Sun Myung Moon
November 30 and December 6, 1991
True Parents' official visit to North Korea
Address at the Welcoming Banquet
Moran-gwan Guest House and Seojaegol Guest House in Pyongyang
Photo date and location unknown
It has been forty years since I was last in Pyongyang. I was very surprised to see that Pyongyang has developed into such a beautiful international city. When I arrived, it seemed as if the beautiful blue waters of the Daedong River greeted me with a smile, asking me where I had been for so long. In my heart I deeply and truly love my twenty million countrymen living here in the North. Blood is thicker than water, and we are brothers and sisters bound together by a common history and a common ancestry.
My precious brothers and sisters of the North! At the moment I was reunited with members of my family, I felt profound joy. At the same time I also felt a deep and pervasive sense of sorrow, as if my heart were being torn to shreds. Loved ones are divided between the North and the South, and even today there are still one million of our compatriots who have not been able to share in the joy of reunion. Many have lost forever the opportunity to be reunited because they died without meeting again those whom they loved. As I reflected on these things, I never felt more deeply than I do today that the tragedy of our national division must be brought to an end as soon as possible.
As a people with one homogeneous background, we share an ancient history and are proud of our common, vibrant culture. Nonetheless, we have been forced to live with a 46-year division that was imposed upon us by outside forces. Today we need to make certain that the influence of foreign powers is never in a position to determine the future path of our people. The time is approaching when, with God's assistance, we will achieve unification. Unification is our destiny, and reunification is the great task of our generation. If we are unable to achieve the reunification of our homeland during our lifetime, how will we be able to hold our heads high before our ancestors or our descendants?
Discussing the reunification of Korea
Seventy million Korean compatriots must come together now for dialogue and reconciliation. We need to use the experience of our reunion here as an opportunity to overcome all obstacles and make a leap toward the day of reunification. For such a leap to take place, we have to cooperate with each other. Also, we have to work together to accomplish economic revitalization throughout our entire homeland. Personally speaking, I am willing to lay down my life for the goal of reunification. I expect that after consulting with Chairman Kim Il Sung and Secretary Kim Jong Il and hearing their ideas on the matter, I will be able to make a decision regarding what I personally can do for the sake of my brethren here in the North.
My visit here has a deep personal meaning for me, in the sense that I am returning to my hometown and the land of my birth. I also carry a sincere hope that this historic occasion will lead to an opportunity to meet with Chairman Kim. I hope to convey to him my personal thanks and also to consult with him in detail regarding the most sacred task of national reunification and the consolidation of our common ethnic solidarity.
Finally, let us all raise our glasses in a pledge to become leaders in the march toward the reunification of our homeland of Korea. Thank you.
Address at the Farewell Banquet
Committee Chairman Yoon Ki Bok, Deputy Prime Minister Kim Dal Hyun, and all my northern compatriots gathered here this evening:
On November 30, I arrived here in the North, the land of my birth, a place I longed to visit for many, many years. This visit was made possible only by the warmhearted kindness extended to me by Chairman Kim Il Sung. During my stay here, I have been able to visit Pyongyang, this historical and now beautifully developed city. For the first time in my life I have been able to visit the beautiful Mount Geumgang, which we Koreans know to be the most beautiful mountain in the world. I also visited my hometown of Jeongju for the first time in forty-eight years.
When I arrived in Jeongju, I found that the house where I was born and lived as a child has been kept the way it used to be for these past seventy-two years. Some forty-two relatives and members of my family came together to welcome us. Truly, the older you get and the farther away you are, the one place you long for more than anything is your hometown, and here I was, visiting the home of my birth. However, at that moment, when I felt joy at being reunited with my family, I also felt such deep pain that I thought my heart would break in two, because I could not help thinking about the one million divided families, who even today are unable to experience the happiness I felt in reuniting with mine.
I myself am more than seventy years old. People of advanced age like me soon have no choice but to depart this world without ever being reunited with their loved ones. What could be more tragic than this?
Nevertheless, we now have some hope that tragically divided families will be reunited, thanks to the warm humanitarian actions being taken by Chairman Kim Il Sung. The Chairman has promised that, beginning next year, he will establish a system with the requisite mechanisms to allow divided families to be reunited.
My friends, there is no greater gift that I could carry with me to the South than this. The news of the impending reunion of our divided families will truly stir the hearts of our forty million compatriots in South Korea. In an exclamation of surprise, the South will shout out with gratitude in recognition of the actions of Chairman Kim Il Sung.
True love is the driving force for reunification
Today I had the opportunity to meet with Chairman Kim Il Sung for an extended period of time. Of course, it is only natural that different individuals have different views and different opinions on how to approach matters. Regardless, personally speaking, I was deeply moved by the Chairman's magnanimity, warm and passionate patriotism, and his undying love for our people. Nothing could bring me greater joy than the opportunity I had to meet directly with him and convey my personal thanks.
My dear compatriots, during the eight-day visit to my hometown, I have been warmly received and treated like a guest of state. I would like to convey my warm thanks to Committee Chairman Yoon Ki Bok, Deputy Prime Minister Kim Dal Hyun, and all of you who worked hard to make my visit a success. You truly have treated me with hospitality and sincerity. For my part, I sincerely love all my compatriots in the North.
For a long time now I have been emphasizing true love as the force that can drive reunification. This visit has allowed me to experience directly the formation of a bond of true love between the North and the South.
When I first arrived here, I emphasized that blood is thicker than water. Now, as I leave you, it is my sincere hope that the love binding all our people will continue on for eternity. Moreover, as I leave here, I would like to emphasize something else: "Love is thicker than blood."
A twenty-first century economic miracle and the reunification of the Korean homeland
My friends, Committee Chairman Yoon Ki Bok and I have just announced a joint statement. In this statement we have expressed our agreement that the reunification of our homeland of Korea needs to be driven by Koreans, without the interference or intervention of foreign powers. It must be accomplished by peaceful means, through dialogue and cooperation.
Moreover, we have asserted that in order for the Korean people to avoid being subjected to the ravages of war ever again, both North and South need to agree to never invade each other, that nuclear energy must be used only for peaceful purposes, and that nuclear weapons must never be developed or deployed on the Korean Peninsula. In light of such an agreement, who could misconstrue the North's peaceful intentions?
Furthermore, we have extended a welcome to Koreans living overseas to invest financially in the North. I myself have expressed my readiness to invest directly in the North's economic development in a number of ways. I am sure that if we add global technology and international capital to the abundant resources, trained manpower and intelligent perspicacity here in the North, we will witness a twenty-first-century economic miracle emerging right here in North Korea. Of this I have no doubt whatsoever. These projects also will further the cause of national reunification.
My dear friends, allow me to conclude my speech by saying that I will leave this place having been deeply moved by my visit to the North. My passion for reunification has been further enhanced, and I can see the possibilities for reunification before my very eyes. Let us reconcile with each other, understand each other, come together in love for each other and hasten as much as possible the day of national reunification, for such reunification is our natural destiny..
Finally, let us raise our glasses in a toast to the health and longevity of Chairman Kim Il Sung and Secretary Kim Jong Il.
Thank you.