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- Home > News > News Articles
| Title | [Weekly Chosun] Interview with International President of Unificationism | |||
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| Date | 2009-11-18 | Hit | 8782 | |
| The following article was published in the leading South Korean weekly news magazine Weekly Chosun (Issue No. 2057, May 27, 2009) -- editor Unification Church's Youthful President Is Hyung Jin Moon 7th Son of Sun Myung Moon By Reporter Dong Hoon Lee  ▲ Hyung Jin Moon Photo by Seung Wan Kim, Chosun Video Media Immersed himself in Buddhism, and walked about Harvard campus with shaven head Moved when father took him to a Buddhist Temple and encouraged him in his Buddhist studies Born 1979 in New York, USA Philosophy major at Harvard University Graduated Harvard Divinity School Present Position: International President of the Unification Church (Family Federation for World Peace and Unification) The generational change within the Unification Church (Family Federation for World Peace and Unification) is picking up speed. Accordingly, increasing attention is being focused on the next generation of leaders who will carry on the work of Rev. Sun Myung Moon (90), who until now has led its religious and business aspects with messianic charisma. Within the Church, it is understood that it has been arranged for Rev. Moon’s fourth son Kook Jin Moon (39) to take over the HSA-UWC Support Foundation and affiliated businesses and for his seventh son Hyung Jin Moon (30) to be responsible for the religious aspects. Chairman Kook Jin Moon of the Support Foundation has been relatively active both inside and outside of the Church. By contrast, Rev. Hyung Jin Moon, who was inaugurated last April as the International President and President for Korea of FFWPU, is as yet hidden behind a veil of mystery. Even when I met him on May 19th at the Unification Church’s Headquarters Church located in Cheongpa-Dong in Yongsan-Gu, Seoul, he smiled rather embarrassedly and said with a humble attitude, “Though my elder brother Kook Jin and I are handling Church affairs on our father’s behalf, our father still makes the important decisions.” The Headquarters Church is the place where the elder Rev. Moon first began his mission work. Rev. Hyung Jin Moon, who has succeeded his father in leading the worldwide membership of 10 million, was not always a devout Unification Church member. Born in 1979 and raised in Westchester County, New York, where a private residence of Rev. Sun Myung Moon is located, Rev. Hyung Jin Moon was an ordinary child in his youth and did not show much interest in religion. He was a typical Kung fu kid, idolizing Bruce Lee and imitating his Jeet Kune Do moves and its characteristic shouts. Born in New York, he was a Kung Fu kid imitating Bruce Lee Older brother’s sudden death motivated his interest in Buddhism “This was before Jackie Chan and Jet Lee had much popularity in the States,” the younger Rev. Moon said. “Bruce Lee was still very popular, and the walls of my room were basically covered with his posters. There was a time at the beginning when I thought the activities of my father were a kind of a show. So I had planned not to become involved in religion, but instead to go into business after graduation.” His older siblings nicknamed him ‘Lovey’, because they found the young, naïve Hyung Jin imitating Bruce Lee to be lovable. Inevitably, his school days were a little different from those of his peers. The label “Youngest Son of Sun Myung Moon” followed him wherever he went, and there were even phone calls to his home by unknown persons threatening to kidnap or kill him. In the 1970s, when his father first began working in the US and rapidly expanded his religious influence, comparing America’s sexual and moral degradation to that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Christians looked at him with suspicion. Even the US government eyed the Unification Church with apprehension. Hyung Jin, still too young to be aware of such circumstances, had to be accompanied by bodyguards every time he left his family’s home. Then an incident involving his older brother Young Jin completely transformed the young Rev. Moon’s life. Hyung Jin deeply respected his older brother and had followed him everywhere when they were young. Then one day, the sixth son of the family fell to his death from a building in Reno, Nevada, under mysterious circumstances. The exact cause of Young Jin’s death has never been determined, though some view it as suicide. “After my older brother passed away, I took the books in his room that he had been reading and read them myself. He was majoring in East Asian studies at Columbia University, so his bookshelves were full of books on Confucianism, Taoism and Zen Buddhism. As I read these, I began to think about life, and I particularly felt an interest in Zen Buddhism.” His father encouraged him to “Study more about Buddhism” “For a time, I thought my father was putting on a show” After the death of his brother, who had been like a friend to him, Rev. Hyung Jin Moon roamed the Harvard campus where he was an undergraduate with his head shaved and dressed in the gray robes of a Buddhist monk. He even attended the