Total Investment
Sun Myung Moon
2012
Excerpts
Unofficial Translation
Life of Faith in the Era after the Coming of Heaven
From "Selected Speeches of Reverend Sun Myung Moon"
The origin of creation was the logic of "living for the sake of others" centered upon love. Greatness is determined by how much you invest yourself for the sake of your object partner. Here you can derive your life philosophy. Love can be reached through ideal voyage across the seas. In order for you to live purposefully toward your ideal destination, you need this life philosophy of living for the sake of others. Unless you live your life by totally giving yourself, you will not able to meet the path of true love. It is only possible when you invest yourself totally and completely live for the sake of others. You must make all these ideas as your foundation for your logic and philosophy of life.
If you invest yourself totally and forget what you have given, you will definitely be placed at the center. This is Heavenly principle. If you really live like this among your siblings or friends, you will be the center of your siblings or friends naturally even though you do not wish. If you just live for your own sake, everything will disappear. Everything will be destroyed. A place where you live only for yourself is a place of destruction. Thus, it is Satan's plane. However, a place where you live for the sake of others is the Heavenly plane since it is where all people come together as one. You should organize the stage where you live according to this life philosophy and foundational principles.
I try to forget whatever possible. Especially, I forget about all my troubles and miseries in my life. This is my life philosophy. I don't even try to remember them. For example, after maybe three years, your memory of someone's face will be vague. There is no need to remember such a thing. If God remembers the fall of man and repeating the painful incident in His mind over and over again until now, how can you possibly live? As if He had forgotten the fall completely, God has made the utmost efforts investing Himself for the purpose of re-creation. This is why God's love is the greatest of all loves.
If you are going out to work as a day laborer, you must say to yourself, "I will work as an owner today!" Don't work as a temporary day laborer who was hired for the day. Knowing this essence of the principle, you work and forget, and work to forget about your labor. Then you will never get tired no matter how hard you work. I am now over seventy years old, but this has been my philosophy of life. I constantly want to invest more. Even though, my legs get wobbly, I want to give and invest more.
There is an adage saying, "Be constant from the beginning to the end." However, that is not enough. So, you should not just follow the adage. You should follow this, "Start small and give increasingly to end up great." Even though you start out small, you must end larger than what you started. This is my life philosophy. I don't think it is difficult even if I face really hard challenges. If your root is shallow, when a Hurricane comes you will be blown away. You must deepen your determination for fulfilling your desire, so as to not be blown away no matter how strong the gusts bluster against you.
Members of Unification Church should not be limited by the adage, "Be constant from the beginning to the end." Rather, they must follow, "Start small and give increasingly to end up great." You must end greater that the beginning. In the ideal world, if you keep trying to give, you will get larger and larger. However, in the process of restoration, it is "Be constant from the beginning to the end." Because the beginning and the end is the same, they can meet up. However, in our world, you should not get larger centering on your own sake alone. In the world of love, centering on true love, the end will be greater. We don't need a world expressed by another adage, "Being with large dragon's head but with tiny snake's tail."
Even if I was captured and put into a prison, I will never back away because of my philosophy of "Start small and give increasingly to end up great." I will fight head on against a much larger enemy. Then, who will protect me when I will have a head-on collision? God will be my protector. God is our master and our subject partner.
Even if I am put in solitary confinement in prison, as long as I do not relinquish my heart to serve God -- being in the prison or in the jaws of death -- Heaven will pull me out of it and place me at a position of His object partner. Moreover, Heaven will open a path for the realm of my liberation in all directions -- east, west, north or south. You must know that this is Reverend Moon's traditional life philosophy while he established the world-wide foundation, by preparing incremental and cumulative results.
Rev. Moon's philosophy of life is to add one more step wherever I go. For example, when I climb a mountain and reach its summit, I will count from one, two, three from there. Then I will count eleven and twelve, as I step around. This one extra step that I take after reaching the final point is a condition through which new development takes place. In other words, if you make this one extra step, you will not perish. This is natural thinking as you compete against the satanic world.
Rev. Moon has established this foundation despite receiving persecution in this world. Then, what is my philosophy of life that has sustained me. My thought is there is no stagnation. I reached almost 80 years old, however, even today; my philosophy does not allow me to stop or stagnate. I cannot be outdone even by young people. What is development? Development can mean renaissance. Then it will bring prosperity and finally reach the Heavenly Kingdom.
Viewing Father's Body
Tim Elder
September 7, 2012
True Father's physical body is being viewed in a large room on the third floor of Cheon Jeong Gung. It is placed in a glass case on top of three decks of red, white and yellow roses. He is dressed in gold and red.
After people pay their respects at the altar set up in Cheongshim Peace World Center, they make their way up the hill to the Cheon Jeong Gung to honor Father directly.
They enter the room in groups of about 50. First, they offer a kyung-bae, and then pray silently for a minute. Then they are invited to take a couple steps forward for a final look. After that, they greet the True Family and exit the room.
Tables and chairs are set up in an anteroom to serve refreshments to senior government officials and other important guests.
Kook Jin Nim sat down with several of those guests. To each of them he said, "We have a beautiful church in Yongsan, called Cheon Bok Gung. I hope you will come see it sometime."
He told them how much Father loves Korea. Father's vision for Korea is that it becomes a country that will lead the way toward freedom and democracy in the world, he said.
When speaking with government officials, he explained that the government's relationship to the people should be similar to that of the Archangel's relationship with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. If the government tries to become the master of the people, he told them, it is falls into the position of Satan.
When speaking with members of Korea's National Assembly, he explained it is Father's desire that Korea become militarily stronger and that it form a defense alliance with Japan and strengthen its alliance with the United States. Father makes clear this is the only way peace can be preserved in Northeast Asia, he said.
When speaking with leaders in Korea's financial community, he said the Unification Church theology offers a religious foundation for Korea, or any other country, to become strong and prosperous.
The Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Youngest Son Leaves for North Korean Capital to Meet With Mourners
Associated Press
September 7, 2012
SEOUL, South Korea — A Unification Church official says the youngest son of the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon has left South Korea for the North Korean capital to meet with mourners.
Church spokesman Ahn Ho-yeul says church leader Hyung-jin Moon plans to receive mourners at a church-owned peace institute in Pyongyang.
The church has business interests in North Korea, and the elder Moon worked to build ties with North Korean leaders.
Ahn said Friday that Moon was traveling with the president of North Korea-based Pyeonghwa Motors. The company is partially owned by the church.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offered his condolences on Moon’s death earlier this week.
Moon, a self-proclaimed messiah, died Monday at the age of 92 in Gapyeong County, northeast of Seoul. His funeral is Sept. 15.
Rev. Moon's Lasting Legacy in D.C.: the Washington Times
Robert Devaney
September 6, 2012
The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Korean religious leader, businessman and founder of the Unification Church died Sept. 3 in South Korea. He was 92. Moon considered himself the second coming of Jesus Christ, an idea directly heretical to mainstream Christianity.
In the popular mind, his Unification Church provoked images of mass marriages performed by Moon and his wife -- the "True Parents" -- and of young promoters who sold flowers at the airport or on the streets. And his Moonies, a word church members do not like, have been accused of being part of a religious cult.
His attendant business interests ranged widely from media and automobiles to supplying fresh fish to local restaurants, namely, sushi.
But the powerful ambitions and personality of Moon sought more: he wanted influence throughout the world, East to West. Where was the best place to set up his own version of a heaven-on-earth lobbying firm? In America. And the best place there? Of course, the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.
Beside his religious activities, the fiercely anti-communist Moon become known in the United States for strongly supporting then-enbattled President Richard Nixon, who later resigned. He led a huge rally at the National Mall, complete with fireworks, in the late 1970s. People here took notice, even as a few young Unification Church missionaries spoke casually with Georgetown University students in the lobby of Lauinger Library. (A new religion which unites the peoples and churches of Christianity can sound fresh, pure and worthy to a young mind.)
