Interview of Kook Jin Moon

Chosun Magazine
August 25, 2008

Article Title: "I was put in charge of business: my younger brother was put in charge of our church. I'm working to systematize everything."

The following interview appeared in the August 25 issue of the Weekly Chosun (a magazine made by South Korea's largest newspaper), and is one of a large number of stories resulting from events this year. Kook-jin nim deals candidly with some challenging questions while shedding light on various issues of interest to member and non-member alike. The text includes commentary by Weekly Chosun, written by Jeong Jang-yeol, acting assistant editor.

Last July, the helicopter carrying Rev. Sun Myung Moon's party crashed in bad weather on the slopes of Mt. Jangrak in GaPyung, Gyeonggi Province. The accident attracted the media spotlight at home and abroad. The point of great interest was the fact that although it was a serious accident and the helicopter was completely destroyed, all the passengers including Rev. and Mrs. Moon came out of it safe and sound. Nevertheless, the accident focused attention on the idea of the Unification Church without Sun Myung Moon. Rev. Moon, who has constructed a "religious kingdom" with his strong charisma and amassed wealth, is eighty-eight years old. The Unification Church emphasizes that he is still as fit as a young man, but that does not prevent public attention being drawn to question of what will happen with the Unification Church after the death of Rev. Moon.

As it is, the Unification Church is said to have recently and earnestly restructured based on the [Moon family's] second generation. Last April, Rev. Moon's seventh son, Hyung-jin (29), was inaugurated as FFWPU's international president, thus becoming the new center of the religious sphere. Toward the end of 2005, his fourth son, Kook-jin (38), who had been working in the United States, came to Korea and began the process of taking over management of the Tongil Group. In particular, it is said both within the group and without that in the two years or so since he took over the management as chairman, Moon Kook-jin has succeeded in completely changing the appearance of the Tongil Group, which had plunged into a deep deficit during the Korean financial crisis.

We met with him at his office in the Dowon Building in Mapo, Seoul, on August 11 and heard about the current situation and the future of the second-generation management in the Tongil Group.

Recently, your father, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, was involved in a helicopter crash. What were your feelings at the time?

I was in the United States when I received a call from my younger brother, who said, "There has been an accident," and it was a big surprise. I was told, "All sixteen on board are all right," so I did not think it was a serious accident. I saw from the pictures the next day, though, that it had indeed been serious. I took care of matters in the U.S. as quickly as possible and went quickly to Korea. Only when I saw that both my parents were well did I feel relieved.

Afterward, I personally went to see the accident site and could not believe my eyes. The accident was so serious that trees had actually been mown down. I think it is a miracle that all the passengers are unhurt.

Is Rev. Moon in good health?

He has recovered quickly. On August 7, he personally presided over a big event. He is leading an active life in good health, holding Hoon Dok Hae with church members every morning, and so on. He still enjoys fishing, which gives him time to think.

The next generation of the Moon family is emerging, as we can see by the inauguration of your younger brother Hyung-jin as the international president of FFWPU in April. Can we take this to mean that a succession structure has been made definite?

My father entrusted me with the business side and my younger brother with the religious side. It can be said to be the beginning of a second-generation structure. My younger brother is doing well in his ministerial duties. He began at a small church, which grew to ten times its size under him. Because he did well and continued to improve, he was appointed the international president. I am in charge of the businesses, and my role is to assist him.

Many say that the power of the Unification Church stems from its mighty financial resources. Between business and religion, which do you think is more important?

Of course, religion. Our power lies in our faith. In the future, too, our success will lie in the direction of faith. We do business to assist the church. We place importance on business only because money is necessary to develop the church.

Your official title is Chairman of the Foundation for the Support of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity. We are curious about your role and the relationship between the foundation and the Tongil Group.

The corporate entity supporting the church is the foundation. The foundation runs not only the Tongil Group but also other businesses. It also manages church assets including real estate.

It is known that there are many companies run by the Unification Church abroad. Is there any relationship between foreign companies and the Tongil Group or the HSAUWC Foundation?

Our Unification Church was begun under the spiritual guidance of its founder, Rev. Sun Myung Moon. In this respect, the entire organization can be regarded as one. However, as the church grows, believers are creating and leading organizations in various parts of the world and in their own fields, so I do not know in detail about what foreign companies there are. Though there are many foreign companies, there is no way of knowing how many there are.

Because of its unique doctrine that sees Rev. Moon as the Messiah, the Unification Church has been regarded as heretical by the Christian community. Even with regard to its supporting businesses, it is said to be different from other religions. It is known that members of the Unification Church manage hundreds of companies in the United States and Japan alone. In a front-page article, "Special Report: Sushi and Rev. Moon," in April 2006, an American newspaper, the Chicago Tribune spotlighted less well-known businesses with connections to the Unification Church in the U.S. According to the article, more than thirty years ago, Rev. Moon foresaw that fish businesses would produce a handsome profit in the U.S. A seafood products company named True World Group was established. True to Rev. Moon's prediction, this company is now supplying fish to seven thousand restaurants in all regions of the U.S. The Chicago Tribune reported, "Although few seafood lovers may consider they're indirectly supporting Moon's religious movement, they do just that in many restaurants when they eat a buttery slice of tuna or munch on a morsel of eel."

Tell us about the current situation of the Tongil Group.

We have fifteen affiliates including Il Hwa [ginseng and beverages] and Yong Pyong Resort. Last year's sales amounted to a trillion won.

At the time of the financial crisis ten years ago, the group was not in good circumstances; some major companies declared bankruptcy. How is the group doing now?

Other than the Sege Times, all our affiliated companies are in the black. Since being entrusted with the management of the group in 2005, I have restructured all the affiliated companies. I have cut the number of affiliates from thirty to half that number. After I took over, I brought in a large number of experts, including accountants, and replaced 90 percent of the employees. In 2004, the entire group's net loss was 45 billion won and the debt ratio was 760 percent. The group was in crisis, but last year we achieved a performance improvement resulting in a 50 billion won net profit and a debt ratio of 261 percent. In particular, Yong Pyong Resort was suffering a loss of 20 billion won when I took over, but after the restructuring was completed, this year's profit on sales was enough for it to have broken even. We expect to make a considerable net profit if the sale of condominiums currently underway is satisfactorily concluded. Actually, for the first time in the history of the Tongil Group, we are at the beginning of a period in which all the affiliate companies are in the black.

What problems were there when you took over the management of the group?

There was a big problem in the management. There were no expert managers.

The Tongil Group explains that Mr. Moon had already successfully led his own business in the United States, which was the background to his being entrusted with the management of the group. In 1993, he established a firearms manufacturing company, Kahr Arms, and made it into an enterprise whose profit alone amounted to 100 billion won. From his teens, he has designed firearms as a hobby; he holds six patents in firearm design in the U.S. He says, "After I graduated from university, I borrowed some money and began a firearms manufacturing business. I focused on sales; we made six hundred calls a day. That company in the U.S. is the only property I possess."

Do you have particular management principles or philosophy?

I have five management principles, namely result, responsibility, transparency, open communication and trust. I've developed the organization based on these principles. Decisions I made resulted in some people leaving the group; they may not like me, but to those who remain we are able to give a higher salary or more incentives because of our improved performance. At present, the Tongil Group has three thousand employees, 90 percent of whom are not Unification Church members. Working in our group, they have the means to support their families and they pay taxes. I believe the Tongil Group is making a contribution to the nation's economy and society.

Do you think you are a "special person" because you are a son of Rev. Sun Myung Moon?

I greatly respect my father. He has done many great things, such as founding a new religious order and creating many companies. I cannot help respecting him.

However, I do not consider myself different from other people. In order to succeed in life, a person has to make effort in his own way and find his own path in life. Nobody hands out success for free. When I was growing up, I overcame many difficulties and persecution.

What do you mean by persecution?

Throughout the 1970s, the media in the U.S. was hostile to the Unification Church. Because I went to school, I also experienced such things on many occasions. Even when I was grown up and running my own business, many of those I dealt with were wondering what it was that my father was doing. These were among the difficulties I faced.

Will it be difficult to maintain your current position?

I am not here simply to maintain my position. I have come here to bring results, and I am actually doing that. I wouldn't want to be in this position if I weren't bringing results. I am not receiving any payment or compensation here. I am doing this voluntarily for my father.

Do you feel that your father has certain expectations for you?

That is why I am here. If I had not come, the group might still be in the red.

Though you have done well until now, what would you do if you failed in management in the future?

I already have my own business, and I am making products I like. If I were in the U.S., I would have more time to enjoy drives with my family and could spend more time with them. I would be happier on a personal level. While here, I cannot avoid being immersed in work.

He went on to say, "I have five children, the oldest, a girl, is ten years old and the youngest, a boy, is a year old. The whole family moved here when I came to Korea. I have to work, and during the weekend, I have to take care of my parents, so I don't have much time to spend with my family. I feel very sorry about that."

