November 6, 2006

As most members know, our dear elder brother, Dr. Bo Hi Pak, was a victim of unscrupulous businessmen who targeted our movement by using Dr. Pak’s prestige and national stature in Korea to become unwittingly involved in what is known as an “African business scam.”

In the trusting heart of Dr. Pak, these criminals found an easy mark who at the time was trying desperately to make his mission area self-sufficient by raising funds for the performing arts projects associated with the Korean Cultural Foundation. Those Koreans and Africans who participated in this scheme absconded with the money raised, and unfortunately, left Dr. Pak to face the legal suits from investors who had been promised very profitable returns. After serving 2 years and 3 ½ months of a five year sentence, on Nov. 3, 2006, Dr. Pak was released on probation by the court with the balance of his sentence suspended.

In the following public document, in a demonstration of his rectitude and sense of honor, Dr. Pak assumes full responsibility for his actions, as well as past experiences, and apologizes to True Parents and the movement for the pain and humiliation that he caused.

Presently, Dr. Pak is resting and recuperating at home. Dr. Pak would like this letter to be disseminated in UC publications, electronic and print, as widely as possible. The photos were taken the evening of his release from prison as he worked on the letter at his apartment.  He is wearing the same clothing that he wore when he was in prison.

The family of Dr. Bo Hi Pak is deeply grateful for everyone’s heartfelt prayers and support.

Dr.& Mrs. Bo Hi Pak, in their home on the day of Dr. Pak’s release.

Letter from Prison

Bo Hi Pak

From Your Unworthy Son,

In Tears of Gratitude

Bowing Before True Parents, I Beg Their Forgiveness.

Dearest True Parents!

It is to my eternal regret that this unworthy child has burdened our True Parents, whom I dearly love, with such deep heartbreak and distress through my stupid mistakes.

How great has been the heartbreak and sorrow of the True Parents who have more compassion for the suffering of the one lost lamb than for the other ninety-nine!

Lying with my face cast down, I beg True Parents to take pity on this child who has safely returned to the bright outside world like the prodigal son in the Bible.

True Parents have once again saved the life of this unworthy son.

True Parents!

I, your unworthy son, Bo Hi, cannot help but shed endless tears of gratitude on this day as I leave prison and re-enter the bright daylight of the outside world.

Was it not our True Parents who allowed me to reach this day of freedom safely after enduring the not inconsiderable time of 2 years and 3 1/2 months of confinement in prison despite my advanced age of 76 and a body beset by many chronic diseases?

From the time of my birth I was not blessed with great toughness and stamina. Both my physical parents were not able to live long lives and passed away before reaching old age.

In the past, True Father, you expressed concern for my health and once remarked, “Your family is not blessed with longevity. You must be very careful about your health.”

In the first phase of the original trial, the prosecution asked for a sentence of 12 years and the judge handed down a sentence of 5 years. This was due to the magnitude of the damages incurred by the injured parties.

This meant I would have to serve time in prison until I became 81 years old.

The outlook was pitch-black.

Being able to live to the age of 76 was already a great blessing, but in my physical condition, I could not conceive how I would be able to serve time in prison until I became 81. I thought of John the Baptist 2000 years ago. He came with the mission to bear witness about Jesus but ended up dying in prison.

I, Bo Hi, have lived with the conviction that I was born with the mission of John the Baptist for the time of the Second Advent. If it was my mission and destiny to die in prison in order to indemnify the failure of the first John the Baptist, then I was resolutely determined to solemnly receive my fate.

Dr. Pak praying before writing his letter.

However, it is my belief that the work of the Second Advent is to indemnify and restore the failure of the first advent. Given that the True Parents have come into the world as the Lord of the Second Advent and have overcome the hardships of the cross and naturally subjugated Satan and ascended to the throne of the True Parents of mankind, in the time of the second advent, I as the John the Baptist of the second coming should not follow the precedent of the first John the Baptist, but rather through steadfast faith and perseverance I should leave these prison walls and pass out of these prison gates alive and well.