Moon's church and businesses continued to grow, and he was ready to stake his claim as a major Washington influencer by establishing the Washington Times in 1982. While it was during the administration of President Ronald Reagan, it came along before many other popular media outlets which trumpeted conservative issues.
I got the opportunity to work as an editor at the Washington Times during the 1990s -- the Bill Clinton years -- working in special sections. We wrote and edited varied features, anything from travel, history, dining, real estate, jobs to specials on inaugurations, Martin Luther King, Jr., Apollo XI and World War II. Our bailiwick did not involve any ideological comments, specifically speaking, although we were aware of the preferences of the editor at the time, Wesley Pruden. Just being in the newsroom, it was instructive for a centrist Democrat like myself to learn a bit of the thinking from the conservative -- and increasingly Republican -- playbook.
Now, the Washington Times newsroom is off the beaten path, as far as media offices go. While the Washington Post -- and the Washington Star (many staffers went to the Times when it folded) in its heyday -- chose downtown D.C., the Times is in Northeast D.C. on New York Avenue between the National Arboretum and the train tracks.
There was that one day in the mid-90s when Rev. Moon, who would visit occasionally and go straight to the executive offices, walked around the voluminous newsroom meeting each editor and writer individually at his or her desk. One veteran writer, surprised at this never-before greeting, said that it was either really bad or really good. (The Times could wait for about another 15 years before things might go really bad.) Moon smiled as he joked about a top investigative reporter's weight and poked him in the belly, saying he liked to eat as much fish as Moon liked to. At least, that's what what the translator told the reporter who was not used to being messed with and who, I imagined, had to restrain himself as I also imagined steam coming out of his ears.
Like most newsroom creatures, Times employees were skeptical of authority and would make a quip as easily as those on 15th Street. They called their paper "little scrappy," which did more with less and whose editors encouraged new hires to take chances. One said he was glad people believed in God, because he knew along with others that companies affiliated with the Unification Church had worked with News World Communications to spend more $1 billion over the years on the newspaper, which was one of the first to report regularly on religion, spirituality and, yes, God.
Of course, that other newspaper on 15th Street -- "the OP" as Times editors said -- looked down at Moon's creation as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee vowed never to visit -- until a birthday party for Arnaud de Borchgrave, a former editor-in-chief of the Times. Bradlee had worked with de Borchgrave at Newsweek in Europe and was happy to go to the New York Avenue newsroom as the Times printing presses produced a Times parody version for de Borchgrave's party in the Arbor Ballroom; the banner headline aptly read: "A legend in his own mind."
The Washington Times persevered in its quest to bring an alternative voice to the Washington and national scene, even as it sometimes beat the Post on local news stories. It was not afraid to make mistakes and offered many reporters who went on to bigger media groups a great start. Allow me to mention a few (mostly former) staffers who made the newspaper shine and had an impact for me, professionally and personally: Patrick Butters, Peter VanDevanter, Kevin Chaffee, Ann Geracimos, Tracy Woodward, Jim Brantley, John McCaslin, Lorraine Woellert, Tony Blankley, Adrienne Washington, Cathryn Donohoe, Thom Loverro, Susan Ferrechio and Jerry Seper.
After the Times fell victim to squabbles within the Moon family, its staff and sections were cut a few years ago -- and it looked like the end was near. But Moon did not want to lose face, as it were, and intervened two years ago and took the newspaper away from one of his sons who had controlled it. Today, the Times remains a strong conservative and journalistic voice amid the newer ones, such as the Washington Examiner, adding to a more dynamic media landscape. It is trying for a comeback. Whatever your opinion of its ideological bent, you know the Times kept D.C. from being a one-newspaper town. And you can thank its writers, editors, photographers, artists and pressmen -- and a self-proclaimed messiah -- for that bit of journalistic luck
Sun Myung Moon's Groundbreaking Campaign to Open North Korea
Armin Rosen
September 6, 2012
Sun Myung Moon (left) with North Korean leader Kim il-Sung in December, 1991
The death of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, the controversial Unification Church founder whose 92 years of life included some very colorful moments, made the front pages of both the Washington Post and Washington Times. The Unification Church invested over $300 million in the capital area, after all, and his business dealings reached far beyond--for instance, the Post's obituary noted that Church-owned companies were responsible for more than half of the raw fish served at U.S. sushi restaurants. The Washington Times, which Moon founded in 1982, lauded him as a "business visionary" whose "church's practices sparked criticism, suspicion and persecution" that included six stints in jail and time in one of the most feared prison systems on earth: North Korea's. Moon's relationship with the country of his birth was a complicated one. But for all the focus on the eccentric mogul's quirks and U.S. investments, his role in North Korea may turn out to be his most enduring legacy, a fascinating story of how one man opened one of the very few cracks in this modern hermit kingdom.
Moon, who was born in 1920 in the present-day North Korean province of North Pyongan when the Korean peninsula was still a Japanese colony, was a unique figure in the highly fraught history of interKorean relations. A Christian (or Christian-influenced) cleric who enjoyed close personal ties with the officially atheistic Kim regime, Moon's staunch anti-communist beliefs were partly informed by his experiences in a North Korean labor camp in 1950. But his death nevertheless prompted a "message of condolence" from North Korean premier Kim Jong Un himself.
In his extensive dealings with Pyongyang, Moon revealed both the potential and the limitations of the hard-edged yet increasingly open policy towards North Korea that Japan, South Korea, and the United States embraced immediately after the Cold War. The Unification Church's approach to the country was an early and important part of a larger international effort to pry open the hermit kingdom. But these efforts -- like those of the numerous governments and international organizations that have sought to moderate the Kim regime's stance towards its southern neighbor, and towards its own citizens' human rights -- ultimately highlighted the resilience of one of the world's most oppressive states.
Moon's organization was headquartered in South Korea, where aiding the North is still punishable under the country's National Security Law. The economically powerful and politically connected Unification Church was not as constrained as other South Korean organizations -- or, at times, as restrained as the region's governments -- in dealing with the regime in Pyongyang.
Moon was an early practitioner of the kind of conciliatory politics that the South Korean government would eventually embrace in its now-abandoned "Sunshine Policy," which it introduced in the late '90s in an effort to build friendlier ties with the North. In 1991, the self-made mogul visited North Korea's founding leader, Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang, nine years before South Korean president Kim dea-Jung's groundbreaking visit to the North Korean capital. "Moon began his efforts to engage with the North Koreans at a time when the South Korean government still formally opposed that kind of interaction," says Scott Snyder, a Korea expert with the Council on Foreign Relations.
But Moon had hardly been coopted by his hosts. The Washington Times published a conspicuously defiant opening paragraph about the meeting: "President Kim Il-sung of North Korea, one of the last of the Stalinist states, yesterday discussed reconciliation of the two Koreas with a man he once imprisoned, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the fiercely anticommunist Unification Church." Moon's flagship American media property published original reporting about the "horror" of the country's "communist gulag," even at a time when the Unification Church was engaged in precedent-setting investment in that same country. This approach was not without its drawbacks for Moon and his business empire. Washington Post columnist David Ignatius discussed the tension between Moon's North Korea outreach and the Times' editorial line in a 2004 column:
Coverage of the Korean Peninsula has been an especially delicate issue. The paper's stance has been aggressively anti-Pyongyang. But the church has embraced a conciliatory line, including investment in North Korea. Moon has bankrolled Pyonghwa Motors, which plans to produce cars in the North, along with a hotel, a park and a church there. A senior church official, Ahn Ho Yeol, told a South Korean newspaper last year: "It is our principle to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula by promoting mutual prosperity." Again, that's a dovish sentiment you won't often read in the Times.
Still, this combination of moderation and hawkishness toward North Korea might have been more coherent than it seemed. After all, in 2004, U.S.-North Korean trade was worth over $25 million (including, amazingly, $1.5 million in North Korean exports to the U.S.), despite the escalating nuclear crisis in the peninsula. And, in 1999, the year that Unification Church-related business interests opened Pyonghwa Motors, the U.S sent over a quarter billion dollars in aid to North Korea, even though it had launched a Taepodong missile toward Japan the year before. In the late '90s and early 2000s, the U.S. used aid and economic support as a confidence-building measure with a country that many external observers believed was on the brink of collapse. Moon's approach to the country was of a similar vein, even if it meant certain contradictions within his organization.