What has been most difficult for you in doing business in Korea?

It is not being fluent in Korean. I speak better Korean now than I did when I first came, but it still is not good enough, which is frustrating and embarrassing.

Many worry that when Rev. Moon, who is rather advanced in years, passes away, the group won't continue as it is now.

It is true that many people indeed have such concerns. Though my father leads people with his charisma, since I came here many areas of operation have been systematized. Because I am not as charismatic as my father, I brought in many capable workers and I am systematizing everything.

What do you think about the vision and the future of the Tongil Group?

We need to create a vision now. The foundation was established to help achieve our religious goals. I will work hard to help my younger brother and make effort to realize my father's great dream.

Affiliates of the Tongil Group

Il Hwa - Ginseng and Beverages, under government management in 1998 after declaring bankruptcy, repurchased in 2005

Il Shin Stone - Construction materials; the sole listed company

Yong Pyong Resort - Leisure business, taken over from Ssangyong Industries in 2003

Sunwon Construction Co. - Construction industry

Seil Tour - Tourism industry

Ilsang Ocean Development Co. - In charge of the "Yeosu Project" which includes The Ocean Resort

Asia Forum - Cultivation of seafood products, processing of frozen food

Ilheung Shipbuilding and Engineering - Shipbuilding

Tongil Sports - Manages Seongnam Ilhwa Football Club

Pyong Il Communications - Multimedia

Cheonil Education Center - Education, including English language

JC - Producer of sewage treatment chemicals

TIC Industries - Producer of equipment parts, former Tongil Heavy Industries as its axis

Pyung Nong - Management of farmlands; distribution of agricultural and marine products

Segye Times - Media 

Hoon Dok Hae On The Day After The Helicopter Accident

Kook Jin Moon
July 24, 2008
Cheon Jeong Peace Palace

Good morning. It was truly gratifying to read True Father's message together with one voice at this morning's Hoon Dok Hae. In the future, if our church reads True Father's message with many other people, we can't help achieving great progress. Truly, the strength of our church lies in our members. If we march forward together, centering on True Father, there is nothing we cannot do.

What I want to talk to you about today is the helicopter incident, which came up in some U.S. broadcasts. When you are in the U.S. and hear about such an accident, you can't possibly realize how serious it is. If you hear about a helicopter accident in which everyone on board survives, you can't help thinking it wasn't very serious. Often when there is a helicopter accident, everyone on board is killed -- not one person survives.

When I heard there had been an accident but everyone survived, I didn't think it had been a serious accident. After I came to Korea, though, and went over to the accident site, I realized that it definitely had been a serious accident, one you wouldn't have expected anyone had survived.

However, we are all Unification Church members, and some of us have followed our True Father for forty or fifty years since before I was born, forty years ago. As Unification Church members, there must be times when you wonder if what we are doing is actually connected to the work of God. The followers of Jesus harbored the same thoughts from time to time. But when we lead religious lives, serving and attending God, we learn that there is no such thing as an accident and there is a reason behind every incident. God has His plans, and He decides things in advance. Therefore, when he talks about Jesus, True Father says that by Jesus being born on earth, leading a life of faith and public service and forming a family, Jesus would not have died prematurely. However, because there was no one Jesus could form a family with or anyone to protect his family -- no one to sacrifice himself in Jesus' stead -- Jesus had to sacrifice himself. That is freedom. This is the case whether you view it from a viewpoint aligned with the Principle or a biblical viewpoint.

As I came here, I had many thoughts in my mind. Truly, I thought a great deal. I am the chairman of the Foundation, so I am in charge of managing the church funds. Since Father started flying in helicopters, we actually purchased them for his use, and I was not sure why that was necessary. Many members may also have wondered. However, now with this accident happening. When I ponder this, it seemed to me that it was all prepared for the sacrifice of True Father's life.

In the course of living for the providence, True Father has always been prepared to sacrifice himself. This is the situation even today. Father is fully aware. Because we are now crossing over a great hill in the providence and trying to bring Satan to voluntary submission, the price of doing so is paid in True Parents blood, as is always the case. And True Parents' blood is also the price that has to be paid for their coming to earth and releasing us from the original sin. This is not something True Parents have told us. How could our providence be elevated to such a level? There is only one way. Father was born on earth; he met True Mother and formed a family, thereby emerging victorious. And from the time Father formed a family until now, those of his own blood have been sacrificed for the providence and in order for Father's work to continue. Heung-jin hyung nim passed away. Young-jin also passed away. Hyo-jin hyung nim, too, has passed away. A son is given as the price of Father's blood.

True Father has taught us strongly to establish our church. You too have made many sacrifices. However, Father was the first to sacrifice himself. From the time God gave him the responsibility to carry out this work until now, Father has continued to work while expecting his own death at any moment, and yet thinking that for his work to continue, it is all right even if he has to die the very next day.

This is the type of life True Parents have been leading, and that is how they could release us from the original sin and liberate us, thus enabling us to live together with God thereafter. That is a great blessing, but you need to be aware that a price has been paid for it. You need to understand that all this has been I achieved through the blood of True Father. You need to realize that True Father's blood was the price exacted for the removal of the original sin.

I came to think that if Hyo-jin hyung nim had not lived courageously firmly resolved to give his life for our Father, something might have happened to True Father in the accident. Father already knew about it. True Parents have lived with the knowledge that such a sacrifice could be required of them at a difficult time like now.

I knew about all the troubling developments Rev. Yang talked about and True Parents, too, were very worried and concerned. But now that his eighty-eighth year has come, I believed such worries have been resolved. Many difficult things happened this year. But now that such an accident has happened to True Parents, I cannot help concluding that Hyo-jin hyung nim genuinely sacrificed his life for them. That is the only way I can interpret it. He has protected them by exchanging his own blood for True Parents' lives. If you wish to be involved in our work, you need to be prepared to do the same. That is why it is not at all easy to work for God. This kind of work is not something that anyone would want to do. Who would wish to carry out this work? You may only see the glory and honor of True Parents, but in actuality they are sacrificing their lives. You all need to realize this. You all need to know that True Parents are sacrificing themselves, and they are not doing so for their own personal glory. They are sacrificing themselves for God and for you.

[Kook-jin nim weeps and wipes away his tears.]

From now on, we should continue to read Father's speeches as we did today. True Father's teachings are truly wonderful; they are the new gospel. What could be greater than hearing that Father has come, sacrificed himself and made a True Family, thus releasing everyone from original sin? However, in order for us to convey this idea to people all over the world, sacrifice is necessary. In that case, who will make the sacrifice? Who should sacrifice themselves so that the rest of humanity need not make: the same sacrifice? I will tell you. It is the church leaders who should make the sacrifice. It is the people who work for God that need to make the sacrifice. It is the responsibility and duty of the church leaders to sacrifice themselves so that others need not do so and can live well. This is the work you should do for the church, though it may not be what you want to do. It is the work of God that you need to perform because you are told to and have no choice but to do so. Who wishes to make such sacrifices? However, if you assume responsibilities, you should sacrifice to the extent of those responsibilities.

I went to see Father before I came here to Hoon Dok Hae. I offered a bow and... [Kook Jin nim weeps] He told me that it was five o'clock and time for Hoon Dok Hae. He said he should attend it and not stay in the hospital. I told him, "Father, you've been in a really bad accident, and your body has been under such strain, so going to attend Hoon Dok Hae is out of the question. You must rest so that you can recover your health. I will give a short speech at Hoon Dok Hae instead." Father said okay, and that is why I came.

That is the life True Father is leading. That is how he is living. Indeed, to lead our Unification Church, an unimaginably high price needs to be paid. So, I believe that the higher ranking Unification Church members should make sacrifices, which is why you cannot do this work if you don't have faith. If you are working here thinking of the glory and honor you will receive it the future, you should not be here at all. Even in the future, the Unification Church will remain a church that works for the sake of all the other people in the world.

Our church does not exist to give glory to our church leaders. The purpose of this church is to liberate and restore to God all His children who are estranged from him. And that is the way this church should be run from now on. So, if you are thinking only of yourselves, and you are staying here solely for your benefit, it would be best for you to leave and not remain in the Unification Church. God truly does exist. You'll die if you say this is false. So from now on, we should teach everyone living in the world, for their own sake, that True Parents have come and successfully formed a family; they made all the sacrifices through their own blood and have thus liberated all humanity from original sin. That liberation comes from True Parents, not church leaders. It comes from God, as compensation for the blood we have shed.

