<PRESIDENT, September: Korean Monthly Magazine> 

25,000 Gather for First Year Memorial Service for

Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon Stands Tall as a Woman among

Major Religious Leaders

On August 23, the road leading to the Cheongshim Peace World Center in Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi province was lined with banners reading, "Father, We are Making it, the Dawn of Cheon Il Guk" and a whole variety of other heartfelt messages sent by faithful condolers from around the world, which set the atmosphere for the first anniversary memorial service of the Seonghwa of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. The memorial service, with 25,000 in attendance, including leaders from various fields and members of the Unification Church, was presided over by Rev. Moon's widow, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, 70. In the video presentation about the lifetime accomplishments of Rev. Moon, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon was described as True Mother standing in the place of Rev. Moon. The video message also emphasized that Rev. Moon had returned to Cheon Jeong Gung together with her and that he entrusted her with all of his work on the earth. The message conveyed to those both inside and out of the church that although the Unification Church had gone through difficulties in the past year, the difficulties had been handled with firm determination under the leadership of Dr. Hak Jan Han Moon. Reflecting on this time, Dr. Han implored those in attendance to inherit the task of working towards the reunification of Korea, which had been the fervent desire of Rev. Moon's throughout his entire life. Rev. Moon sought to reach beyond Asia to the entire world to build a world of freedom, peace and unity, to march forward until the joyful Kingdom of Heaven on earth was realized. In particular, the video presentation showed how, after the Seonghwa of Rev. Moon, Dr. Han gave speeches regarding guiding principles and direction to the faithful members in every part of the movement. Those associated with the Unification Movement revealed that during the past year, while filling the place left vacant by Rev. Moon through her strong and sensitive leadership, Dr. Han has solved the disorder within the church, and at the same time established her place as leader of a major worldwide religious movement. In particular, Dr. Han had told the members of the church that although she has always given off the impression of a gentle appearance, she has shown a new aspect of herself with her strong spirit during the time after Rev. Moon's Seonghwa. While Dr. Han sought to maintain integrity and principles, she became deeply concerned at hearing about the situation of all the church departments and members.

As part of the memorial event, a new Cheon Il Guk constitution, as well as a 23 volume "White Paper on Worldwide Public Assets" outlining the assets of the Family Federation chapters around the world, were presented to Dr. Han. This moment confirmed Dr. Han's intention to lead the Unification Movement according to a constitution derived from the teachings of Rev. Moon and to maintain transparency in the management of the movement's public assets. Amid widespread speculation on the value of the Unification Church's assets, church representatives stated that, "While it is true that the Unification Church does own a substantial amount of real estate, it is all registered under the church's name.  During his lifetime, Rev. Moon himself never owned a single piece of property." The question that many wonder about in relation to the Unification Church's current leadership structure is whether the Moon's fourth son Kook Jin, who was released from the position of Chairman of the Tongil Foundation this past March and their seventh son, Hyung Jin, who stepped down as Chairman of the Unification Church in Korea in January and is currently conducting activities in the United States, will be reinstated. At this year's gathering to celebrate the New Year, Dr. Han said "It seems we need to wait and see a bit longer for the next generation of leaders to be ready to take over," and Dr. Chang-shik Yang, Chairman of the Unification Movement in Korea also said, "The Moons' sons are preparing for the new generation," and, "The sons are currently focusing on their own projects in the United States." Dr. Hak Jan Han Moon was born on February 10, 1943 (January 6 by the Lunar Calendar) in Anju in Southern Pyeongan Province in what is currently North Korea, as the only daughter for the third straight generation in a family that had had only a single son for seven generations before that. Dr. Han had been first introduced to Rev. Moon in March 1956 at the age of 13.She married him on April 11, 1960 at the age of 17 saying, "I will live as a servant of the Lord." Throughout her more than 50-year marriage to Rev. Moon, she assisted him faithfully and journeyed through a rigorous course as a women's leader. After Rev. Moon's Seonghwa, Hak Ja Han Moon instituted some substantial changes in the internal structure of the Unification Church. Key among these was that for the church itself, as well as for the associated businesses, the focus would be aimed at strengthening the existing essence rather than on expanding the scope of its activities.