But surviving inside prison till the age of 81 was beyond my power. I resolved that if I were to die inside prison I would do so with dignity. I passed each day resolutely pledging to myself every day that when the time should come I would depart this world calling out True Parents’ “mansei” on my lips and in my heart.

My True Parents, what a great blessing you bestowed upon me so unexpectedly. Even while you were in the midst of cosmic history — making the world tour of 120 nations to proclaim the “Universal Peace Federation” — you took time to remember this unworthy son. How great and intense the labor and exertion must have been to accomplish this work of immense importance in every corner of the globe, yet even in such bone-weary circumstances you remembered your lost son, Bo Hi.

While you were in Uruguay you called my younger brother, No Hi Pak, to come all the way to Uruguay to give a report on my situation and condition. After hearing the report, you ordered Chung Hwan Kwak, the world chairman, then and there to “reach agreements with the injured parties quickly and get Bo Hi released from prison.”

This can be nothing other than the gracious blessing of the True Parents. I am in prison because of my mistakes. But yet again the True Parents of all mankind have reached out their hands in pity and compassion and lifted up their wayward son from the pit of death.

Finally it is November 3, 2006! On this day the Appeals Court of Central Seoul passed a suspended sentence on Bo Hi Pak and allowed me to walk out of the courtroom a free man.

By the grace of the True Parents, I have been spared the fate of a slow death in prison, and after more than 2 years I am able to walk out the prison gates alive and well.

Even though I prostrate myself and shed tears of gratitude, it is impossible to express my feeling of gratefulness to our True Parents. In this manner, True Parents have saved this unworthy son both spiritually and physically.

True Parents! This Is The Second Time That You Have Saved Me.

My dearest True Parents!

This is the second time that you have redeemed my life. In the fall of 1985 when I was the president of the Washington Times, I was kidnapped by a communist group plotting to derail the comprehensive victory over communism campaign being exhaustively waged by the Unification Church. Since this was a politically motivated kidnapping, the objective was not to obtain ransom money but rather to frustrate the Church’s anti-communism campaign by eliminating a key leader. So my situation was one of acute danger.

I was handcuffed, bound and gagged, and taken to a hideaway house somewhere in the suburbs of New York City, subjected to terrible electric shock torture, and then finally told by the gang that I would be executed at midnight. They declared to me that “after we have killed you we are going to stuff you into this metal barrel, fill it with gravel, tie it shut, and sink it in the lake nearby, and neither the police nor the FBI are going to ever find your remains.”

I was tightly bound to three chairs and blindfolded so that I could not tell how much time had passed. In the middle of the night I could hear them moving a metal barrel in the basement.

“Ah — now the time must be nigh!”

I had a distinct feeling in my bones, and I resolved to go out gloriously as a victor. In a flash with all of my strength, I lifted up the three chairs as high as I could and with all of my power I shouted out at the top of my lungs “Chambumo Nim Mansei” three times.

The ruffians came rushing toward me from every direction saying “Damn you! You think someone is going to come and save you because you cry out for the police! You fool!” They started battering me and kicking me and then started tormenting me with the electric shock machine again.

At that moment I blacked out and lost consciousness. Then, while I was wandering between consciousness and unconsciousness, True Mother appeared before me and shook me awake. She said to me, “There is no time! However, they will not be able to kill you tonight. By whatever means you must get out of this place within the next 10 hours. True Father is praying for you at this moment.” It was a dream.

True Father was bearing the cross at Danbury prison.

Upon hearing True Mother’s words, my exhausted body was filled with miraculous energy and I could feel the light of hope. At that moment I did not fear anything. I fearlessly called for the leader of the gang and shouted at him.

“What you are doing is a foolhardy thing. Who has put you up to this? I am the president of an important daily newspaper in the capital of the United States, the Washington Times. I am under the protection of the U.S. government. Within 2 hours the FBI is going to figure out my location.

“Do you think you are going to remain safe after killing me? This is American soil. Do you think you can escape to safety after committing a felony in this country? You foolish scoundrels! You must listen to me. I do not want all of you to die. I swear I will not file charges against you so you will be able to live and I can live. I can vouch for your safety. Tomorrow will be too late.”

I am certain that True Father’s spiritual power emanating from his prayer was controlling the situation.

