Tokyo, Japan
r. President, distinguished former heads of state and government,
honorable guests, ladies and gentlemen:
June 17, 1996
Tokyo, Japan
r. President, distinguished former heads of state and government,
honorable guests, ladies and gentlemen:
It is my distinct honor and privilege to speak to you tonight, and I would like to share with you this evening my perspective and appreciation of the founders of the Federation of Island Nations for World Peace, the Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon, and why they organized this world conference.
Before I go into the heart of my message, may I first of all thank you for viewing this documentary film, "Truth is My Sword." It is indeed my great honor. It is based on testimony I gave in 1978 before the House Subcommittee on International Organizations of the United States Congress. Although the film is eighteen years old, it goes to the heart of my life and my commitment to Reverend Moon and to God.
No doubt I have viewed this film innumerable times, but each time I do it moves me a great deal, and tonight is no exception. I was in tears, not because I took pity on myself, or was saddened to recollect the misery I felt at that time.
I shed tears because I am grateful to God who gave me courage and used me as His instrument to speak His truth. The testimony I was speaking is as relevant today as it was then. I must honestly confess I do not know whether or not I could do the same if a similar situation were presented today. It was not me doing it. It was the spirit of God that moved me to do it. And so I am inspired and moved every time I see this film.
For this same reason, this film has been translated into several languages. It may probably be one of the most often viewed documentaries in many, many countries, including here in Japan. Tens of thousands of people have viewed this film in tears together. In some countries, it was even televised nationwide.
As you can see, the film we just saw is not really about Bo Hi Pak; it is in fact about the inspiration and work of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. It is an excellent introduction for the man I want to speak about tonight. Now I would like to talk to you candidly about this man of God I have known for forty years, who indeed I call a peacemaker and unifier.
ev. Moon would like to see real peace achieved in our world by
promoting dialogue, understanding and cooperation between all
nations and peoples of the world. This is because he has been
working toward real peace all his life. He comes from a small
country, Korea, that was literally torn apart by war and remains
divided today. He experienced firsthand the torment of communism,
the human disaster of war, and became one of millions of homeless
refugees.
Therefore, Rev. Moon knows that peace is not merely the absence of war, but has a more profound meaning. He once told a Russian newspaper, "If we have not achieved peace, it is because people forget its most fundamental aspect. Before we talk about peace among nations, we must settle our peace with God." Rev. Moon is determined to make God a living reality in all aspects of human life. Whether in business, education, communication or humanitarian efforts, his emphasis has always been the search for those eternal and absolute values that alone can bring true peace to a suffering humankind.
He was a man called by God to do His divine mission. In 1936, on Easter Sunday, he was in deep prayer on a mountain in what is now North Korea. Jesus appeared to him in a clear vision and anointed him with his divine mission, which Jesus left unfulfilled here on earth 2,000 years ago, namely building of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
Exactly 60 years later from that experience, Rev. Moon shared some of that content of his revelation in his Founder's Address before the Federation for World Peace last year. I quote from that address:
"As a youth, I was called upon by God to investigate the great principles of the universe. As I searched, through prayer and study, I came to discover the great truth that mankind has been seeking throughout history, and the great [Unification] Principle through which all humanity can return to true love and consummate true world peace."A physician needs to diagnose the precise cause of an illness in order to cure the patient. Likewise, the [Unification] Principle clearly points to the reason human society fell into misery. It reveals the course of the human fall, which led to the unprincipled world with which we struggle every day.
"Once the cause is diagnosed, the life-saving prescription can be applied. For the last forty years, I have anxiously traveled the globe with this prescription and devoted myself to sharing it with the world."
What is, then, this life-saving prescription that he is speaking about? Rev. Moon went on to emphasize three key points revealed to him:
First, God is a living God, the Parent of humankind; He is our Father and we are His children.Second, God's original personality is true love, and He created humankind and all things to fulfill His true love.
Finally, God, as the invisible Parent, intends to establish physical True Parents on earth to save the world. All people can be eternally restored by regaining true love, true life and true lineage when they achieve unity with the ideals of the True Parents. Rev. Moon proclaims that we indeed are living in the longed-for era of True Parents and thus we are the generation born with the greatest fortune.
Out of this revelation from God, a new movement was born and spread like wildfire all over the world. Today, it is known as the Unification Movement, and it is based on the understanding that Rev. and Mrs. Moon are the idealization of the True Parents.
What I have just shared I realize is a powerful pronouncement. What is at the core of Rev. Moon is intrinsically deeply spiritual and internal. While he is very much involved in all fields of human endeavor, none is more important or crucial than that of the inner human spirit, which he seeks to re-unite with God.
ith this as background, you may know that Reverend Moon all his
life was an ardent opponent of communism; in particular he had
been concerned about the danger to the free world of Soviet expansionism.