Rev. Moon on Developing the DMZ as a Peace Park

For the time being, the Unification Church has halted their Peace Cup and Peace Queen Cup soccer tournaments and turned their focus toward business investments in North Korea. The Peace Cup and Peace Queen Cup international club soccer tournaments, which require an annual operating budget of 15-20 billion won, have been temporarily suspended. The decision whether the tournaments will be resumed will be made later. Meanwhile, the church is operating Pyeonghwa Motors utilizing its automobile manufacturing and servicing factory. The church had also assumed operation of the Botong River Hotel in 1999. While he was still alive, Rev. Moon obtained permission from North Korea to operate Pyeonghwa Motors and the Botong River Hotel. The reunification of Korea is something Rev. Moon worked for throughout his life. In 1991, Rev. Moon met Supreme Leader Kim Il Sung in North Korea and expressed his earnest desire to work towards world peace starting with business investments and cultural exchange with North Korea. Because of this, Rev. Moon and the Unification Church came to play the role of contact point for some of the South Korean government's communication with North Korea. Rev. Moon was quite interested in the Park Geunhye administration and in supporting her proposal to build a peace park in the DMZ, as well as a railroad line connecting the North and the South.  Rev. Moon took the lead in showing support for a UN peace park when he said, "I hope the entire demilitarized zone along the 155-mile military demarcation line that crosses the Korean peninsula can be turned into a peace zone under UN jurisdiction." in a speech he delivered on August 18, 2000, at a meeting of the International and Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace held in Conference Room 2 at the UN headquarters in New York. He continued by saying that UN peace zones should be created not only at the Korean DMZ but in other places around the world. 

North Korea's Kim Jung Un, First Chairman of the National Defense Commission, sent a memorial message on the first anniversary of Rev. Moon's Seonghwa through Pyeonghwa Motors Honorary Chairman Sang-kwon Park. "I send my wishes for the peaceful rest of Sun Myung Moon, who worked for the harmony and prosperity of the Korean people, the unification of Korea and world peace," Chairman Kim's message stated, "I wish for success for Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon and all of the bereaved family in the Family Federation for World Peace in continuing Rev. Moon's work."

1% Kind Sharing Campaign for the Future

It could be said that during Rev. Moon's lifetime, a hallmark of the Unification Church's contribution to society was that it was primarily carried out on an internal scale. However, as Dr. Han takes the lead, she plans to increase the scale of the church's social welfare projects, as well as making the work more publicly visible. One of these projects is the Wonmo Pyeongae Foundation. Speaking on February 20 of this year, as the foundation was inaugurated with a 100 billion won endowment, Dr. Han described the mission of the foundation, "The Wonmo Pyeongae Foundation will play a major role in cultivating future leaders and will serve as a portal for a wide variety of sharing and volunteer programs focusing on contributing to society for the public benefit."Along with the launch of the Wonmo Pyeongae Foundation, Dr. Han provided the initial endowment for the foundation combining 50 billion won in funds sent as memorial contributions for Rev. Moon's Seonghwa, the proceeds from the sale of Rev. Moon's private helicopter and other contributions, totaling up to 110 billion won. The establishment of the Wonmo Pyeongae Foundation had first been announced by Rev. Moon on August 8, 2011, when he spoke to members gathered in Las Vegas and he had mentioned it several times after that. Plans are for the Wonmo Pyeongae Foundation to expand around the world with a "great promise of 1% kind sharing for the future." Plans are that the foundation will gather donations not only from church members, but also from religious and society leaders around the world who share the foundation's vision for peace. In order to provide rigorous training for the leaders of the future, Dr. Han has also established a Universal Peace Academy. One of the first projects of the Wonmo Pyeongae Foundation will be to focus on developing scholarship programs to provide talented young people with education combining vision and ideology, including the goal of establishing the Good Scholar Peace Prize. The Good Scholar Peace Prize will be awarded to a person, group or community who has demonstrated their dedication to work for world peace. Regarding the prize, Rev. Moon has said, "This prize should become more precious than the Nobel peace prize."The scholarship project does not end with providing scholarship funds, but continues by providing students with an education system to develop their own projects following a vision of peace. When applying for scholarships, applicants are asked to write an essay describing their vision for peace. During school vacations, they participate in enrichment programs including Dream Camp, academic mentoring, and Dram Talk meetings with upperclassmen. Currently, 41 students from nine countries are attending the five year program at the Universal Peace Academy, which was founded with a focus on educating talented students as future leaders.

Dedicated to Inheriting Rev. Moon's Ideological Work

Throughout the past year, Dr. Han has dedicated herself to the process of inheriting the traditions and work of Rev. Moon. Among them is the work of compiling the Cheon Il Guk scriptures. The most recent of these is an expanded version of the Cheon Seong Gyeong, a collection of excerpts from Rev. Moon's speeches and Pyeong Hwa Gyeong, a collection of public speeches delivered by Rev. Moon and Dr. Han. A third volume, Cham Bumo Gyeong, recording the lifetime achievements of Rev. Moon, is slated for release in commemoration of the 2nd Foundation Day to be celebrated February 12, 2014 (January 13 by the lunar calendar).