Pyonghwa Motors, the joint business partnership between a Church-owned South Korean company and a state-run North Korean consortium, was the centerpiece of the Church's investment in North Korea, which also includes a hotel in Pyongyang. Private auto ownership is extremely rare in North Korea, and only about 1000 vehicles roll off the assembly lines every year. But Snyder says that Pyonghwa was still an important moment in North Korea's relationship with the outside world, since its factory provided "early socialization" for northerners who were unschooled in modern manufacturing and the global economy. "It is an interesting exercise as one of the first efforts to do production of that type in North Korea, and so in that sense it was a path-breaking effort," says Snyder.
The Unification Church's investments in North Korea foreshadowed later and more significant efforts at cooperation on the Korean Peninsula. Today, over 100 South Korean companies employ North Korean laborers at the Keasong Industrial Park, a special economic zone just a few miles north of the DMZ. Snyder says that Pyonghwa Motors was a crucial test-run for the initiative, which started in 2005 and is responsible for much of the $1.7 billion in trade between the Koreas. And there were political dimensions to the Church's relationship with North Korea as well. "The bottom line wasn't necessarily the primary consideration behind the investment," says Snyder. The Kim regime recognized that the Church had a global reach and a certain amount of political influence. Meanwhile, Moon believed that political and economic engagement were a prerequisite for one of his most cherished political goals: the eventual reunification of the Korean peninsula.
But the Korean peninsula is not unified, and whatever small amount of outside investment the Kim regime allows is hardly enough to precipitate fundamental changes to the country's failed command economy. The Unification Church's efforts were, in a sense, a subset of the outside world's larger failure to reform, moderate, or restrain the Kim regime in the years after Kim Il Sung's 1994 death, a period when the country developed nuclear weapons, maintained its vast network of political prison camps, and even attacked its southern neighbor, all despite South Korean, American, and multilateral overtures. Signs of progress, like the UN's success in maintaining the World Food Program's presence in the country, still serve as perverse evidence of the durability of the Kims' system. The Unification Church may have helped to foster engagement between Pyongyang and the outside, but Moon never lived to see his efforts pay off as he'd dreamed.
Unification Founder’s Body Lies in State as Thousands Gather to Say Goodbye
Ho-yeul An
September 6, 2012
Elected leaders, diplomats, clergy and academics from Korea and abroad are among 15,000 mourners who have gathered on Sept. 6, 2012 to pay their respects to Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the Founder of the Unification movement, according to a press release from the Tongil Foundation in Korea. The visitors gathered at the Cheongshim Peace World Center, a stadium complex in Songsan-ri, Seorak-myeon, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi Province. Rev. Moon’s body lies in state in a shrine at the Cheon Jeong Gung palace a short distance away on a mountain overlooking Cheonpyeong Lake.
The official visitors were welcomed by Rev. Hyung Jin Moon, Rev. Moon’s successor, who began proceedings at 8:00 a.m., after which approximately 15,000 disciples and friends of Rev. Moon from all fields of life filed into the shrine to give thanks and to pray. These included 3,000 Japanese visitors came to pay their respects on this day alone. The Unification Church has also prepared shrines in regional church Headquarters buildings across Korea, as well as in mission countries worldwide, for guests to come and pay their respects.
The Wake at Cheon Jeong Gung
The Wake at Cheong Shim World Center
Numerous floral tributes expressing the condolences of various VIPs from Korea were on display in the shrine. Floral arrangements arrived from current heads of state, including President Lee Myung-bak, President Dioncounda Traore of Mali, President Johnson Toribiong of Palau and Prime Minister Ahoomey-Zunu of Togo, as well as former heads of state including former President Alfred Moisiu of Albania and former President Julio Maria Sanguinetti of Uruguay. Korean political leaders sending flowers included National Assembly Speaker Gang Chang-hee, Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan, Unification Minister Ryu Woo-ik, Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Seo Gyu-ong, Floor Leader Lee Han-gu of Hannuri Party, and Chairperson Han Seon-gyo of Culture, Sports, Tourism and Broadcasting Committee.
Korean lawmakers who were present at the stadium included National Assemblyman Lee Jae-oh of the Grand National Party, National Assemblyman Jeong Byeong-guk of the Grand National Party, and National Assemblyman Kim Seong-gon of the Democratic United Party.
The Wake - Rev. Hyung Jin Moon, the Chairperson of Seong Hwa Committee
Religious leaders paying their respects included Chairman Lee Hee-ho of Kim Dae-jung Peace Center, Head Executive Park In-gong of the Taego Order of Korean Buddhism, Spiritual Patriarch Dorim Beopjeon of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, and Head Executive Lee Hong-pa of the Gwaneum Order of Korean Buddhism
The Wake - Rev. Hyung Jin Moon, the Chairperson of Seong Hwa Committee
Leaders of commerce and industry included Chairman Yeo Sang-rak of SGI Korea (Foundation), CEO Shin Gyeok-ho of Lotte Group and CEO Cho Yang-ho of Hanjin Group.
The shrine prepared at Cheongshim Peace World Center was also visited Sept. 6, 2012 by members of the Seongnam Ilhwa Football Club, including Coach Shin Tae-yong and the Universal Ballet Troupe, who came in groups to pay reverence. Afterwards, Vice Chairman Kim Min-ha of the National Unification Advisory Council and former Director Yim Chae-jin of Public Prosecutions among other important personages came to pay their respects as well.
The Wake - Religious Leaders
The Wake - Visitors
The Cheongshim Peace World Center, where the Ascension (Seonghwa) will also be held, will receive guests to pay their respects until the Sept. 14, 2012, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. (6 p.m. on Sept. 14, 2012). Rev. Moon’s residence and final resting place, known as the palace at Cheon Jeong Gung, where his holy remains lie in state, will be opened for three days from Sept. 9, 2012 until Sept. 11, 2012 to both believers and non-believers who would like to say goodbye to him and offer condolences to his family, according to the Tongil press release.
Press enquiries may be directed to the spokesperson for the Unification Church in Korea, Rev. Ho-yeul An, Tongil Foundation Public Relations Department
Sun Myung Moon's Seonghwa Details for South America
Dong Mo Shin
September 6, 2012
Dear Leaders of South America region
Thank you for your great investment in helping our members prepare for True Father's Seonghwa events in Korea.
Following are important details for your use in communications and outreach:
Event Schedule
1. Recommended Arrival: September 11 or 12 (September 11 is best -- personal viewing of True Father is scheduled on September 12 and 13)
2. September 15 (morning): True Father's Universal Seonghwa Ceremony:
3. September 16: Chung Pyung Holy Ground Pilgrimage
4. September 17 (morning): Special Launch Ceremony for the Members of the World (with (tentative title)
5. Departures: from the evening of September 17 (or morning of September 18 is best)
Accommodations for USA Participants
1. Lodging for Unification Members: Central Training Center, 437-45 Sutaek-dong, Guri-si, Gyeonggi-do, Tel: +82-31-553-4355)
2. Lodging for Ambassadors for Peace and Contacts: appropriate arrangements are being made and will be announced
3. Transportation will be arranged from Inchon Airport and between the Central Training Center and Chung Pyung.
4. There is no registration fee for transportation and accommodations. Simple accommodations will be provided, but the cost of meals will not be covered.
South America contacts in Korea (beginning September 6) are Rev. Sung Jong Seo (speaks English and Korean)
Donation
A special donation of $1,000 is being asked from every family in South America as an expression of our gratitude. Each National HQ should make arrangements for collecting the donation and compiling a record.