Reverend Moon is not opposed to communism because of its socialist
system, but because of its fundamental atheistic view of life.
It is a power against God and denies the very existence of God.
Until its demise, therefore, Rev. Moon looked at communism as the single worst problem which humanity faced. He often compared Christianity and communism. Christ came 2,000 years ago and gave the world a powerful message about truth and love. Christianity has become the world's largest religion, accepted by one-quarter of the world's population. But it took 2,000 years!
Communism, on the other hand, was only born in the last century and yet it came to enslave more people than are now Christian. In the short span of little more that half a century, Marxism-Leninism spread like a forest fire in that time, engulfing more than 1.5 billion people, taking one nation after another, and spreading over the entire globe.
He asked, "What is communism and where does its power come from?" Communism is more than a political system, more than a social system, more than an economic system. Communism is an ideology, a system of thought or godless religion.
David Satter, a former Moscow correspondent for The Financial Times, wrote in The Wall Street Journal on May 23, 1983 a commentary entitled, "Soviet Threat is One of Ideas More than Arms." I would like to quote from that article: "Communism cannot be defeated militarily and its adherents cannot be bribed into giving it up. It can be defeated in only one way: by being confronted with an idea that is better."
No one knows the true nature of communism better than Rev. Moon. He gave birth to a better idea, called Godism or a God-centered worldview. By 1960, Rev. Moon had developed a powerful international Victory-Over-Communism movement based on this God-centered worldview which does two essential things: (1) it totally exposes the lies and deceptions of communism, and (2) it presents a clear counterproposal to the communist views. In other words, the Godism worldview offers a complete solution to communism. History will record Rev. Moon as the only one who proclaimed Victory-Over-Communism, instead of merely anti-communism.
n 1985, in Geneva at an international scholarly conference, Rev.
Moon proclaimed the end of the Soviet Union within five years!
No one believed what he was saying. The Soviet Union, at that
time, seemed to be at the height of its power. As you know, however,
the collapse of the Berlin Wall came November 9, 1989, which was
the prelude to the downfall of the communist empire. And the Soviet
empire itself came to an end on Christmas Day 1991.
We are all fortunate to now live in the post-Cold War era, but let me elaborate further about the decisive contributions Rev. Moon made to help bring about the demise of the communist empire.
Rev. Moon, whose worldwide movement is headquartered in New York, has always believed that a strong America is the key to defeat communism, in particular, strong presidential leadership.
n 1980, Reverend Moon stood up and supported the election of Ronald
Reagan as 40th President of the United States. He saw it as the
will of God. At that time I was president of the newspaper he
founded in New York, The News World. Rev. Moon asked me
to go to see candidate Ronald Reagan in Ohio and give him his
blessing and prediction that his victory would be the will of
God. It was a moving experience between the two of us in Ohio
where I conveyed Rev. Moon's message to the future President.
I recalled candidate Reagan humbly saying at that time, "I
wish I could have as much confidence in Ronald Reagan as Rev.
Moon does."
When election day came, Nov. 4, 1980, Rev. Moon asked me to print his prediction in The News World newspaper. He said, "Print, 'Reagan Landslide' in huge banner headlines!"
At that time, everyone thought it was a little crazy. No one dared to say such a thing. Everybody thought the race was too close to call. But I took it as my faith. This is the newspaper we printed: "Reagan Landslide!" We delivered this newspaper to Ronald Reagan on election day morning. He was overjoyed. He took the newspaper with him to a press conference which was televised all over the country.
On election day, the American people were befuddled. They saw the headline "Reagan Landslide" prominently on TV. "Did he win already?" they wondered. "No, I have not even voted yet. Did I sleep too long? What's happening here?" They interpreted "Reagan Landslide" as fact only because the print identifying it as The News World's prediction was too small to be visible on the TV screen. I tell you this was a magnificent strategy. Everybody likes the winner. They would like to join a winner. The American people were psychologically prepared for a "Reagan Landslide" even before they went to the polls.
That evening by 11 pm, the "Reagan Landslide" had become a reality. I held a press conference in New York. The press corps was almost crazy. People were shouting at me all over the place, "How did you know it would be a Reagan landslide? How many people did you call to make this prediction? 1,000? 5,000? 10,000?"
I said, "No, I called only one person." "What? One person? Who did you call?" the press asked. "I called Rev. Moon." "Rev. Moon? Do you mean this was Rev. Moon's prediction?" I responded, "By all means, it was Rev. Moon's prediction." People then asked, "How did he know?" "I heard he made only one telephone call, too." "Who did he call?" "I understand he called God." "You mean he called God, the Almighty?" "Yes," I said. Everyone shouted then, "Could you kindly give us God's telephone number?" I said, "I'm sorry. It was a hotline."
It was an amazing story. The News World became the premier national newspaper overnight. You have no idea how moved and inspired I was that night. I cried tears of joy. I had never experienced such an exciting press conference in my life.
his was not however the only contribution Rev. Moon has made.