This new expansion of the Cheon Seong Gyeong will supplement the previous edition that was published in the early 2000's and features material from speeches given by Rev. Moon after 2000. Approximately615 volumes of Rev. Moon's sermons have been published and the whole series was searched in selecting the material for this volume, which is arranged in sections describing various topics. The previous edition of the Cheon Seong Gyeong contained material from only the first 400 volumes of sermons and included a great deal of duplicated material as it had been assembled from a compilation of previously published excerpts. Pyeong Hwa Gyeong contains 178 speeches selected from 340 public speeches. Dr. Han also announced plans to create a museum dedicated to Rev. Moon's life work in support of efforts to continue his work.

During the past year, Dr. Han has emphasized the tradition over lineage in her decisions regarding the reorganization of the Unification Church. She has also taken positive action towards mending the division and discord in the Tongil Group, including the direction that various lawsuits in process should be halted. Also, she has invested time in developing a new plan, including the creation of a system of laws and the designation of a national flag, anthem and flower in order to proceed with the settlement of the Universal United Nation of Cheon Il Guk that Rev. Moon had envisioned.

Women's Activities and Relief Work

Although, unlike Rev. Moon, Dr. Han had seldom been noticed by the mainstream media in Korea, she has always showed a steady interest in women's activities and efforts to offer relief for the poor. Dr. Han has been leading women's activities through the Women’s Federation for World Peace, established April 10, 1992, with a focus on true families, a healthy, moral society and the true love spirit of women, which now has branches in 194 countries worldwide.

Dr. Han toured 113 cities in throughout the US, Japan, China, Russia and other places in 1992, taking the lead in motivating women to work for peace, speaking on "World Peace and the Role of Women." She emphasized the importance of a women's leadership style focusing on the logic of love, rather than the power-driven logic often utilized in the masculine style of leadership, as well as on the importance of the role of the mother in building and maintaining healthy families and societies. The tour included public appearances at the US Congress, the Japanese Diet, the Kremlin and the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. In September 1993, after Dr. Han appeared at the UN General Assembly Hall by special invitation, the Women's Federation for World Peace applied to the Economic and Social Council of the UN and in May of 1997,the WFWP was approved as an NGO in general consultative status with the council. Dr. Han did not stop at this. She also set up the voluntary service organization Aewon, which carries out relief projects for refugees in Africa and other areas.

Dr. Han has received Honorary Doctorates from several institutions, including Bloomfield College in New Jersey, the University of Bridgeport, Taiwan University of Culture, Kyrgyzstan State Pedagogical University and the National Science Academy, as well as Upper Volga University in Russia.

With her leadership style, marked by integrity and compassion, Dr. Han has assumed her new post, taking on Rev. Moon's work for world peace and the salvation of humankind. From inside the church and out, all eyes are on her as she comes forward, hiding her concern over the struggles within the church and investing all her energy to carry on her husband's legacy. Not for a moment has she faltered as she leads the church forward, because she has taken over Rev. Moon's very life and is moving forward just as he did.

Media Focuses on Future of the Unification Church

With the first anniversary of his Seonghwa, the press is taking a second look at Rev. Moon and several feature stories about him have been issued. SBS TV broadcasted a special documentary on the growth of Korea as a cultural powerhouse, focusing on institutions established by Rev. Moon, such as the Little Angels folk dance company, Universal Ballet and Sun Hwa Arts Middle and High Schools, which have served as elite training grounds for the performing arts and for which the future looks bright. MBCnet broadcasted a documentary, "A Life dedicated to Peace and Unification, Sun Myung Moon,” which took retroactive look at how Sun Myung Moon devoted his life toward the reunification of Korea and to making a peaceful world. In addition, Chosun Ilbo, Donga Ilbo and Hankook Ilbo sent reporters to the first anniversary memorial service that was attended by 25,000 and published detailed accounts of the events. The Seoul Shinmun and Kyunghyang Shinmun newspapers interviewed Hak Ja Han Moon before the memorial and published articles focusing on her efforts to improve the leadership system in the church. Shindonga and the Monthly Jungang newspapers published interviews discussing the work of the Family Federation for World Peace and the Women's Federation for World Peace. The Weekly Donga also published an interview regarding the activities of the Youth Federation for World Peace. Correspondents from over 50 news outlets, including AP, Reuters, AFP, Al Jazeera, Japan's NHK &TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting), Korea's KBS, MBC and many other media outlets were present at the first memorial service and reported on Rev. Moon's many activities for peace. Truly, the world has entered the age of women. In the future, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, who spent more than 50 years at the side of Rev. Moon, supporting him as he sought to realize the ideal of world peace, will bring forward her vision as a woman religious leader and we can look forward to the growth and development of the Family Federation for World Peace as a living faith and a faith for the people.