Outreach to Ambassadors for Peace and Prestigious Leaders
UPF and WFWP,CAUSA is working to invite prestigious Ambassadors for Peace, religious, political and NGO leaders to participate in the Seonghwa Ceremony in Korea and/or include their names as part of the Memorial Advisory Committee. Attached is the UPF letter that can be used for invitational outreach on your National level. Please report your activity results and lists to the Continental HQ and UPF regional Secretary General, Alejandro de Souza.
Please watch for continual updates and contact us for assistance as needed.
Thank you
Rev. Shin, Dong-Mo
Continental Director, South America
The First Day of Receiving Well-Wishers at the World Center is Off to a Good Start
Tim Elder
September 6, 2012
It didn't really hit me until this morning, when I walked up the steps to the Cheongshim Peace World Center and saw two giant banners with True Father's portraits hanging on each side of the main entrance.
The first day of receiving well-wishers at the World Center is off to a good start. Members of the True Family are taking turns greeting guests, with the International President's couple taking the first two-hour shift.
People are coming in an orderly fashion. The Korea Unification Church headquarters yesterday sent out a schedule showing each region when they should come. Members of the 36-Couple Blessing and other senior couples were the first to pay their respects starting at 8 am.
A flower arrangement with a ribbon showing the name of President Lee Myung Bak sits stage right.
Letter From Korea -- True Father's Universal Seonghwa
Katsumi Ohtsuka
September 6, 2012
I would like to share with you all about what is happening in Chung Pyung for True Father's Universal Seonghwa Ceremony.
The period to give our condolence began today, September 6th in Chung Pyung. A large number of members started to gather at Chung Pyung training center. Since 50,000 people are expected to come, the road to Chung Pyung training center, which has been under construction, was specially paved for the guests from abroad. The police stated to control the traffic. At this first day, True Parents' relatives and elders were blessed to have a chance to attend True Parents at Cheon Jeong Gung. This morning at 8 o'clock, True Parents' relatives, 36 family members and regional directors gathered at World Peace Center to go up to Cheon Jeong Gung where True Father's Holy Body is. The Altar of Universal Seonghwa Ceremony for True Father was covered by flowers and flowers of condolence from the President of Korea and other nation worldwide were decorating the Altar. After offering flower to True Father in front of the Altar, we all visited Cheon Jeong Gung by bus to offer our attendance and love for True Parents.
The room where True Father's Holy Body has been kept is the Big Hoon Dok Hae room and was filled with serene and sacred atmosphere. True Father is in the holy robe which was used for the honorable entry to Cheon Jeong Gung in 2006. On True Father's head, the crown of the King of Kings of Peace was shining brightly. True Mother was sitting beside true Father as usual in white Korean traditional wear, Chima Chogori, and received our condolences. Kook Jin Nim and his wife with Jyeong Jin Nim received our greetings on the left side of the coffin. We all could not help but shedding tears with sorrow and deep appreciation. True Father has been our life and all. We never forget His total dedication to God and limitless True Love for all humankind. The Truth He disclosed is eternal and His heart was filled with the heart to console His father: God. Keeping our personal memories in mind, we gave our bow to True Father from the bottom of our heart.
This period of condolence will continue till 13th, and the Universal Seonghwa Ceremony will be conducted on 15th. True Mother is scheduled to speak to members on 17th morning.
North Korea Absent At Moon Funeral: Church Official
AFP
September 6, 2012
GAPYEONG, South Korea (AFP) - North Korea has decided not to send a delegation to South Korea to attend the funeral of Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, a senior church official said Thursday.
"When I was in the North, I was told by the officials there that there would be no funeral delegation to visit the South," said Park Sang-Kwon, president of an automaking joint venture the church established in North Korea in 1999.
Speaking to reporters at the church's headquarters at Gapyeong, east of Seoul, Park said officials in Pyongyang had cited lingering anger over a recent US-South Korea military exercise.
"They said the North still had hard feelings... and it may be inappropriate for them to send the delegation after criticising the South so much in recent weeks," he said.
Pyongyang had denounced the August 20-31 computer-assisted simulation exercise, named Ulchi Freedom Guardian, as a provocative rehearsal for war.
Moon, a self-styled messiah who gathered a global following behind his church that spawned a multibillion-dollar business empire, died on Monday at the age of 92.
His funeral will be held at Gapyeong on September 15.
Speculation that the North could send a rare delegation to the South had been fuelled by a public message of condolence on Moon's death issued Wednesday by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
Although a staunch anti-communist, Moon began building a relationship with North Korea in the 1990s. In 1991 he visited Pyongyang and met with then leader Kim Il-Sung for talks that touched on reunification of the divided peninsula.
As well as anger over the military drill, Park said Pyongyang was also occupied with the fallout from a typhoon.
"It appears to me that the timing (for sending a delegation) wasn't right given that the recent typhoon has dealt huge damage to the country and its people.
"I was told that officially more than 50 people had been killed, with another group of 50 people still missing, and that the real casualty figure is far higher than that," he said.
Sun Myung Moon’s Legacy
Donald Kirk
September 6, 2012
Probably no Korean has inspired more controversy for so many very different reasons than did the Rev. Moon Sun-myung. As a religious figure and a tycoon, he moved from cult to commerce as if they were interrelated, all in accordance with the will of the God who had placed him on earth to heal and help.
For most spiritual figures, it is suffice to say that they were messengers of God, bearing news of the creation and the need to do good in the name of the Lord. The Rev. Moon, though, was no mere messenger. Rather, he was a messiah, an emissary whose life on earth embodied the spirit of the Lord. If anyone represented the Second Coming, as forecast by the Bible, it was he.
The fact that the Rev. Moon has died, at 92, should demonstrate that he too was a mere mortal after all, but his adherents say that he didn’t really die. Rather, he “ascended” to heaven where no doubt he can go on preaching the gospel, his gospel, to the mere mortals down below.
After seeing the Rev. Moon at mass weddings and at the central Unification Church in Seoul, I hardly knew what to make of him. There was something colorful and amusing about the spectacle of him and his wife donning golden crowns, conveying their message of love and loyalty, but what was he saying from beneath that crown? Why were all these people, from western nations, from other Asian nations, also from Korea, taking him so literally and seriously?
I was just as puzzled when I last saw him more than two years ago at the opening of the new central Unification Church in Seoul. “The True Parents,” as Moon styled himself and his wife, Hak Hak-ja, mother of 14 of his 15 children, were ensconced on twin gilt throne-like chairs. He was there, he said, to complete “the mission of Jesus,” to purify the world of original sin.
On the basis of his own experience, the reverend knew that God was on his side. Six times he had been in jail, first for anti-Japanese activities before the Japanese defeat in August 1945. Then, for preaching in his native North Korea, he was jailed two more times before escaping to South Korea in 1950 several months after the outbreak of the Korean War. Next, after founding the Unification Church in Seoul in 1954, he was jailed briefly for draft evasion and cleared before migrating to the U.S., where he spent 13 months in the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, in the early 1980s for tax evasion.
As if those brushes with the law were not enough, in July 2008 he and his wife and 14 others had a brush with death when they escaped with only minor injuries from a helicopter that had to make an emergency landing on a mountainside near Seoul. The helicopter exploded minutes after they had gotten out of the way _ “not by luck,” said youngest son Hyung-jin, inheritor of the mantle of the Unification Church worldwide, “but because he has a mission to bring salvation for all mankind.”
When the time came for “special remarks” by the “true parents,” the patriarchal Moon talked low key, in a gravelly, familiar voice, cajoling, joking, praying. Moon’s wife led the throng in song, including a rousing rendition, in Korean, of “Battle Hymn of the Republic” ― the chorus, “Glory, Glory Hallelujah” in English ― that had the crowd standing, clapping hands, singing lustily along.
Sons Hyung-jin and Kook-jin, in charge of the Tongil Foundation, the center of the Korean business empire founded by his father, and their wives and siblings and in-laws sang joyfully too. It was a show that complemented the aggressive pursuit of business led by Kook-jin and the fire-eating imprecations of Hyung-jin. “Finance and ministries are totally separate,” Hyung-jin told me.
