Sun Myung Moon
November 10, 1981
Sejong Cultural Center, Seoul, Korea
Tenth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences
Photo date and location unknown
Honorable chairman, committee chairs, distinguished professors, ladies and gentlemen:
I am deeply grateful that you have come to Korea to attend the tenth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences.
Korea is my native country. Here in Korea you may find reminders of the sacrifices made by the sixteen nations that participated in the Korean War. As Korea is divided into North and South, it is a sorrowful country, but one of great significance. I sincerely hope that you will take a deep look at Korea and Asia and come to understand them well. I also hope that the contents of the speech I am about to present will be understood in a profound religious context and not in a political context.
Unity between all classes of society
There are many confrontations and struggles in the world today. While confrontations exist between what people cast as "higher" and "lower" races, nations and cultures, the most serious problem of all is the confrontation between the upper and lower social classes formed by differences in terms of wealth and poverty.
About eight hundred million people living mainly in the Northern Hemisphere may be considered the upper class of the world. On the other hand, in China, India and other Asian nations, there are three billion people who form a middle class. Finally, there are some five hundred million people residing in Africa, Latin America and Oceania who comprise an economically poor, or lower class. This difference in wealth presents a most serious problem in today's world, and it is dealt with repeatedly under the rubric of the North-South problem by various international organizations, including the United Nations.
I believe that the best way to solve the North-South problem is to unite the upper and lower classes through the Asians, who can mediate between the Euro-American societies and the Latino, African and Polynesian societies. All the important issues of the twentieth century must be solved globally. To do this, however, the greatest challenge is how to motivate the people of the upper class to humble themselves of their own free will.
Throughout much of history, various efforts have been made to diminish this gap between the upper and lower classes. Communism is the most prominent example of this trend. The ideal of communism is to eliminate exploitation by the upper class and to construct a classless society. However, the biggest problem with communism is its atheism, in other words, that it seeks to create an ideal world upon a foundation that denies God. A further problem with communism is that in practice all things take place according to the private will of a few dictators.
To overcome these problems and find a new solution, we must go beyond the humanism to which we have been clinging tightly. The unity we seek requires a new God-centered philosophy and a new central point. The only medium that can enable the upper and lower classes to unite is religion. Religion's original purpose was the salvation of the world, not just the salvation of individuals or families. To accomplish the task of uniting the upper, middle and lower classes requires a new religion, one that can serve as a nucleus for global unity.
Then what is the Unification Church? It is nothing less than the new religion destined to carry out this historic mission. I have been pioneering the path toward that goal, and it is inevitable that people of all races will want to meet me on that path.
The Korean Peninsula from the standpoint of civilization
The globe on which we live is divided into land and ocean. If we look geographically, we can see that peninsulas connect continent and ocean. Accordingly, since ancient times peninsulas always have been significant sites for the formation of civilizations. The ancient civilizations of both Greece and Rome, as well as those of Spain and Portugal, began and flourished on peninsulas. Today a new worldwide civilization combining the civilizations of the East and the West needs to emerge. This is happening now in Asia, on the Korean Peninsula.
World civilization has developed as it has spread around the globe. The continental Egyptian civilization was succeeded by the Greek and Roman peninsular civilizations, which gave way to the island civilization of England, and eventually to the continental American civilization. From there, civilization blossomed across the Pacific, with the island civilization of Japan, from which it has extended to East Asia, concentrating on an emerging Korean Peninsula civilization. The civilization focused here in Korea is one of a high dimension, and it will play a central role in creating a new world.
Japan, an island country, was the first to allow Western civilization to establish itself in Asia. The next age will be that of a peninsular civilization, focused on the Korean Peninsula, where the Eastern and Western civilizations are merging. The historian Oswald Spengler pointed out that civilizations, like the four seasons of a year, go through cycles of rising and falling. Today the age of the Atlantic civilization is passing and the age of the Pacific civilization is emerging.
If we look at Korea's geopolitical situation, we see that this small country is located between the four great powers of the United States, Japan, China and the Soviet Union. The United States is currently expending great effort to counter the expansionist Soviet Union. In Europe, the Soviet Union occupies half of a divided Germany, and in Asia, it has split Korea into North and South, keeping the North within its sphere of influence.