They did not kill me that night. The new day arrived.

Then the ruffians surrendered. The gang members made me assure them 10 times over that I would not file charges with the FBI. They blindfolded me, put me in a car and drove for 2 hours, and let me out. Then they sped away.

When I took off the blindfold, I found myself standing at LaGuardia airport in New York. I was released 48 hours after I was first abducted. During this time True Father had been hunched over in prayer all night at Danbury prison.

When I returned to my house in Washington, D.C., alone after being freed by my captors, the FBI agents stationed at my house were stunned and amazed. They reported to their headquarters by phone saying, “It’s a miracle. The kidnap victim Mr. Pak has miraculously come back alive and in one piece.” They said that victims of kidnapping in the U.S. usually end up coming back in pieces in a box.

This miracle was brought about by the power of True Father’s prayer.

True Mother found me through the Holy Spirit.

Upon hearing a report of my safe return from True Mother, True Father said to brother Kamiyama, who was inside with him, “Now that Bo Hi has returned safely I am going to rest!” and straight away lay down to rest. Brother Kamiyama had never seen True Father sleep in such an exhausted state and snore so loudly before.

I have no qualification to receive True Parents’ love and blessing again and again. I am overawed by True Parents’ love.

My gracious True Parents!

You are not only the savior of my immortal soul but several times during my life of 70-some years you have seen me through life-threatening crises and become the savior of my physical life as well.

Now that I, Bo Hi Pak, the John the Baptist, have been restored to freedom, how can it be possible for me to leave for the spirit world without spending the rest of my life giving witness to the victorious True Parents and radiating their resplendent glory through the entire globe?

How can a prodigal son such as I be worthy of being saved from certain death in prison and returned to freedom even after True Parents have already saved me several times in the past?

I can only lie prostrate before them and shed tears of gratitude.

May True Parents live forever.

My Thanks to the Unification Family Around the World.

My Unification family members around the world! My true brothers and sisters!

I, Bo Hi Pak, an inadequate elder brother, through the boundless grace of the True Parents, have been able to walk out through the prison gates and regain my freedom and return to the care of the True Parents after only serving 2 years and 3 1/2 months of the original 5-year sentence.

I unexpectedly received True Parents’ gracious consideration as they worked miraculously to shine the light of freedom and restore a bright future upon me even though it seemed my certain destiny was to perish in prison.

Just as in the parable of the prodigal son, the mistakes committed were 100 percent my doing. They were deeds that I am responsible for from the beginning to the end, but True Parents reached out to this prodigal son with pity and compassion.

The fact that I did not cause injury to the assets of the Church and that no Church funds were lost through my mistakes I consider the greatest good fortune within my misguided project.

Naturally I was not pursuing these projects motivated by personal gain or to try to enrich myself, and it is my fervent hope that all of you Unification family members can understand that my motivation was out of fidelity to our movement and in the same manner as I had lived my entire life heretofore. My only desire was to advance the work of our movement to a new level.

However, I did not submit to True Parents’ will.

This is a sin for which there is no forgiveness and I was determined to indemnify this terrible sin even if it meant dying in prison. But the True Parents reached out their hand to offer salvation. They brought back to life this prodigal son. I was able to return to the world in freedom.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that because of my troubled affairs I caused a controversy in society and thereby tarnished the most heavenly and holy name and reputation of the True Parents. There can be no forgiveness for the sin of causing damage to the honor of the True Parents and the Church.

As someone who has received True Parents’ dearest affections for the past 48 years of my life of faith and as one who has had the inestimable honor of personally attending to the True Parents and working as one of their closest associates, when I face the fact that my actions created a negative influence upon the shining honor of the True Parents and our Church, I am compelled to confess that this was the greatest mistake of my life and I can see no possible way of finding forgiveness.

Nevertheless, many family members around the world have been praying for this inadequate elder brother throughout this time. I received many letters of consolation and encouragement. Especially I could not hold back the tears when I received encouragement from the True Children. Particularly Injin Nim’s family took the initiative to get the news out to the worldwide family through the creation of an internet webpage and even personally toured many cities to directly ask for your cooperation. People responded to Injin Nim’s call from Korea, Japan, America, and every part of the world. Letters of consolation and precious contributions were donated.