Probably the more significant ongoing contribution would be the
founding of The Washington Times in Washington, D.C., as
the second daily newspaper in the nation's capital, with a distinct
conservative outlook - or more correctly, God-centered outlook.
Could you imagine what Washington would have been like with only
one daily? This is our headquarters. This is our famous newsroom.
And this is our printing plant.
The Washington Times has continuously published for the past 14 years at an aggregate investment of well over one billion dollars! It was indeed a most precious investment for freedom. It is now a must-read for all opinion-makers not only in Washington but all over the United States, and indeed ranks among the great newspapers of the world! And, it maintained a staunch opposition to communism and Soviet expansionism until the collapse of the Soviet empire.
The Hon. Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, said upon his inauguration, The Washington Times "has the real interests of America at heart."
hrough The Washington Times and other organizations he
founded, Rev. Moon staunchly supported President Reagan's proposed
Strategic Defense Initiative, also known as "Star Wars,"
to protect the United States from Soviet nuclear missiles through
space-based defense. This is a Washington Times political
cartoon from that time entitled "Space Shield." As you
well know, one of the critical factors behind the collapse of
the USSR was its sheer inability to compete with the United States
in this area of cutting-edge technology. Ultimately, President
Reagan's pursuit of SDI was a kind of trump card, upon which the
Soviets could only throw up their arms in defeat. Yet Reagan could
not do it until The Washington Times swayed public opinion
decisively towards support of SDI.
hen Reagan's term was almost over, he invited me, as the President
and Publisher of The Washington Times, to the Oval Office
in the White House. As can be seen in this picture, he firmly
shook my hand in appreciation and said, "Dr. Pak, no one
appreciates the value of The Washington Times more than
I. Without The Washington Times, my Reagan Doctrine would
have been a failure. It could not have triumphed over the Brezhnev
Doctrine. Would you kindly convey my deep thanks and appreciation
to Rev. Moon, the founder of The Washington Times, who
made this most precious investment for freedom?" At this
point, may I invite you to give one warm round of applause for
President Reagan?
he Washington Times also supported the 1988 election of
George Bush as the 41st president of the United States. Today,
we should give more appreciation to those great heroes, Presidents
Ronald Reagan and George Bush, as the liberators of the communist
empire. But in my heart, behind the scenes, who produced these
two heroes? It was Rev. Moon and God.
ev. and Mrs. Moon boldly entered Moscow in April 1990 and had
a one-on-one meeting in the Kremlin with Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev. This was another miracle to have occurred. Rev. Moon
conveyed his support to Gorbachev of his policies of glasnost
and perestroika. I was there to translate that extraordinary
meeting. Rev. Moon persuaded Gorbachev to allow religious freedom,
to allow God to enter the Soviet Union. In my opinion, this meeting
was crucially important in the sight of God. It was, in a way,
the beginning of a peaceful process of the demise of the Soviet
empire. Rev. Moon indeed motivated Gorbachev in the direction
of peaceful reform. The greatest miracle that occurred in this
century was the liberation of the Soviet Union without nuclear
war. The threat of nuclear war was the single greatest concern
of Rev. Moon. He said, "Thank God, not a single nuclear
weapon was used against mankind since 1945." Clearly, it
was God who dismantled the Evil Empire.
fter that meeting with President Gorbachev, Rev. Moon told me,
"Now I must meet with Kim Il Sung." I was shocked. It
was a sheer impossibility. Yet Rev. Moon said, "God will
lead me to Pyongyang." Why was he so determined to see Kim
Il Sung? Because he saw the end of the Soviet Union coming, Rev.
Moon's concern shifted to another part of the world, the Korean
Peninsula, a potential powderkeg. He saw his next mission: to
prevent the outbreak of another war on the Korean Peninsula. He
decided to go to Pyongyang to meet with President Kim Il Sung
to reassure him that even if the Soviet state perished, that would
not mean the end of North Korea. He did not want that isolated
country to feel trapped and miscalculate. Knowing the tragedy
of the 1950s, Rev. Moon indeed wants to prevent at any cost another
outbreak of hostilities on the Korean peninsula.
On Nov. 30, 1991, I escorted Rev. and Mrs. Moon on a special flight to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. Six days later, the world's foremost anticommunist, Rev. Moon, embraced with President Kim Il Sung and sat down with the world's foremost communist dictator in the presidential palace. I was there as the entire world was shocked by this news. Yet for me, it was probably the greatest, warmest, most hospitable peace-making event ever on the face of the earth. Simply I want to say, Rev. Moon prevented another Korean War by assuring President Kim he would be a friend and brother, and look after his well-being.
This is a memorial photo of Rev. and Mrs. Moon and President Kim. Notice they are holding hands like brothers. This was very unusual in that country, particularly with President Kim. The next photo is my wife and myself.