It is primarily in Asia, especially in Korea, and not in Europe, that these four great powers are confronting one another. Because of this, America is obliged to pay attention to Asia, a continent far larger than Europe. Considering this situation, Korea will play a basic role in determining the outcome of the confrontations between East and West and between North and South.
At this point, let us take a look at the practical possibility of this occurring. Koreans have a strong sense of justice and are quite religious by nature. They display their capabilities in many different fields. If they reach a deadlock in any situation, they cope with it and if necessary change direction boldly, courageously and adaptively. These are some of the traits Koreans use to achieve their objectives.
I was born among these Koreans. The Unification Church has developed from such a background. We of the Unification Church believe that, as the fruit of such a history, we are to accomplish the worldwide mission of bringing the world's upper and lower classes closer together, with Asians as intermediaries. The Unification Church has sufficient spiritual attributes to fully accomplish this purpose. To this end, I am determined to do my best in all fields of endeavor and in all regions of the world.
God's love is the absolute value
To bring unity between the people of the upper and lower classes, we must encourage those of the upper class to embrace those of the lower class and then to be elevated together. In order to accomplish that, a central point of absolute value is needed. That central point is God's love.
What, then, is the nature of God's love? It can dwell with members of both the upper class and the lower class. It is never one-directional. It is a force that moves in a spherical manner, capable of revolving freely from the highest point to the lowest. Wherever God's love appears, it is welcomed by all people everywhere and it creates harmony in all places at all times.
God's love always possesses absolute value, whenever and wherever it appears. If we have God's love, we are happy; we feel secure and fulfilled. With such love, though one may be in a low position, he or she still can love those in the upper class, and those who are affluent can love those in the lowest positions. In this way God's love is infinitely free.
The people who have His love receive a great welcome wherever they go. This is the reason people willingly and wholeheartedly follow Unification Church members wherever they are.
The Unification Church is proclaiming salvation through God's love. As soon as people come to realize that the new thought the Unification movement is introducing is far more compelling than that of either communism or capitalism, and that the kingdom of heaven on earth will be made a reality by the love of God, all people will be only too happy to accept it.
In order to comprehend truly the situation of the world today, we need to understand the situation of Korea, where God has a special Will, and we need to recognize that within Korea everything exists in a condensed form. For example, the two main trends of contemporary thought, democracy and communism, exist in Korea, and the four major religions, Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism and Islam, all have firmly established themselves.
As I said earlier, the four greatest nations of the world are confronting each other here in Korea. Thus, everything exists, or at least is represented, within Korea. In God's dispensation, Korea is responsible to harmonize and unite all these aspects.
In conclusion, Korea is called to accomplish four great tasks, centering on the Unification movement. They are:
1. Uniting religions through an ecumenical movement
2. Uniting thought by overcoming materialistic communism through a "victory over communism" movement
3. Uniting cultures by establishing a new lifestyle combining the cultures of the East and the West
4. Uniting economy through a new teaching
With God's love as the absolute value, we of the Unification movement will love all the people of the world even more than our own parents, brothers and sisters, thereby establishing a united world and realizing the kingdom of heaven on earth. With this, the creation of the new world that God and humankind have been longing for will be perfected. Only with God's love can we achieve true and lasting peace and happiness.
The future of Asia centering on Korea
Through the Unification movement, Korea is capable of bringing about unity in the four areas just mentioned. Of them, the first three are well under way, and we now are focusing on the fourth area, the economic problem. Korea is developing economically at a rapid pace. Nevertheless, Korea still is striving to realize an advanced international level in regard to its economic relationships.
How can this be achieved? To see Korea accomplish this goal is also the mission of the Unification movement. For this purpose, I intend to initiate cooperation between Germany's high standard of mechanical technology and the industries of Korea. Spiritually, Korea and the Unification movement already have linked Japan and the United States successfully. The United States and Europe already are linked culturally.
God especially blessed and helped Germany and Japan to recover economically after World War II in order to accomplish His dispensation. In particular, Japan has become a gigantic economic power. Even Germany has come to feel threatened by the economic success of Japan. The only way for Germany to protect itself is to join with Korea, produce superior goods at reduced cost and market them in Japan and other places. Likewise, Germany needs to allow the Third World to participate in equal profit sharing. Then if Japan is included in the partnership, the road to global economic unity will be opened.