I am at a loss as to how I could adequately express my gratitude for all you have done. I wish I could meet with each and every member individually to express my deepest appreciation, but since it is impossible to do so, please forgive this limitation and accept my deepest heartfelt appreciation through this letter.

My dear brothers and sisters!

I have been so deeply moved by all of your warm brotherly love poured upon this foolish elder brother. Thank you so very much for participating in the compassionate love bestowed upon me by the True Parents.

Moreover, I would like to express my deepest thanks to Injin Nim’s family and all of the True Children and their families for all that they have done.

What all of you have brought about will become an historic legacy of good and a part of the beautiful Unification Church tradition.

My dear Unification family! I along with my family offer you our tearful gratitude.

The Hardship of Prison Was a Blessing. I Have Returned Reborn a New Man.

My two-plus years of confinement in prison in a way were a great blessing.

The history of the God’s new providence of remaking the world through the work of the Second Advent has been stained throughout with True Father’s tears and blood.

Two thousand years ago at the time of the first advent, Jesus Christ endured the misunderstanding, spitefulness, and jealousy of established Judaism. At the end of his 3-year public ministry, he eventually suffered the hardship of the cross but was victorious in bringing about the spiritual salvation of mankind.

The True Parents who came into this world as the Lord of the Second Advent survived the providential course of bearing the cross and finally succeeded in subjugating Satan and, by guiding President Reagan and liberating the evil empire of the Soviet Union, saved the world from the final deception of Satan in history in the form of worldwide atheistic communism.

Before this time Satan had already attempted to frustrate the providential work of the Second Advent by True Father by raising up the communist party of North Korea and using it as an instrument of repression against True Father and eventually sending True Father to Heungnam prison to die.

Eventually God put in motion the emergency measure to rescue True Father. On September 15, 1950, God sent the UN forces under the command of Gen. Douglas MacArthur to execute the Incheon amphibious landing and soon thereafter liberated Heungnam prison, rescuing True Father after 2 years and 8 months of captivity in that living hell. From the viewpoint of God, the Incheon landing was not only a measure to repel the North Korean communist aggression, but more importantly it was an operation to rescue the Lord of the Second Advent.

Before this time True Father worked to oppose the Japanese occupation of Korea. Satan’s forces, who were constantly trying to oppose the work of the Second Advent providence, put True Father in prison no less than six times in total.

This has been the historical backdrop of the Unification providence. It is a history filled with the blood and tears of True Father.

Finally True Parents were completely victorious in completing the work of the Second Advent and ascended the throne of the True Parents of humankind.

As one of the young children attending the True Parents, I am grateful to God for my recent travails and the experience of imprisonment and consider it a great honor to be allowed to participate, even if it is only to a slight degree and only in a heartistic, conditional fashion, in the tribulations that True Father suffered while in prison.

Compared to the conditions in Heungnam prison that True Father was sent to, prison life in present-day South Korean prisons is heavenly by comparison. Thus I am embarrassed to even suggest that I shared in True Father’s suffering during his imprisonment.

However, during my months of confinement, I constantly maintained an attitude of gratitude and happiness, never allowed myself even once to express complaint, and always conducted myself as a model inmate. Heungnam was the wellspring of my strength to overcome the hardships of my imprisonment.

It Was a Precious Time of Repentance and Rebirth.

I studied a lot while in prison. Furthermore I could take a respite from the never-ending harried and hectic pace of the providential course and reflect upon and repent for the shortcomings of the past 48 years and take this precious time to renew myself.

Today I have been reborn a more complete son before the True Parents and I have repented for the many mistakes I have made in my life of faith and only ask for forgiveness. I write this letter from prison in tears of gratitude and pray only that hereafter I may become a son more closely aligned with God and True Parents.

During my time of training behind prison walls, I have come to the following four great realizations and awakenings.

First, I did not attend to our true parents adequately. True Parents have restored Adam and Eve, the fallen ancestors of mankind. They have subjugated Satan and, finally, they have liberated Heavenly Father. I have repented for thinking that I was attending our True Parents well when in fact my attendance was unsatisfactory and inadequate. In a word, I was a poor unfilial son.

