was “New Day for Civil Rights,” which covered True Father’s support for the Minority Alliance International (MAI) and its first awards banquet. For nearly 30 years, until December 2011, Unification News was the monthly voice of American Unificationism. For most of that time, “The Newspaper of the Unification Community” was edited by Richard Lewis.

In a 2010 interview, he noted that it was established at the same time as The Washington Times. He recalled that True Father spent two hours on a cold Sunday morning at Belvedere in February talking “about the fall of communism and how important The Washington Times was going to be.” Then, right at the end, almost as an afterthought, he said, “Oh, Dr. Pak. I want you to create a second newspaper at the same time so that we’re never tempted to use The Washington Times as our church newspaper.” He then “held up two dummies, one of the Unification News and one of The Washington Times.”

As the newspaper of record for the American Unification community, it covered True Parents’ momentous work over the course of three decades, regional and local Unification news, and commentary. Its mission is now carried on by the Family Federation for World Peace through its online website and newsletter.

On February 22, 2007, the “Cross-Cultural Marriage Blessing Ceremony in the Sacred Reign of Peace for the Realization of a Peaceful World” took place at the Cheongpyeong Heaven and Earth Training Center in Gapyeong, Korea, with True Parents as the officiators. Many children of UPF Ambassadors for Peace received the Blessing on this day, with 521 new couples formed in the midst of much love and blessings. The brides and grooms also participated in the “True Parents’ Birthday and Commemorative Celebration for True Father’s 88th Birthday,” held the next day.

True Father proclaimed Cheonju Pyeonghwa Tongil Guk (“the Nation of Cosmic Peace and Unity”), abbreviated as Cheon Il Guk (CIG), on November 15, 2001. It is the Unification equivalent to the Kingdom of Heaven and represents an extension in the order of salvation from the individual and family to the creation of a heavenly nation. The Cheon Il Guk era refers to the time period during which the foundation of Cheon Il Guk was to be established.

According to True Father, the movement was on a “tight schedule” of twelve years, extending until Foundation Day (the thirteenth day of the first month by the Heavenly Calendar), when the necessary conditions for the start of Cheon Il Guk would be fulfilled. The most important of these was the “marriage” of the “God of Night” (the eternal Godhead, transcendent of time and space, the creator God) and the “God of Day” (perfected Adam and Eve, the “Parents of Heaven Earth and Humankind”). “God’s Holy Wedding” was consummated on Foundation Day, and on that basis Unificationists worldwide renewed their Marriage Blessings. The Cheon Il GukCoronation Ceremony of the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind, also conducted on Foundation Day, marked the first year of Cheon Il Guk and expressed the church’s commitment to “peace and harmony for humanity.”

The year 1976 was decisive in True Parents’ global ministry. It was a year of extremes. On the one hand, it was remembered as the year in which opposition to the movement reached its peak. The kidnapping and deprogramming of members continued, negative parent groups in the U.S. coalesced and were able to gain a public hearing before a powerful senator and numerous federal officials, and by the end of the year mainstream Jewish, Protestant and Catholic institutions turned on the Unification movement. On the other hand, in spite of these obstacles, the movement carried out rallies on a huge scale at Yankee Stadium and the Washington Monument. On January 1, 1977, True Father stated that the church had laid an “invincible foundation” for “horizontal expansion throughout the world.”

At True Parents’ Birthday, celebrated in the New Yorker hotel in New York City on February 23, 1977, True Father pointed out that according to the lunar calendar, 1976 ended on February 20. As he put it, “The year of victory is gone, now the year of joy has started.” He said, “Today let us truly proclaim the day of liberation… This is the new beginning of the new history of Mother and I giving God, the author, the privilege. Therefore, this is the first year of the Kingdom of God.” He concluded his talk, “Today in the Light of Dispensational History,” by saying, “This is the new beginning of the history of God. Therefore, this is the original first year of the Kingdom of God. This is the Year One.”

True Mother established the International Association of Youth and Students for Peace (IAYSP) on February 23, 2017 before an audience of 1800 students and VIPs from various FFWPU organizations at Cheong-Ah gymnasium in Songsan-ri, Gapyeong, Korea. True Mother’s vision was that the Univesal Peace Federation (UPF), the Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP) and the International Association of Youth and Students for Peace (IAYSP) work closely together in providential roles.

In her “Call to Action,” True Mother referred to IAYSP as the Cheon Il Guk “Special Forces” who will create the environment to expand Cheon Il Guk throughout the world. She referred to those present as “Brave warriors” who will respond to an order with “absolute obedience.” She declared, “Just as in olden times, during the Korean Shilla kingdom, when to revive and protect the nation the Hwarang [a group of elite youth] was established, only through the revitalization of the university movement and the CARP movement is national restoration possible.”

True Mother appointed Dr. Robert Kittel IAYSP president. After distributing the Pure Love Pledge card to those in attendance, Dr. Kittel asked, “What are you the leaders of?” As everyone answered loudly, “THE FUTURE!” Dr. Kittel surprised everyone by replying, “Sorry, but NO! You are the leaders of the PRESENT!” Dr. Kittel said UPF, representing the Father, will work with lawmakers and governments to institutionalize laws and advocate government policies that protect the family. WFWP, representing the mother, will nurture a motherly heart that teaches and shares the logic of love in our homes, societies, nations and world. Finally the IAYSP representing children and lineage will inculcate the values of living for the sake of others and pure love in the hearts and minds of our youth. He defined IAYSP as “an umbrella association bringing together all the youth-based organizations of our global family.”