For the Rev. Moon, though, they were never really separate. Seen as rightist politically, reviled for selfglorification as a holy man, he defied type-casting. Despite his conservatism, he passionately espoused relations with North Korea while appearing anti-Communist. After meeting Kim Il-sung in 1991, he said he had a “special relationship with North Korea” ― and set up the North’s only car factory, Pyeongwha Motors.
Most difficult to grasp, much less appreciate, however, was the depth of the drive and vision of the man who was born to a Christian farming family in North Korea, educated for two years in World War II Tokyo, and then returned to North Korea after the war to spread his message of God and himself.
Moon’s interests eventually spread far and wide ― to tourism, hotels, fish-processing, jewelry, ranching, manufacturing components for weapons in South Korea. He even got into universities and money-losing newspaper publishing, all tinged with the “Moonie” label.
Obsessed with his own view of himself as a savior, Moon drew inspiration from Buddhism and Islam as well as Christianity and mesmerized followers with calls for tolerance. He was less successful, however, in mesmerizing his family, split between siblings in Korea and the U.S.
Now that he’s gone, how long will his legacy endure? An eternity? A year or two? The abiding memory is of mass weddings, women in white, men in black suits and white shirts, and of kids selling roses on street corners, raising the funds needed to help insure their own piece of immortality.
Columnist Donald Kirk, www.donaldkirk.com watched Rev. Moon in action several times since first encountering him at a mass wedding held in Chamshil in Seoul, in 1992.
Thousands in South Korea Mourn Moon
AFP
September 6, 2012
GAPYEONG, South Korea (AFP) - Thousands of tearful, flower-carrying mourners descended Thursday on the South Korean headquarters of the Unification Church to offer prayers to their late "messiah" Sun Myung Moon.
Men clad in black suits and women in white dresses flooded the church's main compound in Gapyeong, 60 kilometres (35 miles) east of Seoul, at the start of a 10-day wake ahead of Moon's funeral on September 15.
Moon, the self-styled messiah who founded the church famed for its mass weddings and business empire spanning cars to sushi, died Monday at the age of 92 due to complications from pneumonia.
From early morning, buses ferried mourners -- including a large number of Japanese -- into the sprawling, mountain-ringed Gapyeong complex where a special altar bearing a giant portrait of a youthful-looking Moon had been erected inside a cavernous, covered stadium.
They offered roses and lilies -- Moon's favourite flowers -- and bowed before the portrait ringed with roses.
The altar was flanked by the flags of South Korea, Japan, the United States and other countries, as well as floral tributes from prominent figures including South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak.
The atmosphere was sombre but calm, as Hyung-Jin Moon, Moon's youngest son and successor as church leader, received the mourners, who included women with infants in strollers.
Many wept quietly as solemn music played in the background.
"I feel even sadder than when my own parents died... I'd never thought the true father would leave us so soon," Park Mal-Rye told AFP, wiping tears from her face.
"Our church has always been vilified and cornered by Christians. But now the father's death will shed more light on his accomplishments and help our church grow further," said Park, a follower for the past 20 years.
Bo Hi Pak, Moon's close aide, urged church members to rally behind Moon's two sons and his wife to continue their founder's legacy.
"The father told us not to cry and not to show sorrow when he's gone, so everyone's trying hard to follow his words," he told AFP before bursting into tears. "But we're too devastated."
Hundreds of students from church-owned schools and dancers from a church-run ballet troupe were among those who paid tribute at the altar, under a giant banner reading: "Sun Myung Moon: The true parent of heaven, earth and humankind."
Some took the opportunity for a "pilgrimage" tour of the 1,000-hectare (2,500 acre) Gapyeong estate, including the vast White House-modelled mansion where Moon's body lay in state in a glass-topped coffin.
Only senior church members and specially invited mourners were allowed to view the coffin, which was off limits to the general public.
The scenic estate, which overlooks a large lake, houses a host of modern facilities, including schools, training centres and a hospital where Moon was treated in the last days of his life.
More than 150,000 mourners from South Korea and abroad, including 32,000 from Japan, are expected to pay their respects over the next 10 days, they added.
Following a personal condolence message from North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, there had been speculation that Pyongyang might send a rare delegation to the South to attend the September 15 funeral.
But a senior church official said Thursday that Pyongyang had decided to stay away, amid lingering resentment over a recent South Korean-US military drill.
"When I was in the North, I was told by the officials there that there would be no funeral delegation to visit the South," said Park Sang-Kwon, president of an automaking joint venture the church established in North Korea in 1999.
"They said the North still had hard feelings... and it may be inappropriate for them to send the delegation after criticising the South so much in recent weeks," he said.
Pyongyang had denounced the August 20-31 computer-assisted simulation exercise, named Ulchi Freedom Guardian, as a provocative rehearsal for war.
Although a staunch anti-communist, Moon began building a relationship with North Korea in the 1990s. In 1991 he visited Pyongyang and met with then leader Kim Il-Sung for talks that touched on reunification of the divided peninsula.
Parent, Prophet, Con-Man, Spy: Who Was Rev. Moon?
Kate Blanchard
September 5, 2012
Religion Dispatches Magazine
It's a nice day for a mass wedding
A few years ago during a college break, when my floor was deserted and peaceful, a middle-aged couple stopped by my office door looking for someone who taught religion. “We’re from the Unification Church,” the man said. I gasped. The Moonies! was my immediate, rather graceless thought. With great excitement, and flashbacks to news reports of mass weddings dancing through my head, I composed myself and invited them in to chat. They seemed pleasantly surprised that I knew what the Unification Church was and, perhaps most of all, that I hadn’t shut the door in their faces.
I learned that the husband, an American from the upper Midwest, and the wife, a Brazilian, had first met each other on the day of their wedding at Madison Square Garden in 1982, when the Reverend Moon matched them up as part of his mission to create world peace—a grassroots, bubble-up kind of world peace that began at home.
This couple, still married after three decades, had overcome a language barrier and the awkwardness of living with a stranger, worked through the usual stresses of marriage, raised four children, and bought a small business. More remarkably, they were still believers that the Reverend Moon was finishing the work Jesus had started, by making his kingdom a reality on Earth, here and now.
The couple agreed to come speak to my World Religions students later that year, and on their way out they gave me a copy of Moon’s autobiography, As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen. I opened the book only because I felt obligated, but I quickly found myself engrossed by Moon’s story. Apart from the Korean particulars, it was a biblical-sounding account of poverty, conversion, persecution, imprisonment, miracles, and finally, rise to prominence. (His wife’s path was the “backwards and in high heels” version.)
As someone whom faith has eluded, I couldn’t help but marvel at his apparently miraculous experiences, and admire his steadfast pursuit of his mission. Such a story is not entirely unique; the similarities between his and other Christian memoirs were striking—for example, Brother Yun’s The Heavenly Man, which became a “Christian Book of the Year” (2003). But unlike Yun, Moon is considered a “cult” leader.
We Knew Him Too Well
We generally have two options when encountering other people’s religious stories. Our first is to dismiss them by reducing them to some other factors. Psychology, socioeconomics, biology, or simple intelligence are typical favorites among nonbelievers; e.g., Moon was a crazy or a crook who took advantage of stupid, poor, or otherwise vulnerable people. Believers, on the other hand, prefer to reduce their opponents by way of idolatry, sin, or deception by demonic forces. Perhaps even more than secular observers, members of traditional religions with conveniently invisible prophets and messiahs may be especially tempted toward smugness upon Moon’s death. It is not simply that he died (which all previous prophets and messiahs have also done); it’s that he had the bad grace not to be martyred and to live a very long time. Moreover, he hasn’t until now existed in the distant past; on the contrary, he lived in the information age, such that we simply know too much about him to allow for any mystery.
The following provides a tidy illustration of reductive dismissal, with both secular and religious flavor:
“As for Moon himself, he was clearly a charlatan, and there have been plenty of stories from people who have testified to the cult-like techniques that his church engaged in, and the world has long been familiar with some of there [sic] more bizarre practices such as mass marriages of people who’ve never actually met each other. Given that it was largely a cult of personality, though, one has to think it won’t survive long past his death. After all, messiahs don’t generally die unless they’re going to rise three days later.”