I failed to completely become one in heart with the True Parents who came to this world as the Lord of the Second Advent after 2000 years to completely relieve Jesus’ sadness. They came to this world completely understanding Heavenly Father’s suffering heart of a parent who has lost all His children through the fall of mankind. The True Parents have cried an ocean of tears comforting God’s long-suffering heart. True Father has lived his entire life of more than 80 years in passionate single-hearted, never-wavering devotion to liberate God from this suffering.

Finally, True Parents have gained total victory by naturally subjugating Satan and overthrowing his dominion and sovereignty over this world as well as in the spirit world and ascending to the throne of the True Parents of humankind.

I had been living without fully realizing how precious and glorious a privilege it was throughout the entire heaven and earth to be a person who had attended the Lord’s “feast of the lamb” which was prophesied in the glorious book of Revelation.

Finally on January 13, 2001, by reaching the summit of providential history and adorning it by completing “God’s Sovereignty Coronation Ceremony,” True Parents were able to wipe away all tears from God’s eyes and place Him on the throne wearing the royal robes and diadem. True Parents are the heavenly filial son and daughter who will shine for all eternity. At this moment, God and True Parents were united completely in one body: Heavenly Father, the vertical True Parents, and True Parents, the horizontal True Parents of humankind.

This was the first day since God created the universe and man that Heavenly Father smiled and was filled with nothing but joy.

The invisible Heavenly True Parents and the substantial True Parents!

The True Parents of heaven and earth are completely one body.

We are all destined to be loyal true children attending the vertical True Parents and the horizontal True Parents in heaven and on earth and to become second incarnations of them.

During my months of imprisonment, there were countless times that I shed tears of gratitude because of the great happiness of being able to attend the True Parents. To be able to live at the same time and breathe the same air and to be able to gaze upon the holy countenance is such an ineffable joy. It is surely the greatest blessing we can possess. For me the power of this sublime blessing transformed the prison into a heaven. To awaken to the realization of the true value of the True Parents is the same as being resurrected.

Second, my former life of faith was full of pride and affectation. During my imprisonment I awakened to the realization that my former life of faith was filled with pride and affectation. I deeply, deeply repented for this and made myself into a new person.

During my 48 years of faith in the Church, feelings of pride that I had done and accomplished as much as anyone in the Church had sprung up. This is nothing other than arrogance.

This feeling that I had accomplished something was from Satan. “I translated True Father’s speeches more than anyone else.” “I attended the True Parents on their trip to Pyongyang.” “I attended the True Parents at the conference in Moscow.” “I attended the True Parents when they met with the American Presidents.”

I hadn’t realized that all of this emphasis on “I did this” and “I did that” was coming from Satan. What was shocking and startling was the realization that in fact I had not done anything at all. Therefore, there was in fact nothing that I could boast about. I came to realize that the very thought that I had accomplished something was Satan within me. Everything was accomplished by God and True Parents. All I could claim was that I was given the honor of being present.

Even now my continuing to breathe and move even a finger is not by my doing. It is by the will of God and True Parents that I exist and move. I am merely able to be present. If the thought that “I did this” and “I did that” is present within you, you become sensitive to all manner of things and feel resentment over the smallest things and feel alienation over things that are irrational.

There is no “I.”

There is actually nothing that I have accomplished. It is a great honor and blessing that God allows such an unworthy son as I to be at the side of the True Parents. After coming to this realization, my spirit could not be more happy or at peace. My mind became clear and pristine like the autumn sky, and the feelings of resentment and alienation that had sprung up in my heart melted away like the snow in springtime.

Just to be able to know and be face to face with the living God, the True Parents, is an infinite honor. To have been able to become a member of the Unification Church, to be able to meet God and the True Parents, to be able to live reciting the family pledge, to receive the Blessing from the True Parents — for all of this I can only feel grateful.

“My cup overfloweth.” When I feel that my cup, which is nothing but a crude earthen bowl, is overflowing, my soul is imbued with happiness and peace.