When church leaders become arrogant and self-centered, there can no longer be church leaders. They cannot be people working for Heaven. At this time, and based on this serious incident, we should look at the sacrifices made by True Parents and renew our faith. That is all that we can do. So let us all make our True Parents healthy again and attend them faithfully. When we have done that, there is nothing we cannot do. It would be truly wonderful if we could make this resolution and carry it out. I would be deeply grateful to you all if you do so. Thank you. [Applause] 

On business... and on life

Kook Jin Moon
May 2008

The trend today: Convergence In the past, business philosophy and religious philosophy were very divergent. In the modern era, they are coming together. Neither the organization nor the individual can just pursue their own interests. Rather, both exist / live for the sake of greater good. For businesses to be profitable, they have to get individuals to work for the greater good -- the good of the company. We practice the basics of management There are 5 rules which we encourage our managers to follow.

1. Choose results over status.
2. Choose accountability over popularity.
3. Choose clarity over certainty.
4. Choose productive conflict over harmony.
5. Pursue trust over invulnerability.

Operating philosophy... Businesses have to make money. If we make money, and then we invest in the operations of our church, that is the right order, that fulfills it.

2 Kook Jin Moon: On business... and on life

Church growth vs. decline... Starting with reforms and my younger brother's work (Hyung Jin Moon) in the ministry, that (decline) has been turned around.

Confidence in future... We have come so far doing everything wrong. Now, we are starting to implement good practices... management standards. The results are showing immediately. If we have 100 years of good management, our church growth will be phenomenal.

On other religions... I appreciate the criticism and ridicule of other religions. If people can help point out where we have problems in our organization, they help improve our organization.

Business operational problems... Instead of solving fundamental business problems, they just borrowed more money. We focus on making a good, fundamental organization, a good profit structure. And we work on reducing risk, reducing our debt exposure. The Tong-il Group is a supporting organization for the Unification Church. Businesses that we carry in the future are businesses that are synergistic with our church work, for example: leisure companies, construction companies (because we have a lot of real estate). Source of inspiration is God and True Parents So, what kind of people do I respect? We have lots of members in Japan who have sent money. Their faith is very good and they have continuously supported our church growth. The Korean Church is not a church that sends money to foreign missions; it receives money from abroad.

Testifies to younger brother, Hyung Jin Moon: “That kind of strong spiritual leadership gives us great hope for our future.”

3 Kook Jin Moon: On business... and on life

Chief Executive Officer and the purpose of life... I don’t work for every individual who works in my company; I work for the benefit of the entire company / organization. In order to save the entire company or group, I have to let some people go. First as individuals, I feel sorry for their individual situations. Personally, I have had to fire many people myself. I have been a CEO since 1992. When you fire someone, some persons become very upset, some just cry, and some just leave quietly. But that is my job.

What do I enjoy personally? My gun company. I started the business; I built it up from scratch and I hold all the patents. I built the market, got the first customers. It must be in my blood. You have world peace when people who are good and righteous have the means and the arms to defend themselves. I started Kahr Pistols and made pistols. In America, we have the second amendment to the Constitution, the right to bear arms. That second amendment is not well understood in other parts of the world. But there is a specific reason why the Founding Fathers (of America) included the right to bear arms as the second amendment. The first amendment is the freedom of religion. The second amendment is the freedom to bear arms. The reason why the right to bear arms holds such prominence in the U.S. culture and in the U.S. Constitution is because the ultimate safeguard against a tyrannical government is the people’s right to revolt against the government.

In my leisure time, I enjoy shooting, hunting. But since coming to Korea, I cannot do what I enjoy most. So, I am trying to learn some new hobbies. I invented the smallest gun in the world and hold six patents on it. Because of its unique technology, many people want to buy it.

4 Kook Jin Moon: On business... and on life

Right now, after coming to Korea, I am a public worker. I am volunteering my time. I do not get paid. We are setting up a system of management which is based on transparency and checks and balances. We only do what is in the best interest of the entire church.  

Tithing Versus Subsidization

Kook Jin Moon
April 26, 2008
HQ's Church, Seoul, Korea
Transcribed by: Beatrice Clyburn
Edited by: Bruno Klotz

Yeon Ah Nim's Welcome Message:

Good afternoon brothers and sisters. We are happy and honored to have you here with us in this sanctuary today, and for those who are joining us via internet we are welcoming you as well. It's so good to see you again. Welcome brothers and welcome sisters.

Hyung Jin Nim's Welcome Message:

Brothers and sisters I'd like to share with you one quote from the Cheon Seong Gyeong on page 1272 when True Parents say, "God wants everyone reborn. From His position, He is trying to bring all of humanity, which is still in the realm of Satan's false love, to His side through His greater love. Since all humankind was born through parents, ancestors and lineage of false love, they need to be reborn through parents, ancestors and lineage of true love."

I want to share that with you because we represent that fruit, brothers and sisters, that 6,000 years of historical indemnity. That is what we represent. That is what kind of blessings you are to this world. And it's so important that, if we really are to live a life of Victory, Illumination and Peace, it's so important to understand our value, to know who we are and whose we are, to know our identity, to know that we are children of True Parents eternally, to know that if we really truly wish to accomplish peace, we need to also know our purpose which is to live and fulfill that blessed life, to be truly blessings unto this world.

Brothers and sisters, whenever we start service we always like to remember and to recall the value that is planted within each and every one of you. That value is eternal. That value is limitless; it is divine, it is cosmic, it is unique. We need to understand that when we look at ourselves in the mirror, when we wake up each day we can say, "Hey, that's quite a special blessing!" It's so important to understand what kind of person you are. I want to encourage you to always see yourself with God's eyes, see yourself from His viewpoint. Remember who we are. That's how we become great blessings to this world.

Brothers and sisters, it's so great to see you once more, and welcome you to our service. All of you brothers and sisters that are joining us from across the world, we want to welcome you and send our love and greetings. We are so grateful that you're here, and let's remember that as we move forward.

As we promised we are always working hard. The True Family is working hard to work together. We are now mature, we are moving step by step, always together. Every month we are inviting a very special pastor from the True Family and today we have the great fortune of listening to our elder brother Kook Jin Hyung. He will be sharing his thoughts and his words with us during the service. Next month we will have Hoon Sook Nim come and share her words, and I'm sure they will be very profound, so please don't miss that service! It's going to be very, very beautiful. So every month we will be continuing to walk with you together as a family, continuing to walk our paths of faith together.

Thank you so much, brothers and sisters, for coming here, and we really do appreciate you. We really love you and we really want you to feel God's love, True Parents' love. It is eternal; it is always there for us. As long as we open our hearts, we are always in their presence. Thank you so much for coming here.

Hyung Jin Nim's Introduction of the Guest Pastor:

I think there are some overcomers in the house today! Give applaud once more for Tworivers' Choir (Applause) Thank you so much. Please be seated, if you can, if you can be seated after that! Oh Lord! Yes, I'm just filled with victory today! I'm ready to get on up! Oh my God have mercy!

Brothers and sisters, today is a very special day. As I explained a little earlier, instead of a very tantalizing joke, there is a fantastic, really a great speaker today. We have with us today my elder brother Kook Jin Hyung. Every month the True Family will have guest ministers come up here. True Father has anointed each one of us from the 12 tribes to be pastors, to be ministers, to minister about True Parents, etc.

And our brother Kook Jin Hyung from a very young age has always been really a rock in our family. His American name is Justin and it really somehow shows his character. He is very just; he is very straightforward; he is very honest. People always tell me, "In any position, whenever you have a position of authority, you need people that can tell you straight up how it is." He is one of those people. He can tell me straight up any day and his honesty is so penetrating, his honesty, his forthrightness. Whenever he feels something is not right, not just, he will speak up against that.

And I've seen that countless times in our lives as we grew up, countless times as he was leading us through our own adolescence and growing up. We are really so grateful to have such a brother in our family.

After some of our brothers went early to the spiritual world we really had a re-uniting with our family. We really feel centered, really at a new level of maturity in each one of our lives. Really we see that Kook Jin Hyung in his great capacity has really been pushing forward the unity of our family. He's really been at the forefront all the time, fighting those battles that are not always seen; really he is stepping out and trying to protect our brothers and sisters etc.

And so we are so grateful to have him as our older brother here today. As you know, he came to Korea at Father's request about 3 years ago, and he's done really miraculous things while he's been here. He's turned around the Tong Il Group Foundation, which was a whole portfolio of related organizations etc. They were not making any profit and in the course of one year he was able to turn 20 organizations around -- into profitable, proud business organizations that our members now can see and say, "Yes those are our organizations. They represent us. We have that kind of victory".

So I want to really give him that kind of acknowledgement today. He really has in our family the real genius mind, particularly in organization, in managing. As you may know he graduated from Harvard, from the department of Economics which is one of the most difficult departments. I much prefer the department of religion because it was a lot easier than the department of economics. But he made his way through that.