While this may express a common reaction, it deserves interrogation. Moon did not invent arranged marriages; it is impossible to know what he believed; every new religion faces critique from older religions; and many social scientists now admit that any distinction between “cult-like techniques” like so-called mind-control, “coercive persuasion,” and other more “normal” sorts of education or socialization, is in the eye of the beholder. In short, the Unification Church’s beginnings are not particularly radical when compared to other religions’ beginnings. So while it is certainly convenient (and mentally satisfying) to ridicule and dismiss, it also prematurely shuts down any meaningful reflection or conversation between different worldviews.
Our other choice—and, I think, a better choice—is to accept, even respect, others’ experiences as their experiences, even if they don’t make sense in our own world.
This isn’t easy, I’ll admit; Moon’s unbelievable autobiography, his later congressional coronation, questionable business practices, and family squabbles all put my posture of respect to the test, to say the least. (The Catholic Church and the Westboro Baptist Church do the same.) But ultimately I have decided to assume he was working in good faith. Not dismissing him as a charlatan doesn’t mean I agree with his teachings on sexuality or his economic behaviors; it doesn’t mean I believe he was anointed by God to do any particular salvific work on my behalf. It simply means that I must take Moon seriously, as if he were, well, an actual human being who tried to pursue happiness and avoid suffering, and who probably succeeded and failed at both in equal measure. I can empathize with him at that most basic level; I’ve never claimed to be God’s anointed, but I certainly say and do plenty of things that others question or that I later regret.
Smugness is tempting; it seems so obvious that the splash Moon once made was just that, an insignificant splash, rather than an Earth-shaking tsunami. And yet, dismissal is bad policy, if only because it destroys the possibility of future interreligious relations. Moon’s apparent lack of success may turn out to be a red herring. Historically, all prophets worth their salt say things that are offensive to a majority of folks in their communities—otherwise they’re not “prophetic.” Jesus is reported to have said that “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.” Perhaps it is also true that no prophet is accepted in his own time.
Rev. Moon, PWPA Founder, Dies at 92
Gordon L. Anderson
September 5, 2012
Remaining True to Our Pledge
Rev. Moon presenting “PWPA and Our Resolution,” Dec. 18, 1983
The Rev. Sun Myung Moon died early Monday morning, September 3, in South Korea. He was 92. We want to thank those scholars who have written to express condolences on his passing, and to issue a statement on behalf of Professors World Peace Academy (PWPA).
Rev. Moon’s numerous international humanitarian and multi-cultural contributions include the founding in Korea in 1973 of the PWPA and in 1983 the founding of PWPA-International. He encouraged and contributed substantially to several major international conferences and publications addressing critical global political, societal, and cultural issues. These included a conference on the coming collapse of the Soviet Union, held in Geneva, Switzerland in 1985, a conference the Future of China held in 1987, a conference on the Future of Liberal Democracies in 1989, and another on the Future of the Family held in 1995.
In December 1983, on short notice after an International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences, Reverend Moon called high ranking scholars from 72 countries to organize PWPA International. Gathered in Seoul, they issued a document titled “Our Resolution and Pledge” in which they proclaimed their resolve to work with the Rev. Moon “towards the establishment of a God?centered world of universal fellowship and harmony in which the terrible wounds of the past arising from differences of history, culture, nationality and race will be bound up and healed.”
Reverend Moon Addresses the Mission of PWPA at the Little Angels School in Seoul, Korea
Following that gathering, Reverend Moon spoke to the new PWPA leadership and others gathered at the Little Angels School, in Seoul, Korea, a school for culture and the arts which he founded, giving them his vision for PWPA. Excerpts that encapsulate this vision follow:
I am pleased to have this opportunity to share with you some of my convictions on the occasion of this International Congress of PWPA. I have long thought that in addition to their scientific achievements, scholars must be pioneers in the realm of conscience, inspiring mankind by their bold and determined actions… I founded the PWPA to be a trailblazing organization at this critical moment in human history, able to mobilize those intellectuals who have devoted their lives to the advancement of human wisdom and enable them to play a leading role in overcoming the dangers of the age and opening new pathways to world peace. The ultimate goal of PWPA is to help create a just and harmonious world order by encouraging scholars to search for new ideas and methods of achieving peace and prosperity. The PWPA should provide scholars and other concerned leaders with the resources they need to solve the fundamental problems facing humanity. I believe that the PWPA should be international, multidisciplinary, future-oriented and action-oriented. No single discipline, no local prescription, can solve the problems facing humanity in this century. Mutual cooperation beyond national and regional boundaries and interdisciplinary study beyond limited specializations are absolutely necessary.
If the world is to overcome its many problems, it needs leaders. I sincerely hope that the members-scholars of the PWPA will participate actively, not passively, in the search for and realization of universal human ideals. The PWPA exists not only for the advancement of the sciences, but also for the practical promotion of the well-being of mankind, thereby differing from most other scholarly institutions. Its members should become social activists, orienting their students in a positive direction, seeking to influence public opinion and playing a leading role in public affairs. I encourage you to grapple, in a non-violent manner, with the most difficult and pressing social and philosophical issues of the age, in order to provide humanity with the leadership it needs to cope with the seemingly insoluble problems it faces…
It is an absolute requirement in this era that education for the coming generation be shaped by the firm moral convictions of their professors, who must communicate a clear sense of values. This must be the basic attitude of educators. From this point of view, the role of a professor is the same as that of a religious leader. We educators must assume the responsibility not only for transmitting facts, but also for sharing with our students the meaning and purpose of human life.
In the nearly 30 years that have passed since Rev. Moon provided this vision to PWPA leaders, the world has changed significantly: the Soviet Union has collapsed. China has become an economic powerhouse. Many of the newly indigenous regimes replacing the former colonial powers in Asia and Africa have not fared well politically and several of the established liberal democracies have been burdened with unsustainable debt and suffer from out-of-control bureaucratic expansion.
Professors from 72 nations sign “Our Resolution and Pledge”
During the same years, PWPA chapters were established in over 100 countries, hundreds of conferences have been held, and countless books and other publications have been prepared and issued under PWPA sponsorship. The International Journal on World Peace has become an established journal in the field of peace studies.
Today Reverend Moon’s vision and hopes need to be applied to contemporary problems more than ever. On his passing, PWPA wishes to reaffirm its commitment to the vision and mission set before it, and express its thanks to its Founder for his generous spiritual and material contributions. It is incumbent upon the PWPA today to vigorously continue its several initial missions for advocating the causes of global and inter-religious tolerance and understanding, eradicating poverty and suffering, and challenging the growing scientific knowledge to better serve the causes of societal progress and peace.
Signed:
Dr. Morton A. Kaplan, Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, University of Chicago
Dr. Neil Albert Salonen, President, University of Bridgeport
Dr. Gordon L. Anderson, President, Paragon House Publishers
Dr. Hugh D. Spurgin, President, Bridgeport International Academy
Larry Orman, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, University of Bridgeport
Frank Grow, President, CEO Focus Chesapeake
Professor Nicholas N. Kittrie, KStJ, The Eleanor Roosevelt Institute for Justice & Peace, Washington D.C.
Highlights in the Life of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Compiled by Cheryl Wetzstein
September 5, 2012
The Washington Times
1920
Jan. 6 — Born as Yong Myung, one of 13 children, to Kyung-yoo Moon and Kyung-gye Kim in Sangsa Ri village in Pyongan province, now part of North Korea. His family had been wealthy, educated farmers, but had fallen on hard times. Japan had annexed the country in 1910, and Moon elders participated in independence efforts.
1930
Joined the Presbyterian Church with his family and became increasingly devout. While mourning the death of two siblings, he perceived that God was “the grieving parent of a lost mankind.”