So during my prison life I passed my days calling out to True Parents many dozens of times each day and shouting out my grateful heart. It is so clear to me how I will be living out the rest of the days of my life.

Third, in my life heretofore I did not know the true value of the Blessing. The Blessing of the True Parents exists only in the Unification Church. I was living my life without knowing the true value of the Blessing. My understanding was that True Parents had cleared away original sin and we were receiving God’s lineage.

However, we were not living lives that were actually experiencing the deep and precious principle of the Blessing. The Blessing of the True Parents is a blessing which opens up heaven. True married life is found in the spirit world. The Blessing of True Parents is not for 100 years, nor for 10,000 years. It is for eternity. Believers of the Unification Church meet the True Parents, receive the Blessing from them, and are grafted onto a lineage with no original sin without paying meritorious service for it. Based upon just this one Blessing and special privilege, there is no way we could be grateful enough.

This is a Blessing that we are totally unqualified to receive nor competent to bear. Even if we spent our lifetime giving thanks, it would not be sufficient thanks for receiving the Blessing.

Existing Christian churches believe that married life is only during one’s lifetime on earth and that in heaven everyone becomes gender neutral and lives celibate lives like the angels. This is not true. The Blessing that the True Parents bestow upon us is a Blessing of marriage from this world to eternity.

Our Blessed couples are couples for eternity. Our brothers and sisters are brothers and sisters for eternity. Have I completely become one in body and spirit believing that I and my wife are eternal spouses? Have I truly loved and thought of my Church brethren as my eternal family?

I have been lacking. Completely inadequate. I was ashamed. Everything was due to my not attending the True Parents properly.

The Unification Holy Blessing is a life together forever. True Parents’ Blessing is an eternal blessing. It is a Blessing that restores you to eternal youth. It is a Blessing that opens up a new heaven.

This being the case, what does it matter that we grow old? What difference does it make if we become white-haired senior citizens? What is there to fear because we pass away from this earthly life? Dying is merely departing for a much better life. True Parents have taught this philosophy thoroughly. The only thing that we must do while on this earth is love our Lord God, love our True Parents, with all our mind, with our entire lives, with all our character, and love our neighbor as our own selves.

Fourth, during the remainder of my life I will become the embodiment of true love. After 2 years and 3 1/2 months of special training, I have emerged from prison with a firm understanding of how I should live the rest of my life.

In short, I will become the embodiment of true love in accordance with the teachings of our True Parents. Armed with True Parents’ teachings and the Cheon Seong Kyeong holy scriptures, I will give my entire life in loving the True Parents and loving my fellow man. We have a gospel which must be shouted out from the top of Halla mountain to the Chunji lake on top of Baekdu mountain. We must shout out that the True Parents have come and we must all enter heaven believing in and attending the True Parents. Our Church must become the smelting furnace of love.

It is our responsibility to make sure that all of mankind partakes and participates in the Blessing of the True Parents. The True Parents during 80-plus years of their life, by their sole and solitary efforts, have paid for the sins of mankind, subjugated Satan, and delivered mankind from certain death. They have constructed a highway leading directly into heaven.

Now it is incumbent on us to gather and lead the people of the world and travel this highway.

Globalizing the victory of the True Parents is our responsibility as children of True Parents. As recently as the Universal Peace Federation world tour, True Father, even at the advanced age of 86, put his life on the line and completed the historic proclamation in total victory. I heard that he departed on the tour resolved to press on even if his body were to collapse. I could not help but shed torrents of tears.

When True Parents are leading in this manner, how can we not fight with all our might even unto giving up our very lives? I will follow True Father’s example and shout out the teachings of our True Parents on the world stage until my throat explodes. And if I should collapse and die on the rostrum giving testimony to the True Parents, what greater duty is there that I can do?

My dear family members!

I have not spent the last 2 years and 3 1/2 months idling away the time. Since I have come back with great enlightenment, can you agree that I have received the most excellent training?

Brothers and Sisters! Let us rise up. Let us advance into the heaven of hope!

I close this part of my message from prison praying for eternal long life and health of the True Parents.

Bo Hi Pak

November 3, 2006