He graduated magna cum laude. He also finished his MBA degree at the University of Miami and continues to succeed in his own business and then after coming to Korea, really bringing in a whole new trend for our movement's organizations, really bringing a whole new level of professionalism, of transparency, of real sustainable growth that, when we see it, gives us confidence in our own future as a movement.

So we are so very proud of him. We know he is doing great things, really miraculous things. God is working with him and today he is going to share with us some of his ideas..

Brothers and sisters I'd like you all to rise up and give him a resounding applause. And let's invite Kook Jin Hyung to the stage (Long Loud Applause)

Kook Jin Nim's Sermon

Thank you. Thanks for that introduction. (True Brothers' hug.)

Hello everybody, thank you for your very warm welcome. I really appreciate it. Now you are embarrassing me. Thank you. Please have a seat.

Anyway I'm very grateful to be able to come here and talk to you here today. We've had a lot of remarkable things happen in the last week. Quite a few changes in our church! A lot of people wondered whether or not the leadership would ever change or whether or not we would ever seriously as a community think about church reform. But somehow by God's will our True Parent have made some big changes.

We are of course very happy and honored that they appointed our new world President Hyung Jin Moon (Applause). And this appointment has opened a great opportunity for us to look at some serious issues and seriously contemplate how to reform our church, not only in Korea but throughout the world.

I don't know if you are all aware of the current situation of our church in Korea. Our Korean church is not very strong at this point. Actually for the last 20 years it's been in decline. Actually our church here, the ministry which my brother, Rev. Hyung Jin Moon has been leading, is actually probably the only really growing church in our Korean movement at this time. And it is the light and inspiration for all our brothers and sisters here in Korea.

But now that he's been appointed not only as the World President of our Church but also as the Korean President, the President of our Korean Church, now we have the serious responsibility and obligation to look at the issues of church reform and church development, and how we can structure and systematize our organization, so that it can be the vehicle through which God can work on this earth and fulfill the providence of bringing together all the religions of the world and all the people of this great country into Father's family.

The problem that our church faces is that it's not at this point an independent church. It is not a church which can stand on its own with its own resources. If our True Parents and our brothers and sisters in Japan would not financially support this church, then it would not be able to function. We still receive quite a lot of subsidies from our brothers and sisters in Japan for our HQ's operations, and many of our churches in Korea -- we have over 400 -- either break even or are losing money, and not very many actually produce excess resources.

So when I look at this situation, especially since my brother has asked me to help him reorganize and solve this organizational problem, I am challenged. It is a difficult problem to solve. In order to solve this problem there're going to be many serious difficult decisions to be made. So this is a problem which we all have to solve together.

One of the big problems which I see when we look at our church and our organization here in Korea is this dependency on support from another church, our overseas church in Japan and this dependency has caused our organization in many ways to deteriorate. We have not been able to develop structures for educating our membership. We have not been able to communicate and teach historical traditions about tithing and about supporting church activities and really substantiating a life of -- in substance -- living for the sake of others.

Now if we look at religious tradition throughout history, the notion of tithing, or giving 10% is in the Bible, in the very earliest pages in the Bible. We can see it starting with Abraham, "Abraham presented a tenth of his property from his victory to Melchizedek" (Genesis 14:20, Hebrews 7:2-6). And Jacob after his vision at Luz (Gen 28:19-22) devoted a tenth of his property to God, "in case that he should return home safely." And of course, you can see in Leviticus 27-33, it's the Mosaic Law describing the obligation to donate 10% of your income to help to support the church.

And this notion about donating or tithing 10% comes from a very fundamental notion of faith. And that faith is, that we as a community and we as individuals, are not born as animals or just beings who exist for today but we are part of a greater community of faith, not only of our brothers and sisters around us, but our brothers and sisters who came before us and passed to the spiritual world, and we are part of a greater spirit, starting from the origin, the Creator of our world and our universe, from God Himself.

And because we are born of a greater spirit and a greater purpose, and that all that we have and the blessings that we receive come from God, then it's only natural for us to offer to God what is already His. And so, this tradition -- starting from the time of Judaism, Abraham, Moses all the way throughout Christianity, through Jesus Christ, and the teachings of the Saints -- has been continually passed down throughout the history of providence for over 6,000 years.

But yet for some reason, in our community here in Korea, and also other communities throughout the world this notion of supporting the church through tithing is quite weak, and I believe the problem is that we have not been able to do a good enough job in explaining and educating our brothers and sisters about why this is of value. We can see that in the administration of our church in Korea. In the past we've had lots of administrative problems and frankly we've had some serious problems of church management and ethical management of funds by our ministers.

So, from a personal point of view we can find many reasons why we don't want to tithe 10% or we feel that we don't have to, because the people, if we give them the money, they're going to use it irresponsibly; it's not going to be used properly to develop the church resources or to build the church, and we already contribute to doing these events and all these other activities which we are asked to do.

And those are all very good reasons and legitimate reasons we could think about, but on the other hand the notion of tithing is not whether or not the money is being used well. The notion of tithing is to give, completely returning to God what is His. And so it's actually an article of faith; it's actually a form of worship. It's actually a practice. And so this understanding of offering, and of giving up yourself without any expectation of return in substance, is actually good spiritual training. It's actually a good condition of faith.

And by you being able to do so, it will actually help make your life more enriching. Why? Let me explain to you why it makes our lives more enriching, because, it enables us to go beyond ourselves. It enables us to go beyond what we want for us, and to really in substance, substantially, help others, whether it's the church organization, our brothers and sisters next to us, or this beautiful church which we have here today and this wonderful community. Without your donations this church cannot function.

And actually we've made a lot of progress in improving the state of donations in our HQs' church here. Before my younger brother started his ministry, the church donations were only about $10,000 a month. Now here it's about $60,000 a month and that's a big improvement. But compared to other Christian churches, actually for the size of our congregation it's actually still quite far from what other churches do.

So this is our challenge that we have: If we are serious about building a really effective church we have to solve the question of how we're going to pay for professionalizing our movement.

We've done a lot of work to improve businesses, so we've made some money and we've been investing in the church. We've been investing in this church. You can see the renovations that we're doing to fix the facilities, you can see the addition of staff which we've added and all these investments we are making. And without the Foundation's investment into the church, at this point this community by itself does not support this operation.

And so this is the fundamental challenge which I struggle with, because my job is to manage the organization, and to administer it and to pay all the bills, and so that's the challenge which I have. But in a sense it's also a challenge which needs to be shared by us all, because I myself cannot solve this problem. I mean if I myself just run the businesses and give all that I can -- which I'm doing -- that in itself is not going to be enough to achieve the goal which our movement aspires to.

So in that sense, we need to start talking about how we can help each other to develop our church in Korea, and how we can even develop this church even to be a greater church. That's one thing which I would like all of you to start thinking about, because these are some serious questions which we all need to start to consider. This is a wonderful start here but we still have a lot of work to do.

And unfortunately in my position I am often the person who has to bring the difficult news to people, and I understand that's not the best job in the world to do (Laughter), but somebody has to do it. So, I mean I've done quite a bit of re-structuring in Korea. We've had over 30 companies, and I've had to sell over 11 of them. I had to re-structure everything else, which meant I had to talk to lots of people and tell them that their contribution was not productive to our organization and therefore we're going to do re-structuring. And those are very difficult things to do, but yet it needs to be done.

And even for me personally, I am here in Korea, not because I wanted to be here, or because I asked to be here, because I certainly did not. But I was drafted by our True Parents to come here (Laughter). I was drafted to come here, because our businesses were losing so much money and they were such an incredible burden on our organization.

When I started, actually the reported losses were about $50 million but our actual losses were over $100 million, and so we had to start from a hundred million loss a year. Now we are making about $50 million profit a year (Applause). So that's a change; that's about $150 million a year change in profit. For anybody here who understands, who's studied business, the present value of that is going to be in excess of $ 1billion, around $1,5 billion.

But I myself did not come here for any reward because I haven't been paid in the last 2 years. (Laughter - Kook Jin Nim laughs too). All of my work has been voluntary (Laughing and applause). I'm not telling you this because I want to make myself look better but I'm just trying to tell you this because this is the way it is.

But there is a reason why I'm working to make our church more profitable and more successful and increase the market value of our companies, and there is a reason why I'm investing my time and my energy and my expertise without compensation, because it is donating it to the church and to our community. And the reason is, it's because by doing so, it's enriching to me also.

Let me explain this concept. I don't know if you understand it. You think about it. You're all various different ages, some young people, some older people, and some people in the middle of their careers. Now when you think about your work in Korea, and you look towards retirement age, like when you turn 65, and then when you quit your job and you no longer have an income, and you think about that, then knowing that you're going to retire in the future, you save up money right, you put away 5% or 3% every year in some savings account. Correct? Why do you do that? Because you want to have some resources to live on after you retire right? That's only reasonable.