Realistically, as long as the hegemonic policies of communist forces continue to exist in the world, there can be no such thing as the advent of world peace, and economic unity is also impossible. If Korea, the United States, Germany, Japan and China could unite as one, they could stand against possible invasion by the Soviet Union on a global level. Though it is a communist nation, at present China wishes to maintain friendly relations with Japan, the United States and Germany in the hope of modernizing itself as quickly as possible. Furthermore, viewed historically, China never would choose to get close to the Soviet Union.
The United States is strengthening its military preparations quickly to fight against the Soviet Union. It also is trying to join forces with Japan, Germany and China. However, Japan does not show any desire to build up its military capabilities, due to its past circumstances and internal situation.
On the other hand, from a national perspective Korea is currently very enthusiastic about building up its military forces. The United States is considering whether Korea could function as the axis. Because Korea is too small by itself, America would consider creating an alliance between Korea and China so that together these countries could serve as the axis in the defense against the Soviet Union. However, China desires the development of its heavy industries. Because its foundation is rather weak, such development will require a long period and will not happen until some time in the fixture.
Even if China tried to adopt the advanced industrial technology of a country like Germany, this feat would be beyond its capacity because it is geographically too far away and the differences between the two cultures are just too great. However, there is a better way that China could choose at this point, which would be to employ the service of the three million Koreans living in the northeastern parts of China.
In this way, China could make extensive use of the technologies of Korea and Germany, and this is why the Unification Church is trying to connect it to Korea and Germany. Korean residents living abroad link China, Japan and the United States. Based on Korea's historical record, showing that it never once has invaded another nation, China would accept without difficulty Korea's proposal to act in concert with it. So even if Japan does not desire to strengthen its own military preparations, these weapons could be produced by China, because it possesses the technology and skills to make weapons.
We can now arrive at a definite conclusion. If Korea could fulfill this role together with the Unification Church, it could strengthen our defense against the Soviet Union by transferring the technology of Japan, Germany and the United States to China. Further, it could link the highest technologies to the Third World, helping to pave the road to world peace.
All these countries will realize that it is mutually profitable for them to join with Korea as a mediator. The three East Asian countries could form an economic alliance, with the United States and Germany connected to them. In this way, I believe we can prevent the threat of Soviet communism and also pave the way to victory. In this sense, Korea is becoming a new base for an East-West civilization, and it is emerging as the center of the Pacific civilization.
My proposal
In conclusion, I would like to make a proposal. It is to construct a Great Asian Highway zone that would run through China, Korea and Japan and eventually link the world by constructing a Great Free World Highway zone to connect the whole world. This would be a great international highway, around which freedom would be guaranteed. The highway would go through Mainland China, down the Korean Peninsula from north to south, through a tunnel or over a bridge to Japan, and north through the four main Japanese islands.
If this highway were constructed, the three Asian countries would be linked through the highway and become one. The economic and cultural exchange between them would be so robust that it would enable them to form an Asian Common Community. China also would agree to this, as would Korea and Japan, without a second thought. Then the United States and Germany would come to take part in it automatically.
If this plan were carried out according to the framework suggested here, free exchanges would become the norm among all the people of the East
Asian countries and, as a result, North Korea would give up any thought of unifying the peninsula militarily. It would come to embrace peaceful ways of unification. Thus, by uniting the Asians in this way, eventually it would become possible to connect the upper and lower classes of the world, with Asians serving as mediators.
In order to realize such an ideal concretely, the Korean diaspora in Japan, the United States and China could be connected to form a technological development group. This automatically would align the policy direction of Japan and the United States. Based on this new economic partnership, a highway that guarantees freedom could be extended worldwide. Through completing the unrestricted Asian highway and realizing the long-cherished ideal of uniting the upper and lower classes, people could migrate freely.
With Asia as its starting point, a realistic, united economic sphere could be established, connecting the East and West, North and South, in a new civilization. This would result in peace and a new world centering on God's love, which is the absolute value. In this transitional age, when Western civilization joins that of the East, meeting in a new Pacific civilization, I sincerely hope that all of you distinguished participants, coming from more than one hundred countries to this memorable International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences in Korea, will gain deep insight into these matters and offer your concrete cooperation.
Thank you very much.