1935
April 17 — After praying near Mount Myodu, he said Jesus Christ appeared to him on Easter morning and asked him to “take on a special mission on Earth having to do with Heaven’s work.” Overwhelmed, the 15-year-old initially declined, but eventually pledged to do so at the cost of his life. For the next nine years, searched for answers through intense prayer, fasting and Bible studies.
1941
March — Traveled to Tokyo to attend a technical school at Waseda University. Became involved with Korean independence activities, even though this meant arrests and beatings by Japanese police.
1943
Sept. 30 — After graduation, booked passage to Korea on the Konron Maru ferry. However, felt strange leadenness in his feet and a strong premonition not to board the ferry, and went instead on a trip with friends. The Konron Maru was sunk by a U.S. submarine, with more than 500 people aboard.
1944
May 4 —Married Seon-Gil Choi, daughter of a prominent Christian family, in a match arranged with an aunt. Knowing his mission, he asked Miss Choi several times if she could bear a life with a man with a difficult mission, and she insisted she could.
October — Arrested by Japanese police, who demanded he reveal the names of his friends in Japan. When he refused, police officers tortured and beat him, even hanging him from the ceiling “like a slab of meat in a butcher shop.”
1945
Aug. 15 — Japan’s surrender frees Korea, but the country was divided at the 38th parallel, with North Korea led by atheistic communists.
1946
June 5 — Acting on what he called “God’s demand,” left behind his wife and son to “find the people of God who are in the North.”
Aug. 11 — Arrested by North Korean police for spying for South Korea, was held and beaten for months.
Oct. 31 — After a severe beating, tossed out of the prison into the snow and left for dead. Nursed back to health by followers. Resumed preaching in North Korea, but was viewed as a heretic and threat to Christians, who themselves were suffering communist harassment.
1948
February — Arrested on complaints of “disruption of the social order” and sentenced to five years imprisonment.
May 20 — Entered Hungnam Special Labor camp, where teams of men had to fill 700 bags a day with ammonium sulfate or be punished. Food was so scarce prisoners would take rice out of the mouths of dead men.
1950
Oct. 14 — Released from Hungnam as guards fled advancing U.N. troops. Walked more than 100 miles to Pyongyang to find his followers.
Dec. 4 — As Chinese troops advanced to Pyongyang, began journey south with two followers, one of whom had a broken leg and had to be carried or pushed on a bike. Arrived in Busan refugee camp two months later.
1951
September — Built first Unification Church out of stones, wood and discarded U.S. military ration cartons. Began writing “Divine Principle” in this hut.
1952
November — Was reunited with wife, but she did not understand his long absence or his religious mission, and in 1958 she divorced him.
1953
March — Formally changed name from Yong-Myung (“dragon”) to Sun-Myung. Moon means “truth,” Sun means “to reveal itself clearly,” and Myung “combines characters for sun and moon,” he once explained. 1954 May 1 — Founded Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity.
1955
March — After months of denouncing Rev. Moon’s church, Christian-led Ehwa Women’s University fires or expels 19 faculty and students who refuse to leave the church. Other Christian-led universities urged President Syngman Rhee’s administration to disband the church.
July 4 — Arrested and held for avoiding military draft. Found “not guilty” 93 days later. 1960
April 11 — Held marriage blessing ceremony with 17-year-old Hak Ja Han as “True Father” and “True Mother.” Five days later, they blessed three more couples.
1961
May — Gave the marriage blessing to 33 couples. Over the next decades and up to March 2012, the Moons held dozens of mass weddings, many with tens of thousands of couples, and even hundreds of thousands who participated either at the main ceremony or via satellite in ceremonies around the world.
1965
Feb. 12 — Made first visit to United States and created 120 “holy grounds,” as part of first of many world tours.
1971
Dec. 18 — Arrived in United States and established World Mission Headquarters. Through the early 1970s, held many national speaking tours on “Christianity in Crisis” and “Day of Hope.”
1973
Nov. 30 — Placed ads in major newspapers urging Americans to fast, pray and “forgive, love, unite” regarding the Watergate scandal.
1974
Feb. 1 — Met President Richard M. Nixon.
Sept. 18 — Held rally at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan with 25,000 attending. Purchased the Christian Brothers Seminary in Barrytown, N.Y., which became Unification Theological Seminary; in the next two years, purchased New Yorker Hotel; Manhattan Center and Hammerstein Ballroom; Tiffany Building and Columbia Club in New York, and the Belvedere Estate in Tarrytown, N.Y.
1976
June 1 — Held rally in Yankee Stadium in New York
Sept. 18 — Held rally at Washington Monument with 300,000 in attendance.
Dec. 31 — Launched News World newspaper as a conservative voice in New York.
1978
Accused of being an agent of South Korean government in hearings held by Rep. Donald M. Fraser, Minnesota Democrat. Although Mr. Fraser lost his bid for U.S. Senate in September, his commission issued a report recommending full government investigation into the Unification Church.
1980
Was subject of a N.Y. grand jury investigation over tax issues.
Created “Ocean Church,” a ministry to build personal character and revive and strengthen boating and fishing industries. This led to maritime activities in Korea, South America, and U.S. locations such as Gloucester, Mass., Hawaii; Alaska; Norfolk, Va., and, in 2012, Lake Mead in Nevada.
Created CAUSA International, which conducted hundreds of “Victory Over Communism” conferences worldwide until 1991.
Nov. 4 — Predicted on News World’s front page that Ronald Reagan would win election in a “landslide”; Reagan was photographed with the paper at a victory party later that night.
1981
Oct. 15 — Notified while in South Korea that he and a church leader were indicted on 13 counts of tax fraud, including not paying $7,300 taxes on $160,000 of church funds kept in a bank account under his name. Returned to the U.S. on the next flight.
Oct. 22 — At a rally with clergy and members in New York’s Foley Square, said, “I am innocent. I have committed no crime I am here today only because my skin is yellow and my religion is Unification Church.
1982
April 1 — Went to court for tax trial.
May 17 — Launched The Washington Times in Washington, D.C.
May 18 — Found guilty of tax fraud by a jury. On July 16, Judge Gerard Goettel sentenced him to 18 months in prison and a fine of $25,000.
1984
May 14 — Despite outcry from religious groups over the legal implications of the verdict, the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal.
July 20 — Entered federal prison in Danbury, Conn., with Takeru Kamiyama, who was also convicted. Became famous as a model prisoner, good Ping-Pong player and praying nightly in the prison chapel from 3 to 5 a.m.
1985
Received honorary doctorate from Shaw University, which his wife accepted for him.
Aug. 20 — Freed from Danbury prison; attended a welcome-home banquet in Washington, D.C., with 1,700 clergy including the Rev. Joseph Lowery and the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
1990
April 10-11 — Spoke in Moscow at World Media Conference, and met with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.
1991
Nov. 30 — Dec. 1 — Traveled to North Korea and met with President Kim Il-Sung. 2000 Inaugurated the Ambassadors for Peace program. Gave marriage blessing to Roman Catholic Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo and Maria Sung. The Catholic prelate was later excommunicated and started an advocacy group to promote marriage for Catholic priests and nuns.
2002
April 27 — Held Blessing ceremony for 144,000 clergy couples in Washington, D.C.
May 20 — Addressed 20th anniversary gala of The Washington Times.
June 12 — Hosted inauguration ceremony for the Sun Moon Peace Cup in Korea, with soccer star Pele.
Dec. 15 — Began the process of bequeathing his physical belongings to Unification Church members.
2003
Feb. 5 — Held dedication ceremony for Cheongshim Hospital at Chung Pyung in Korea. Also holds a ceremony to renew vows with Mrs. Moon.
May 12 — Held the first Middle East Peace Initiative, in which clergy of different faiths visit Rome and the Holy Land to discuss peace.
2004
March 23 — Held Crown of Peace ceremony at Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.
2005
July 13 — Held rally for unity of North and South Korea with 6,000 Koreans.
September — Embarked on a four-month, 100-country speaking tour. A ban on his travel into several European countries is finally lifted, and he visits them as part of this tour.
Sept. 12 — Founded the Universal Peace Federation and spoke on “God’s Ideal Family, The Model for World Peace.”