But in the same way, too, we as individuals and as people are not going to live on this earth forever. There's a point where our lives expire. Then what is our income in the next life? Have we saved for our real retirement plan? I think that's a question you need to ask yourself; because we can't take our dollars which we've earned here on this earth to the next world. I mean I've earned a lot of money. I made a successful company and I've been quite successful throughout my life but when I die I'm not going to be able to take that with me.

If we think about it, what will we be able to take? We will be able to take the goodwill that we have given, the offering that we have given to God; all those good works that we did for our friends and our neighbors; all the love that we earn; and the donations that we made too, to one of those organizations, to the church. Those are not lost.

I mean Father also says it many times that God is very scientific and He is also an accountant! (Laughter) So, all that you do on this earth will be accounted for in Heaven. And if you give a lot, that's going to be accounted for; if you don't then you're not going to have much goodwill when you go to the next world. So, keeping that in mind, I would suggest that we consider expanding our spiritual bank account as well as our physical ones. That might be a good thought to consider.

And actually it's not that unreasonable or absurd. Have you ever thought why our brothers and sisters in Japan donate so much money to support our worldwide movement? They're actually pretty much the elite of Japanese society. Our Japanese brothers and sisters are well educated, successful, and many of them are very wealthy, very intelligent people. But yet they donate a lot of money, why? Because as they understand God and the Principle, the Principle of restoration -- and they understand their own morality, because they have good insights into their life and their future -- they feel it's a good investment and decision to be charitable.

And even myself, even before I got drafted and I had to offer my services for free (Laughter- Kook Jin Nim laughs too), in America I established the Young Jin Moon Charitable Foundation. For the last 10 years we've been giving away $200,000 or $300,000 a year. So, it's something for everybody to think about.

This is a very good church here and the ministry which my younger brother is leading is very good. And we have an opportunity now in our church here in Korea to do serious church reform. He's asked me to help him to do church reform. So we will start working on this problem. But the problem of revenue coming into the church is a problem. The amount of donations which our church receives is insufficient to make us independent at this point. So, on the one hand we're going to have to start trying to educate people on the value of tithing to the church, which is not a bad thing, that you can actually feel good about it, and that it's actually going to make your lives more spiritually worthwhile.

On the other hand, we're going to have to make performance evaluations of our ministers more transparent, so that we can see who's doing a good job and who's serving the members in the congregation, and who maybe needs a little bit more training. So these are the things we're going to start working on. But we are going to have to have lots of serious and honest and open conversations, amongst ourselves and within our congregations throughout Korea, because we have some serious problems to solve and we can't solve it by ourselves; we need your help.

So as you can consider that and think about it, next time you come to church, think about the tradition of Abraham, the tradition of Moses, the tradition of Christ, give a little, maybe a little bit more than you usually do. If we look at the average donations of our church it's less than maybe $30 a month per member for our congregations here and that's not 10%.

So we have a little bit of work to do, and we really thank you for your support up to this time. We really appreciate you coming out here and I hope you can support us some more too, because we would like to make a strong and independent Korean church which can also in the future actually start supporting our foreign missions. I mean I take great pride in being independent, and since we are the Father Nation of faith, I believe, that our church in Korea should be able to support foreign missions rather than being supported by our Mother Church in Japan. So this is the hope which I have.

I hope that you can all help to make this vision come to reality, and if we can do so, our church can continue to grow and prosper and we can expand our membership pretty much infinitely; because we have a very good opportunity in Korea right now. There's not much persecution or resistance towards our True Parents or our church here. If we do a good job in serving the Korean people and educating them, many people are happy to come to our church and to support us. And hopefully with your support, we'll get there.

Thank you for your attention. I hope you can accept my message. OK. Thank you (Standing ovation)

A lot of people wondered whether or not the leadership would ever change or whether or not we would ever seriously as a community think about church reform. But somehow by God's will our True Parent have made some big changes.

Hyung Jin Nim's Prayer:

Once again let's give a big round of applause to Pastor Kook Jin Moon (Applause). Penetrating honesty!

OK brothers and sisters, let's gather out hearts in prayer.

"Dear most beloved Heavenly Father, we thank You for this day, when we may return to you and look at ourselves, Father. You allowed our brother to step before us and really allow us to assess (look at) ourselves, to see whether or not we are being a giver or a taker, Father. Let us all in our lives of faith, let us step forward. Let us truly build our community, and let us let this fatherland of Korea shine before this world. Father we thank you for this day that you have blessed us with. Please allow us to become the palaces of your love, your life and your lineage. We know that we will always keep You enthroned in our hearts of glory and we know You will bring us to more Victory, more Illumination, and more Peace. And we will become greater blessings unto this world. Thank You for this day.

We pray these things in all our names. Aju!

Hyung Jin Nim's Final Prayer:

"I am alive, Thank you". Father we thank You for this day that you have blessed us with. Father we have heard Your message. Let us truly be honest, Father forthright in ourselves. Let us step up in our faith, Father. Let us be a giver and not a taker, Father. Let us help build this community. Father, let us help build our church, Your dwelling place, Your house here on earth so that Your children can come and gather, so that Your children can be prosperous and live an abundant life. Father, we know that starts and begins with us, living and thinking abundantly, sharing the blessings that You are giving to us with our community and with our Church.

We thank You for this opportunity that brought us together. We pray that we may absorb Your message, that we may go forth, remembering the tradition of Abraham, Moses, Jacob, Jesus Christ and up to our present day, Father, where we truly stand in the position, Father, of the historical fruit that You have prepared. Let us go forth and build a truly, truly, amazing Church, Father, for all peoples to come and gather, to be engrafted into Your love and Your life and Your lineage, and to experience the blessed life that You are blessing us to have. Let us truly be blessings to this world, to our community, to our brothers and sisters, to our believers in faith, our brothers and sisters here in faith.

Father we thank You for this day. Once more we pray with all our hearts, that You may guide our steps, that You may direct our paths, that You may light our way. Let us leave this place wiser, with more joy, Father, and with more victory. We know that You are giving us more Victory, more Illumination and more Peace every day. Thank you so much.

We are praying these things in our names. AJU! 

Remembering Hyo-jin Nim

Kook Jin Moon
March 21, 2008

Testimony from the Third-Day Service for Hyo-jin nim at the Won Jeon in Paju on March 21

Good morning brother and sisters! Thank you all for gathering here today. As you know very well, I am Kook-jin Moon. When I was born, Father gave me the name Kook-jin. When he gave me my name, he said I would be responsible for a nation and also for saving a nation.

Some twenty years ago, when I graduated from university, Father said I would be responsible for all the business side of the Unification Movement. In 2005, he asked me to oversee all the organizations in Asia. He ordained all of us in the True Family to work as church leaders. It is in this capacity as a church leader, according to my Father's instruction, that I will speak to you today.

When I think of our elder brother Hyo-jin, many thoughts come to mind. In reality, Father was very busy in his work of developing the church, and because he spent a lot of time with brothers and sisters of the church, he had very little time to spend with us. As Father and Mother were not with us, no adult person was there to teach us. This was not only my situation but was also the same for my eldest brother.

There was no one to guide us. There was no teacher. Even so, members of the church had very high expectations of True Children, and we also had many responsibilities.

I remember the time, some twenty years ago, when we did a forty-day workshop with Hyo-jin hyung-nim. When I think of my brother at that time, he was such a tremendous man. He was so physically healthy -- he did martial arts -- and he was strong. Whenever we saw him, everyone thought what a wonderful person he was. Gathering all the second-generation members together, he would spend time singing songs with them. Wherever my brother was, people gathered around him. And we had joyful times. That is the kind of person he was.

I did that forty-day workshop in Korea with my brother. I have many memories of the time after the workshop finished, gathering with the second-generation members in the tent -- he would play the guitar and sing songs late into the night. Back then, his character was also hasty. There were times when my brother hit me. I accept that I got hit for being wrong. Even now, if I just think about Hyo-jin hyung-nim I feel respect and gratitude toward him. All of you need to understand this point.

I know that in the course of attending True Parents you have made many sacrifices and worked very hard. I want to give you my thanks for living so sacrificially. I feel that there has not been time for us to even talk together, nor time to understand each other. I think that from now on we must come to understand each other more. We must understand each other, only then can we help and live for each other, encouraging one another. That is the feeling I have.

My elder brother truly had so much passion. Whatever he liked, he liked until the end. When he played music, he continued playing without sleeping. My brother had a very, very broad mind. Not a bit did he think about himself. He was so very like True Father. If he had something, or if he had money, he would share it with his friends or with the person next to him. He always thought of the other person first. If there was someone who was miserable, he embraced and loved that person; that's the kind of person he was. For this reason, although he has gone to the spirit world, he still lives within our minds and hearts. And he will always be here with us.