Kim Il Sung passed away on July 8, 1994. Mr. Antonio Betancourt and I went to Pyongyang to represent Rev. and Mrs. Moon and mourn the late president. I was proud to be part of this humanitarian gesture and to convey the condolences of Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon. I was the only outside mourner to be received by top leader, Secretary Kim Jong Il, heir of his father, President Kim Il Sung. This time though I hold his hand. Today, Rev. Moon is a world leader whom North Korea can trust. For this reason, Rev. Moon played the pivotal role in bringing about the nuclear agreement between the United States and North Korea in October 1994. This has been and will remain the greatest task - maintaining peace in this part of the world, Northeast Asia.
ith the demise of communism, Rev. Moon is concentrating on moral
issues. His number one task is education: sound moral education,
particularly of young people. In over 160 countries, moral education
is being given based on the Unification Principle. Through an
unselfish way of life, we can practice true love and build strong
God-centered families, which are the building blocks of a new
peaceful world. Is there any better way to greet the 21st century
and the New Millennium?
On July 28, 1993, Mrs. Moon, who is a great partner for peace with Rev. Moon, made an historic speech on Capitol Hill before U.S. senators and congressmen on the topic of family values. Sen. Orrin Hatch introduced Mrs. Moon. It was a landmark speech on family issues. The U.S. Congress was so moved and inspired by her speech, as well as her initiative as President of the Women's Federation for World Peace, that both houses passed unanimously and enacted the "Parent's Day Resolution." President Clinton signed into law and declared July 28th every year as "Parent's Day" in the United States.
s you know, Rev. Moon has become quite well known over the years
for conducting large international wedding ceremonies. This is
a scene of the 1992 International Holy Wedding of 30,000 couples
in Seoul. And here is a picture of the 1995 International Holy
Wedding in Seoul for 360,000 couples, held via satellite around
the world. Of course, all of these ceremonies were officiated
by Rev. and Mrs. Moon.
What you may not know is these weddings symbolize a ceremony which both connects each couple vertically with God and horizontally in human brotherhood transcendent of race, nationality and religion. It is indeed a unique and exciting event which we call the Blessing, a ceremony only made possible because of the age in which we live.
In this ceremony, newlyweds or couples simply wishing to renew their vows, pledge purity and fidelity to each other before God, accepting each other as God's son or daughter. Through this ceremony, humankind can make great progress toward returning to the original order of true love desired by God.
We all know that AIDS has become epidemic in today's world. Rev. Moon believes AIDS is a test of the Last Days to ensure purity and fidelity of humankind. Many in society try to prevent the spread of AIDS through condoms and attempt to treat it through developing new medicines. The world has yet to understand that to truly defend itself from the AIDS epidemic, it cannot be done by condoms or medicine. The ultimate solution lies in the restoration of morality and true love.
The Unification Church Holy Wedding allows men and women to protect the sanctity and holiness of the act of love between husband and wife by not engaging in premarital or extramarital relations. After being blessed with their ideal counterpart, husband and wife love one another with no limit for the rest of eternity.
The next International Holy Wedding will be officiated by Rev. and Mrs. Moon on November 29, 1997 in Washington, D.C. We already have an official invitation from the mayor of Washington. But that is just the site of the main ceremony. Several thousand additional ceremonies will be conducted, simultaneously via satellite, throughout 160 nations. The total number of couples involved will exceed 3.6 million worldwide! Of course, I invite you to Washington to witness this historical event - or even better, you could come with your spouse and be part of this great event, the Blessing ceremony.
adies and gentlemen, finally, my last point tonight. Rev. Moon
is concentrating on the restoration of the earth's environment.
He is acutely aware that continued environmental degradation will
lead to self-destruction of the human race. But what is at the
core of the problem of humankind's abuse of the earth? Our planet
is a victim of human selfishness. One of the most serious victims
of selfishness is the ocean, which covers 70% of our planet's
surface.
Rev. Moon would like to protect "Mother Ocean," which is the "Mother of Life" and "Mother of Civilization." That is why he envisioned founding the Federation of Island Nations for World Peace. He sees that island and oceanic nations are so vital in the survival of humanity in the 21st century. The ocean produces a phenomenal array of living beings holding infinite possibility as a treasure store of natural resources. He does not want to see the ocean abused and victimized by human selfishness as was our land. This is why you, distinguished members of the world community, are called upon and have convened here for this conference.
Ladies and gentlemen, I hope by now you can all agree with me that indeed Rev. and Mrs. Moon are peacemakers and unifiers. I sincerely wish you to become the apostles of peace, as well. I'm deeply grateful that you came here and are joining Rev. and Mrs. Moon as partners in this endeavor toward true world peace.
I pray God's abundant blessing upon you and your family.
Thank you very much.