On February 24, 2014, Tongil Group’s subsidiary company Ilhwa received the kosher certification. The two products that received this certification were the hydrolysis concentrate and the ginseng concentrate. Kosher certification is the legal certification of foods that conform to Jewish law. Whether a food product is kosher or not depends mainly on its raw ingredients and the production process. If a product’s raw ingredients and production process coincide with kosher laws, then that product is eligible to receive kosher certification. The passion and dedication of Ilhwa are demonstrated through the company’s efforts to protect the health of customers around the world by creating reliable products that accommodate various religions and cultures.

In May 2000, True Father invited 120 clergy from seventeen denominations to Seoul, Korea, for the inaugural American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC). The clergy had deep experiences at the 38th Parallel, where they released doves of peace, and at the Cheongpyeong Heaven and Earth Training Center, where several of them experienced healings. At the end of the year True Father asked ACLC’s Executive Committee to organize a 50-state revival tour. The tour, titled “We Will Stand in Oneness,” featured True Father as keynote speaker and covered 52 American cities (in all 50 states) in 52 days between February 25 and April 17, 2001. ACLC clergy and Unificationists nationwide supported the tour.

True Father’s informal remarks preceded each speech and often ran for an hour or more. He emphasized the sanctity of marriage, particularly marital fidelity, stating that husband and wife were “owners” of one another’s “love organs” and each possessed “only one key.” He typically elicited laughter with his exclamation, “No spare keys!” True Father’s keynote address, “The Path for America and Humanity in the New Millennium,” highlighted God’s suffering, the Last Days, True Parents, the significance of the Korean Peninsula, the Holy Blessing ceremony, and America’s providential role. The tour helped transform ACLC into an organization with a national network. An unexpected result was that a number of clergy requested True Parents’ blessing on their marriages. This led to an Interfaith Marriage Blessing on May 27, 2001, which included the participation of Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, among others.
 

On February 28, 1969, at the historic Upshur House in Washington, D.C., True Parents blessed 13 American couples, who according to some interpretations represented the 13 founding colonies: six previously married and seven new couples. This was the first Holy Marriage Blessing outside Korea and the first of three that together came to be known as the 43 Couple Blessing.

Those blessed were Edwin and Marie Ang, Philip and Vivian Burley, George and Diane Fernsler, George and Sylvia Norton, Robert and Vivian Oswald, Vernon and Maxine Pearson, Carl and Linna Rapkins, Ken and Orah Pope, Galen and Patty Pumphrey, Wesley and Gladys Samuels, John and Marie Schmidli, Jon and Sandra Schuhart, and Fred and Jacque Stock.

True Parents held a Marriage Blessing of 8 couples in Essen, Germany, on March 28, 1969, and a Marriage Blessing of 22 couples in Tokyo, Japan, on May 1, 1969. The 43 Couple Blessing was conducted on the foundation of the 430 Couple Holy Blessing conducted by True Parents in Korea the previous year and was intended to signify expansion to the worldwide level. True Parents celebrated the Blessing on the 20th day of their visit to the United States as part of their 1969 World Tour. Miss Young Oon Kim, who directed HSA-UWC America, stated that the Blessing of 13 couples (26 people) “was probably the largest wedding ever celebrated in America.” Those numbers would be eclipsed many times over in subsequent years.

In January 1972, True Father gathered 72 “pioneers” from Unification Church missionary groups in New York City to prepare for the inaugural 7-City Day of Hope speaking tour. In Los Angeles, the sixth city on the tour, True Father formed the One World Crusade (OWC). It would be the official name of the mobile units comprising the 72 trainees from New York. True Father said the new organization was formed to evangelize the United States and, further, the whole world. Mr. David S.C. Kim, who was present, wrote, “Two probable names were suggested – ‘World Unification Crusade’ and ‘One World Crusade.’ After heated discussion, finally ‘One World Crusade’ was born by our Master’s decision.”

After the first Day of Hope Tour, OWC bus teams continued to campaign across the United States assisting newly appointed state representatives (SRs). They expanded from two to three teams, then to ten. Following the arrival of international members as a “New Pilgrim Movement” and the first 100-Day Training programs, True Father created 40 International One World Crusade (IOWC) units so that there would be one for every state. The IOWC teams brought success to later 21-, 32-, and 8-city Day of Hope tours. In early 1975, a large IOWC contingent boarded a jumbo jet for Japan and eventually Korea, where they supported massive Day of Hope rallies modeled after what had been accomplished in the United States.

Ilsang Oceanic Development Co., an affiliate of Tongil Foundation, opened the Ocean Hotel in the southern coastal town of Yeosu, South Korea on February 28, 2012. It was constructed under the guidance of True Parents in line with their vision of developing Yeosu as one of the most important centers in the world for the maritime leisure industry. True Parents previously oversaw development of Ocean Resort Condominiums and the ParaOcean Waterpark, adjacent to the hotel. The hotel’s completion preceded the Yeosu World Expo which opened on May 12.

True Parents were in attendance at the dedication along with the governor of South Jeolla Province, the chairman of the Yeosu Expo Organizational Committee, the mayor of Yeosu, and the chairman of the Yeosu City Council. The hotel consists of 17 floors above ground, two floors below ground, 137 guest rooms and convention center that could hold 1,000 people. True Father stated that his original intention was to build a 72-floor building to match his vision for the high rise to be built on the church’s Yoido Island property and hoped that would be developed to that extent “so the leadership of the providence can use it.”