I recall the time when Heung-jin hyung-nim went to the spiritual world. At the time, Father was holding a big event here in Korea; he was very concerned about it. He had told us all to be careful. Father felt worried and in danger, but in obedience to God's command, he continued the important providential task. The events Father was holding safely ended without any incident. However, he lost his son. Our elder brother Heung-jin went to the spirit world.

I was fourteen years old at the time. From my childhood, I had been very close to most of my brothers. I had spent a lot of time with my Heung-jin hyung-nim. We played and shared a lot together. When Father arrived at the hospital, Heung-jin hyung-nim was bleeding heavily because of the accident. Yet, Father did not shed a tear. Looking at Heung-jin hyung-nim, Father must have felt like weeping, but he always thought of God and the providence. In order to accomplish something very special, God came to the decision that a sacrifice was needed. So Father gratefully received that pain as part of God's will.

This is the way our True Father has lived his entire life. Even when he went to prison, even if he were to die, he solely lived in obedience to God's word. At that time, at the age of fourteen, I could not understand very much. Although I have grown up, still it is hard to understand. Father is really not an ordinary person! These are the difficulties of following God's providence. It is a path that requires enormous sacrifice.

With my brother's ascension, two of my older brothers and one younger brother have gone to the spirit world. I cried. Quite a lot of our brothers have been sacrificed for the sake of the will. Brothers and sisters, our family feels pain just as all of you do. Our family faces difficulties just as all of you do. There may be times when you feel as if no one cares for you. You are not the only one. But until now I could not speak of that pain and have been living my life quietly. Even during difficult times, our family could not speak and kept going, living our lives.

But that time has now passed. Now it is time for us to speak up rather than remain quiet. Already, several brothers in our family have gone to the spirit world. What is there that I, still living on the earth, cannot do? Even if I were to die tomorrow, it is okay. Listening to what Hyo-jin nim's wife Yeon-ah nim said, I recall what Hyo-jin nim himself said: "More important than how you live is how you die," and "How you die is important."

When I think of it, my elder brother passed away in a very noble way. From the time he came to Korea for True Parents' birthday, my brother was already in pain. He would go to the restroom when he needed to cough, and he always coughed up blood, but he never said a word about his pain. Those around him were very worried and many times suggested to him that he go to the hospital. But every time, he said he would not go. My brother already felt that he was going to die. Now is such an important time, a time when someone might become a sacrifice. Knowing this, Hyo-jin hyung-nim prepared himself to go, without fear.

After his birthday, he had invited all his brothers and sisters to a Chinese restaurant and shared his love with all of us. I was so happy on that occasion and felt such great hope. Ah! Truly our eldest brother is with us again!

Later, Hyo-jin hyung-nim left for America. Not even a week later, he suddenly came back to Korea. He called me up for lunch and I told him, "Call me anytime, I'll be there!"

He came to Korea just when I was scheduled to go to Germany. I told him that I would be leaving soon. He seemed to be a bit surprised when I said so, and asked me, "Are you leaving? How is your work going? Is the church doing well?" I answered, "Yes, it's doing well." After listening to me, he seemed more relaxed and responded "Okay, good to know. Take care on your trip."

Until the end, my brother could think of nothing else except the work Father was doing. This is true. His love and filial piety toward True Parents was genuine. He never was concerned about himself. Although he knew he would die, he only worried about Father's activities. Brothers and sisters! Quietly reflect and ask yourselves, ask your conscience, will you really be able to die as my brother did when your time comes? My brother's death was truly a sacrifice. He did not just speak, his life was visible in his actions. A person surely expresses his or her deepest thoughts and beliefs through action. I agree with this. Just as my eldest brother said, it is good to live in the right way, but even more important is how you die.

Our Father is now driving forward an important part of the providence. When was there a time more important than this one? We all know very well about the movement that Father is currently advancing. Brothers and sisters are now out doing a special campaign. Bothers and sisters, ask your conscience. Working here in Korea, I saw each and every move of our leaders. Father is eighty-nine years old by the Korean way of counting, and he is very concerned that he may go to the spirit world. He is carrying out important work in relation to the providence. How much indemnity do you think God will need for this to be accomplished? Father knows. That is why in his heart he is determined, "I will do this even though I might die!"

Father has often said that the time for his ascension has come. My brother also clearly understood this and has gone to the spirit world on behalf of Father. After coming back from Germany, I had a talk with my Father, and he said, "Hyo-jin sacrificed himself!" Thus, every time I think of my brother I cannot help feeling respect for him. I feel nothing but gratitude. My brother went to heaven; this is true. And he is receiving much love from God. He lived a difficult life, yet loved True Parents until the end, and he has gone to the spirit world in their stead.

As this is what he did, let us think about it. There is no one here who is without sin. We are able to receive forgiveness because Hyo-jin hyung-nim exists. There is no point in being conceited during your life on earth. Can you be arrogant over having a lot of money? Living the good life, achieving some external success, can these be reasons for you to put yourself above others? I know about this. I have made a lot of money, and I have been very successful, but never was I able to raise my head in the presence of my brother. If you are going to live life anyway, live it with sincerity from now on. Do not lie any more. If you are going to talk about sacrifice, live up to it! Only based on sincerity of heart will our movement continue forever.

Do not forget our elder brother. Thank you. 

Words at Hyung Jin Moon's Inauguration As Pastor of Headquarters Church

Kook Jin Moon
December 1, 2007

Hello brothers and sisters.

Thank you for gathering here. I'm really grateful to see you all again. Thank you for helping the Korean church. I always have to speak after the church president, or after my younger brother, but this is actually a burden for me. I'm not a great speaker by nature and I don't like to speak. Always when I speak I feel so ashamed, that I don't even know what to say.

And yet with all my inadequacies I'm always being pushed to the front, so you can't imagine how difficult that is for me. I tell you honestly. I work here not because I want to. If I could do just as I please I'd be continuously working in America. The job I was doing there was actually what I wanted to do; it made me happy.

Even now I don't quite understand how It happened that parents caught me and brought me to Korea. So I'm doing this job because I was told to, but I personally have no ambitions to work in Korea. If parents told me tomorrow or even now, "Kook-jin, go back to America", I'd be truly happy. If I hear such words, I'll bow to father with a smile and tell him, "Thank you, Father, for liberating me."

However even though I do this work because I was told to, in the process I can meet you, share meals with you, talk to you. And since we became much closer to each other, I'm really grateful for these human relationships. I am actually a person who'd hide behind. I hate to stand in front of people. Also I didn't receive much love, so I don't know much about love.

However you love me; and strangely I became popular among you, so I do feel somewhat strange about it. I cannot quite understand it. Therefore I realized that I don't know so much about people. A person who will lead the unification church in the future should know people very well. Such a person can become the president of our international organization.

We all had hard times following our True Father. You also toiled a lot. The way of indemnity is not easy. I as well as our elder families here know well how scary Father can be. When I was younger I went fishing together with Father. It was so scary. I got scolded for every little wrong move. When we bowed to True Parents I was afraid not to keep a straight line. Not only Father, but my elder brothers are all scary.

Actually I don't have anything except that in my life, and so I don't have much to say. I just kept toiling through my life.

But sometimes you just need to go through difficulties (crying) only through this you can understand that Father's work is undoubtedly connected with God. We don't want to suffer, but we've been going through difficulties. We've been going through difficulties for more than 40 years.

If you read what the bible says about Moses, you'll see that the way of those who follow Father is similar to the way of those who follow Moses. Have you calculated this? Do you know how many kilometers is the distance from Egypt to Canaan? Maybe not even 100 kilometers (laughter). Isn't' it very close? But it took Israelites 40 years to get there. What kind of a leader can lead his people for 40 years on the way that is just 100 km long? Hard to understand, right?

I'm not extremely healthy, but even I can walk 100km in a week. So this way is similar to ours.

Our history until now was similar to the history of people who followed Moses. We have been sacrificing and paying indemnity. But now a different era has come. So far, we have been toiling and moving, we've been doing difficult things (crying); we've been fighting, shedding blood and sacrificing, but now the time has changed.

This is the time when we are entering Canaan. This is the problem. The question is how do we, Unificationists, live in Canaan? We cannot live by fighting. Even while living here in Korea, I had to fight a lot. I fought many battles and I won most of them. I was never defeated. No matter how dangerous was the way I put my life at stake and walked this course. I embraced danger and took responsibility by myself. That's how I lived and succeeded. I didn't fail.

However the path our Unification Church must go from now on is not that of struggle. This is the path of love, love towards each other. That's what we should learn. So the thing that we as church members, as families, as Unificationists should learn is how to love one another. (Crying, applause)

Because of this, I feel truly happy and light hearted to yield this podium to my younger brother. I ask you to please help him in this important undertaking. (Applause)

If only we can work together, we'll build the nation of Cheon Il Guk without fail.