2006
March-April — Attended nine rallies in Korea for the restoration of the homeland.
Aug. 31 — Began a 40-day world speaking tour with members of his family.
2008
April 18 — Appointed youngest son, Hyung Jin, as international president of the Unification Church.
June 19 — Survived a helicopter crash in Korea; he and 15 others, including his wife, grandchildren and others, all escaped with minor injuries before it ignited into flames.
July 29 — Appointed daughter In Jin as head of Unification Church in North America.
2009
March 9 — Published his autobiography in Korea and held yearlong celebration of 50th wedding anniversary with Mrs. Moon.
2011
April-June — Held speaking tour in Asia, Europe and Africa. Unveiled personally designed “Won Mo” boat in Las Vegas.
2012
Sept. 2 — Died of complications of pneumonia at the church complex at Chung Pyung, South Korea.
Sources: Today’s World magazine; “Sun Myung Moon, The Early Years: 1920-53,” by Michael Breen; “As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen,” the autobiography of Rev. Moon; “Messiah: My Testimony to Rev. Sun Myung Moon,” Volumes I and II, by Bo Hi Pak; HSA-UWC.
Rev. Moon Remembered For His Love of Kodiak
Jay Barrett/KMXT
September 5, 2012
In this July 19, 2012, AP file photo, the Rev. Sun Myoung Moon speaks at the 2012 Peace Cup in Suwon, South Korea. AP photo
The founder and leader of the Unification Church died Monday in South Korea at the age of 92. The Reverend Sun Myung Moon died at a hospital the church owns near his home in Gapyeong. He was hospitalized with pneumonia last month, and his condition grew worse late last week and he slipped into a coma.
About 100 people in Kodiak attend the Unification Church, and the Reverend Moon had a home here, which he would visit often. Charter captain Chris Fiala said Moon loved to fish and said he felt Kodiak was a special place.
Pastor Jai Nan Fiala says the church will be open to the public on Sunday for those who would like to come and pay their respects.
-- (Moon 1 17 sec “But he also thought it was providentially … he felt about Kodiak.”)
Moon would come to Kodiak a couple times a year to sportsfish – chinook in June and coho later in the summer. Fiala, who is a charter captain, spent a lot of time fishing with him and believes Moon’s work is not yet done:
-- (Moon 2 26 sec “I know him very well; I spent a lot … joyful time and hopeful time.”)
Even though he was recognizable worldwide and led a church and church businesses worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Fiala said Moon felt at home in Kodiak:
-- (Moon 3 32 sec “He used to walk down the streets … here, he was very comfortable.”)
Jai Nan Fiala is the pastor of the Unification Church in Kodiak. She and her husband were matched by Reverend Moon in the 1980s, and have raised their children in Kodiak. She said Moon’s mission has always had a consistent message:
-- (Moon 4 28 sec “His teaching was never-changing … he felt he was on God’s side.”)
She says even with Moon’s passing, she, and others in the church, will still live by his words of wisdom:
-- (Moon 5 11 sec “He never wanted us to be sad or … and do our best.”)
The Unification Church owns the International Seafoods plant in Kodiak, and operates a number of fishing boats. It is also the dominant supplier of fresh seafood to a majority of sushi restaurants in America.
Church Readies For Thousands of Mourners for Moon
AP
September 5, 2012
Workers prepare for a funeral for Rev. Sun Myung Moon at the Cheong Shim Peace World Center in Gapyeong, South Korea. Wednesday, Sept 5, 2012. Moon, the self-proclaimed messiah who founded the church, died Monday at a church-owned hospital near his home in Gapyeong County, northeast of Seoul, church officials said. He was 92. Photo: Hye Soo Nah / AP
GAPYEONG, South Korea (AP) — Unification Church officials say they are expecting tens of thousands of mourners for the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon at their sprawling campus northeast of Seoul.
The church will officially welcome mourners Thursday for the self-proclaimed messiah at a massive sports and cultural center in Gapyeong County.
Workers Wednesday were busy building a huge stage and installing red carpets and hundreds of flowers.
Workers place flowers on a wall bearing the Unification church's logo inside the Cheongshim Peace World Center during preparations for a funeral for Rev. Sun Myung Moon in Gapyeong, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012. Moon, the self-proclaimed messiah who founded the church, died Monday at a church-owned hospital near his home in Gapyeong County, northeast of Seoul, church officials said. He was 92. Photo: Hye Soo Nah / AP
Moon died Monday at age 92. His funeral is Sept. 15.
North Korean state media said Wednesday that leader Kim Jong Un has offered condolences to the Unification Church founder's family.
Moon met with Kim Jong Un's grandfather, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, during a 1991 visit to the North.
North Korea made no mention of whether it will send mourners to Moon's funeral.
N. Korean Leader Sends Condolences Over Moon
AFP
September 5, 2012
Unification Church members at a memorial service mourning the death of leader Sun Myung Moon in the church's Seoul headquarters on September 4. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has sent condolences Wednesday over Moon's death.
SEOUL (AFP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un sent condolences Wednesday over the death of Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, fuelling speculation he might send a rare delegation to South Korea for the funeral.
Moon, a self-styled messiah who gathered a global following behind his church and spawned a multibillion business empire, died on Monday at the age of 92.
His funeral will be held September 15 at the church's headquarters in Gapyeong, east of Seoul.
Although a staunch anti-communist, Moon began building a relationship with North Korea in the 1990s. In 1991 he visited Pyongyang and met with then leader Kim Il-Sung for talks that touched on reunification of the divided peninsula.
A church-affiliated firm, Pyeonghwa (Peace) Motors, established a joint carmaking business in North Korea in 1999.
Kim Jong-Un's message was carried in a short report on the communist state's official Korean Central News Agency.
"I express my deep condolences to widow Han Hak Ja and the bereaved family upon receiving the sad news that Moon Sun Myung... died of illness," the message read.
"Though he passed away, his efforts and feats made for the reconciliation and unity of the nation, the reunification of the country and the world peace will last forever."
Since Moon's death, there has been increasing speculation that North Korea would seek to send an official delegation to pay its respects at his funeral.
Moon had sent Unification Church delegations -- including some of his family members -- to the funerals of both Kim Il-Sung in 1994 and Kim Jong-Un's father Kim Jong-Il last year.
Official delegations from the two Koreas, who technically remain in a state of war, rarely cross the heavily militarised border.
When Kim Jong-Il died, a private group of prominent South Korean citizens, including a former first lady and a leading businesswoman, visited Pyongyang to express their condolences.
North Korea sent an official delegation to the funeral in South Korea in 2001 of Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-Yung, who had championed closer ties with Pyongyang.
Another delegation attended the funeral in 2009 of former South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung, who instigated the "Sunshine Policy" with North Korea that led to his historic summit with Kim Jong-Il in 2000.
The summit presaged a flurry of North-South exchanges, but these virtually dried up with the election in 2008 of South Korea's current president, Lee Myung-Bak, who took a more hardline approach towards Pyongyang.
South Korea's Unification Ministry said Wednesday it had received no formal request from Pyongyang to attend Moon's funeral.
Mother Invites Everyone to the Cheon Jeong Gung
Tim Elder
September 5, 2012
I am writing from a conference room in the Cheon Jeong Gung Peace Palace, where staff are in full emergency mode.
The original plan drafted by staff was to have most guests pay their respects at an altar to be set up in the Cheongshim World Peace Center. Only VIPs would come up the hill to the Palace to view Father directly.
True Mother, though, vetoed that. She is allowing EVERYONE to come up the hill to the Cheon Jeong Gung, starting tomorrow. Can you imagine the logistical headaches involved in getting tens of thousands of people up and down this hill?
To help deal with the logistics, some days will be reserved for VIPs, others for general members and public. Journalists will be given full access to some events. With others, Peace TV will provide pool footage.
Some people are expressing concerning there may not be enough time before the 15th to accommodate everyone. If you're coming, don't wait until the last moment!
Members of the True Family are scheduled to take turns greeting guests.