Thank you once again for receiving me. I'll do everything in my power. Thank you.

Completing 120 Church Visits

Kook Jin Moon
July 29, 2007

Kook-jin nim spoke on July 29 at the headquarters church in Seoul after meeting the members in churches all over Korea.

Good morning, beloved members. I see many familiar faces today. I met many people on my tour; meeting the members deeply touched me. I am embarrassed to speak after such a good speech by church president Rev. Hwang. It's been almost two and a half years since Father told me to speak here. Many people were concerned, but I honestly did not have the experience. When I first came to Korea, I could not speak Korean well. I spoke like a three-year-old, didn't I? [Laughter]

In any case, I came and Father wanted me to take charge of the Foundation. I had run a business for ten years, so I knew something about business. Yet, our Foundation is not just a business; it is also connected to the church. I feel that church affairs are important.

Until recently, my family and Family Federation members have not had a lot of time to spend together, so we haven't gotten to know each other. I am grateful that I was able to get to know you all during the last two and a half years. I was also able to learn a lot by seeing what my parents have been doing through the churches. Thank you.

However, there is still much to do if we are to develop the Korean church. That is why I wish to explore ways with you of making our churches better. I want personally to know what our members are thinking, feeling and wondering about. It's not easy for a person in the position of a church president or a company chairman to actually hear the voices from the field. Once you are in the position of holding overall responsibility, you can hear what you want to hear constantly. If you want to hear only what pleases you, even if it is unrelated to reality, many people who will provide that for you.

As someone in charge, if you really wish to produce results, the most important things for you to hear are what you don't want to hear. I think that is the most important aspect of being in charge. I heard many things as I went around the churches. Not everything I heard was nice. I met people who weren't fond of me. (Even now, I think there are some people here who don't like me.) Yet, I think that's legitimate. Everyone has his or her own opinion. Leaders must guide and lead others. If they do a good job, they are praised; if they do not, they are punished. I was able to talk to people and came to understand them. I am grateful for the fact that we can understand each other. I know that your position is not an easy one. Yet, I too was not comfortable, because my job involved many difficult situations.

When Father first called me, it really was a burden to me. I came to Korea, went around our businesses and was concerned by what I saw. There wasn't a single company in our Tongil Group that was making money. That reality was hard to swallow. When I first came here in January 2005, I began to tour all our companies. We had thirty-four companies, but nearly 70 percent of the companies were doing poorly, and as a whole, the group was not doing well. Visiting the companies, I could feel the weight of what I had been entrusted with.

My shoulders were heavy whenever I had to report to Father. Yet, despite the fact that our companies were losing money or were not doing well, the people who were entrusted with these companies were comfortable where they were. It was disturbing to see that they did not feel accountable for what was going on. I got rid of the companies that were losing the most money. In two years, we disposed of eleven companies. We had to close down or sell them; some went into bankruptcy; we sold off others, but it was difficult. That was just the beginning.

The companies that remain are still weak. From that point, we began to restructure companies. This is not an easy task. Has anybody here ever been in charge of a company? Some people here have. If you want to take charge and protect a company, you have to have a sense of ownership toward it. What is an owner? He is someone who takes care of his employees before receiving anything himself. In other words, an owner is like a slave. He is a slave that lives for the sake of the company employees. He should only do the difficult work.

Have you ever had to terminate someone's employment? You might think it is bad for a leader to dismiss people. You might wonder how a person could be so cruel or how anyone could make others suffer so much. But dismissing people as a part of restructuring a company is not done to make them suffer; it is done to keep the company alive. If the company fails, all the employees go down with it. If you can't save 100 percent of the company, you may have to dismiss thirty of the employees to save even 50 or 60 or 70 percent of the company. That is why I fired people.

Some cried; others were furious. But you have to actually be in a position where you fire people to understand how that feels. I don't know if the people in charge of the church-related companies were able to feel their responsibility. They lacked a sense of accountability. The companies have improved since then, but they are still weak. For the sake of the companies, and because there was no other way, I dismissed people. I did it without sentimentality. Yet, because we did that, our companies improved.

Take Segye Ilbo for example. For years it was losing money. Each year, it was losing more than W30 billion. Segye Ilbo is one of the companies that Father treasures; it is central to the providence. People said that Segye Ilbo was untouchable; and it had its own labor union. People told me the way it was being run was the only way because it isn't' easy dealing with the reporters and their people. I kept on hearing people say that Segye Ilbo was untouchable because the labor laws in Korea are so complex.

When I first went to the district headquarters and met the president of Segye Ilbo, I told him that I was compelled to do a restructuring of the company; there was no other way. He told me it wasn't possible, and I shouldn't do it. As it happened, Father directed that the president be changed, and that's when we began the difficult task. The result was that we dismissed 100 people, and the deficit is half of what it was. From W30 billion, it is now losing 15 billion. We also greatly reduced the printing expenses, but our advertisement sales figures went up. We were able to increase sales while cutting costs, and the quality of our newspaper did not drop. We also won awards. Segye Ilbo has improved to a certain degree.

Take Ilhwa for another example: for thirty consecutive years, it was in the red. When I came in 2005, it was losing money. I was so busy restructuring and selling other companies that I was unable to take a good look at Ilhwa. A year passed; it lost more than W6 billion in 2006. It kept losing money so I created the Ilhwa Task Force Team (TFT) to do something about it. I sent this restructuring team to Ilhwa, and they went in and examined the company. The result of their investigation showed the situation of one particular department was hopeless, so we had to reorganize it.

We let go of 120 people in the first phase of the restructuring. Through restructuring the company, Ilhwa is no longer in the red; it's now in the black.

Now Ilhwa is doing even better. We think that in 2007 it will make somewhere between W33 to W35 billion. It's not just Ilhwa, though. All the companies in our group have improved. The Tongil companies in Changwon had never made a penny in all their history. Yet after our restructuring, they are now beginning to make money. Since it was built thirty-six years ago by the Ssangyong Group [the company we bought it from], Yong Pyong Resort has lost money. In 2005, it lost W20 billion. The resort, too, is now beginning to make money.

We have been very busy. When I came to Korea Father acquired Central City, but we had no profit. The company had a tremendous amount of debt on its balance sheet, but we made W27 billion in 2005, and all our companies got better. We were able to reap substantial results. A third person observer would say that we have produced great results. There wasn't a company whose performance declined. I was criticized terribly.

I wanted to know why there were leaders who were criticizing me while I was improving our movement as a whole. This comes from a problem our church has of not looking at actual results. Some say the reason the companies improved was that they were originally a good purchase; or they would've gotten better even without doing anything. But look at the past. Have our companies ever improved like that? In 1997, our group declared bankruptcy. That was the result of a problem within our church culture.

They were talking gibberish; it was a church problem. From now on, I hope we can focus on results -- on the actual results that are made. Unless we rectify this enduring culture, it's just going to be more difficult. The companies in society that grow do so because their results are continually evaluated. I am also like that. I honestly announce results in front of people. This is transparency. People can think about it and evaluate whether the person in charge is doing a good job or not. Evaluation is important. When we hold these rallies, people can say nice things and make you feel good, but what use is it to feel good for a day but go on without any development?

Actually, I am not such an eloquent speaker. I never had a church ministry. I'm just in charge of two businesses. Yet, the development of an organization does not occur through speaking alone. It develops through actual results. That is the responsibility of the person running the organization. When I manage a company, I actually listen more than I speak. I spend most of the time-about 90 percent of it-interviewing and listening to people talk. We can develop by listening to others. I do not just listen to the people in charge; I go down the chain to the very bottom. That is why I can make the right decisions for the organization as a whole.

From now on, we all should listen to others. I think it would be best if our movement were one where our church and its leaders listened to what others say. Strangely enough, Unification Church leaders are quite talented at giving speeches. Our members are full of passion, but sometimes they are so involved in speaking that they forget to listen to others. How can we become close to one another in this situation? It pushes us away from each other. A church can develop when people feel close to each other in heart. We should be living like family within our church; then people would want to join it. I believe that we should make it into that kind of church. What do you think?

If we are to do that, there are many difficult tasks ahead of us. This is just a beginning; it won't be easy. Yet, if we bring our hearts together and work together -- recognizing each other and listening to one another -- we can grow. The word Father has given us is so precious. In my tour of the churches, I have read Father's speech more than a hundred and twenty times. This short speech has so much depth. I was moved. We always listen to this precious message, yet we must not keep it to ourselves. It is our responsibility to spread it to the entire world. I will now read from Father's speech.

Kook-jin nim reads Peace Message 1, and then continues speaking:

Isn't Father's speech beautiful? Have you ever taken time to delve into his speeches? It's like a poem, isn't it? Poems are short but their content is deep. Father talks about how we should live as an individual and a family; how societies and the world should be. He is talking about Cheon Il Guk. I read this same speech on each stop of my tour. While on the earth, didn't Jesus say, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"? Father adds to this and tells us that we should even love our enemies

That is what true love is. Do you know how amazing what Father says is when he tells us that God's essence is true love? Not a single person in history has ever explained God's essence. Yet, Father talks not only about God's essence; if you read his speech, he speaks about the ideal. He explains about God's essence and says that the ideal is for us to be centered on true love and that true love is living for the sake of others and even loving one's enemies. If we can develop our lives with that essence as our goal, we can resemble God. If we live immersed in true love as God does, not living for our own sake, but for the sake of the whole, we can become people who can receive true love.

Not living for one's own sake, but for the sake of the whole. This would be a democratic society with true love at the center. A democratic society, where an individual has a central position. This is nothing other than the nation of Cheon Il Guk. So, if you read these speeches, you are really great! They explain how people are to live as individuals, in a society, in the world and in the kingdom of heaven. The explanation is all there. Father's words of truth are God's words. We cannot help feeling thankful in front of True Parents, can we? We cannot help feeling respect. Isn't it true that because we have received such precious words from them, we cannot help but take responsibility? Thank you.

Kook-jin nim's prayer

Our most beloved Heavenly Father, we have gathered here today in our headquarters church in Seoul, Korea, the same place where our True Father has spoken many times, giving light and inspiration to Your people, speaking Your words to the world.

Father, we are truly grateful for all the truths and teachings that You have given us and for Your explanation of Your essence and our responsibility to inherit that love from You, and Your aspiration for all of mankind to become people who can truly live for the sake of one another with a truly parental heart, where we can love all our brothers and sisters as You, our Heavenly Father, would love them, and to create a world and a society where we all pursue the good of all, Father.

We're truly honored and grateful that You have given us the opportunity to participate in this great work at this historic time in the providence. I pray that although in many ways we continue to fail You every day we may at least, with each breath that we take, try to improve our lives so that we can emulate Your love, Father, and so that we can reflect that love to others all around us to create a happier and healthier society for all of mankind.

Father, we are truly grateful for the abundant blessings that you have given us. And I truly pray that you may give our True Parents strength and health, and You may keep them well. For we truly need them here with us for many years to come.

I pray You may be with all of our brothers and sisters who have dedicated their lives and who are working so hard on Your behalf in their public missions; and that you may be with all of our members and all the people of the world that they, too, in their lives, may learn to live a more just and loving life and that they, too, can reflect Your true love to their brothers and their sisters, their neighbors and their children and their relatives. Father, I pray with a grateful heart for all the blessings that I have received and which You have given to all of us. All these things I pray in the name of Kook-jin Moon, central blessed family. Aju  

53rd Anniversary of HSA-UWC

Kook Jin Moon
May 1, 2007
Seoul, Korea

Distinguished guests, leaders of the Unification Movement, my beloved brothers and sisters:

Today we are gathered here on this auspicious occasion to celebrate the fifty-third anniversary of the Unification Church. All the members of our movement who have worked hard in realizing the will of God and True Parents in each corner of the world send their respects. At this moment, I am sure they are offering their thanks and congratulations for the grace and love God and our beloved True Parents have bestowed on them.

When we look back on the history of our movement it all began from the Seodaemun church. Yet, we have since then made incredible growth and now have a worldwide foundation built by the tears, sweat and blood of our True Parents, with the blessings of Heavenly Father. The force that drove our movement to this victory can be found in True Father's unyielding determination to liberate God by fulfilling God's will, in line with his promise to do so, made to God on Easter Sunday in 1935 after accepting the mission of bringing salvation to all humankind.

With this determination and passion, True Parents have led their lives. This year in particular we celebrated True Father's eighty-eighth birthday. Yet, as they have shown us during the "Rally to Declare the Beginning of a New Universal Civilization of Peace," even today, True Parents are placing their lives on the line and investing their entire being for the sake of the world on this path.

At the beginning of the seventh year of Cheon Il Guk, True Parents proclaimed a jubilee year in God's providence, a year the likes of which humankind has never experienced. God's heart has been in pain throughout history because Satan's dominion entrapped humankind within its evil sovereignty, in the fetters of the 'era before heaven.' That time has finally come to an end, and from this year on the gates of the revolutionary era after the coming of heaven can be opened wide, ushering in an era of a new sovereignty of goodness, in which humanity can attend God as the central being.

A jubilee year in God's providence refers to an era in which history and all creation have returned to that pristine era at the time of creation, where creation existed in a state of beauty God desired and as His object of joy. Thus, I believe that we, who live in such times, should radiate and give off a lovely fragrance like that of a beautiful flower as God's objects of goodness...

True Parents have founded many providential organizations in order to fulfill the providence and the Foundation has been supporting these organizations. Because these organizations were created by True Parents for the purpose of contributing to the fulfillment of the providence, to better understand the situation and the details of their activities and achievements, I have personally visited each and every one of these organizations.

After that, with True Parents' permission, I began a tour of our churches, which serve as the root and the foundation of our movement and the providence. With a goal of visiting 120 churches, I have successfully visited 72 churches as of today. During my tour I was deeply moved at the sight of our dedicated church leaders and members who have followed True Parents to this day and are working hard to realize God's will.

I also was able to see the difficulties of our church and the critical issues that need to he resolved. To offer help from my position, a Task Force Team was formed in conjunction with the Korean Headquarters for the development of our churches. At this time, this team has completed an accurate analysis of the field and is developing a long-term plan for addressing these issues. In consideration of the unfavorable circumstances of the field, the Foundation allocated a budget of 2.5 billion won in 2007 and will continue to work on improving the church environment. This is not simply about repairing the church buildings but is about improving the church environment and building an infrastructure to give strength to our witnessing activities.

Until now the revenue generated from our land in Yeouido [used as a parking lot] served as a great source in supporting our providential organizations and churches. Yet, with the development of that land, we no longer can expect such revenue. At this point, the Foundation is supporting the providential organizations from the profits generated from our affiliated companies. These companies, which began making a profit two years ago, have overcome many difficult situations and have restructured themselves into profit-making businesses. Yet, these companies are not generating enough profit to sufficiently help all the providential organizations.

We, of course, have great hopes for the Foundation and are confident that our profits will continue to increase. However, the situation at the Foundation still requires more time to stabilize itself and thus the decision to allocate 2.5 billion won for supporting churches was made after much deliberation. Yet, despite the financial burdens, the Foundation has decided once and for all to set aside the financial resources for improving our churches under the greater goal of developing our church as a whole.

At such a time, I would like to share the thoughts that led me to make this decision, which I have kept to myself until this time. I would like to reconfirm the providential importance of these times and make a new beginning by combining all of our strengths.

Like you, I fervently desire to make real True Parents' words and to create a substantial foundation here in Korea, the providential homeland. In order to fulfill True Parents' words, there needs to be a suitable strategy and system in carrying it out. Only then can our members and even the people of this nation and world see our vision; only then can we truly create Cheon Il Guk on earth, which is our desire.

I believe that there needs to be a concrete and clear strategy and system for creating Cheon Il Guk according to True Parents' providential desires and that this must be done based on the passion and mutual agreement of all those involved.

Furthermore, we should not just follow True Parents' words but we should be fully aware of the original goal and vision and become owners who can practice and take action based on those words. We should not confine ourselves by becoming servants who simply carry out orders; we must become true filial sons and daughters who understand their parents' will and make it real.

Now is the time for the True Family and all the members of the world to become one in substantially building Cheon Il Guk through mother-son cooperation centering on True Mother. True Mother has always done her best to faithfully and absolutely follow True Father. I personally believe that the example that she has shown is something we all should emulate in this age. True Mother has always given her entire being in leading a life of complete oneness with True Father.

Where others would have failed, True Mother -- now sixty-five years old and a mother who gave birth to thirteen children -- went through demanding schedules yet continuously submitted herself to True Father's will. There is no way we can fathom the depth of her heart. I had the opportunity to accompany True Mother during the world speaking tours. Young as I am, I found the tour to be very taxing each day. Yet, True Mother has taken up the responsibility of carrying our fortunes from the victory in Korea with the "Rally to Declare the Beginning of a New Universal Civilization of Peace" to Japan, America and the entire world. The hardships that await her are beyond imagination. Yet, even today True Mother is going on this path based on that unwavering and absolute standard.

Beloved brothers and sisters! We are truly at a significant point in time. It is a time for us to become one and to combine our strengths. From my position I have done my best to return victory and glory to God and True Parents by showing results. My fervent hope is that all our leaders and members beginning with the president can become owners of the providence and take part in this holy task. When God's will is fulfilled, let us shed tears of joy and victory together!

Once again I would like to congratulate you all on the 53rd anniversary of the Unification Church, and I would like to return this day's glory to God and to True Parents and to all of you. Thank you very much.