daily morning prayer meetings presided over by his father wearing his Buddhist garb and carrying a wooden Buddhist prayer block. Some Unification Church members whispered among themselves that the youngest son of Rev. Moon had become a Buddhist, and some even criticized him behind his back. His father admonished such members, telling them, “Don’t criticize Hyung Jin” and supported his son. “It seems that Church members were really shocked when I appeared with a shaved head. But my father told them, ‘This child is studying religion’ and actually encouraged me to study more about Buddhism. “He even took me himself to Bulguksa temple, the Cave Temple and Haeinsa temple in Gyeongju and toured them with me.” His contact with Korean Buddhism under his father’s guidance, actually led the young Rev. Moon to a decision to dedicate himself to the Unification Church. He had become convinced of his father’s sincerity and the tolerance of the Unification Church to other religious views. “It was very impressive to see someone with such a deep love for Jesus also exhibit a love for temples (Buddha),” Rev. Moon said. “The truth is, I had suspicions that my father was merely putting on a show, but his religious tolerance made me a true believer in the Unification Church.”  ▲ (left) Rev. Hyung Jin Moon and his wife, Yeon Ah Lee / (right) Hyung Jin Moon, with shaved head, meets the Dalai Lama Voting system implemented in choosing regional directors Financial team established, Greater transparency given to management of donations As president, Rev. Moon’s religious diversity of has given him opportunities to spread the word about the Unification Church widely to the general public, including followers of other religions, who often held the impression that the Unification Church was a closed organization. During his stay in the U.S., Rev. Moon traveled to visit the Dalai Lama of Tibet. In Korea, he attended the funeral of Buddhist monk Beopjang, the former leader of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, and made a call of condolences upon the death of Stephen Cardinal Kim Sou Hwan, the former Catholic Archbishop of Seoul. Changes have come to the Unification Church since July 2007, when Rev. Moon began his ministry in Korea. The most significant of these has been the implementation of Buddhist-style meditation sessions during Sunday services. Changes have been made in the organization of the Church as well. The selection of regional leaders at the provincial or municipal levels is done by bottom-up elections, instead of the previous method of top-down appointments. “Perhaps it’s because my siblings and I were either born in the U.S. or studied there,” Rev. Moon said, “but we believe that the person most respected within a community should be its leader. “In the past, when the top leader made all the decisions, people tried only to get on his good side. I implemented a culture of transparency and equality in the Unification Church. Of course, there are side effects of voting as well, but its advantages far outweigh its disadvantages.” In addition, Rev. Moon established a professional financial affairs team in charge of managing church donations, and this has raised the level of transparency in the management of such funds. After the implementation of such changes, the number of believers in Korea, which had been on the decrease, began to rise last year. Within the Church the assessment is that the change in Church leadership has begun to show positive results. Despite the differences in their leadership styles, the younger Rev. Moon holds his charismatic father in deep respect. “My father has strong spiritual charisma,” he said. “As in the case of all religious founders, he has succeeded after enduring much persecution, and words are not enough to express the strength of his religious determination. His determination is so great that you feel he can overcome any obstacles. “Even after he was in the helicopter accident last year, he insisted on having an ambulance take him from the hospital every morning to attend the regular 5 am morning prayer meetings. I believe it was his spiritual strength that enabled him miraculously to escape injury in the helicopter crash.” Two of Rev. Hyung Jin Moon’s children were also aboard the helicopter that crashed on July 19, 2008, on a mountain in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province. None of the 16 passengers aboard were seriously injured. The same area where this crash occurred had once been the site of the crash of a military helicopter that resulted in the deaths of all aboard. “The survival of all of the passengers in a helicopter crash is unprecedented, even in the world.” Rev. Hyung Jin Moon said. On the criticism in some quarters over the father-to-son succession in a religious organization, Rev. Moon drew on the example of Jesus and Paul. “No matter how good a preacher Paul may have been, he could never be Jesus,” he said. “Similarly, I am not the representative or the heir of my father but only the person who conveys his teachings.” “The Unification Church must move forward centering on my father, Rev. Sun Myung Moon,” he said. “If my father dismisses me, then I should leave (the Church leadership role).” Married in a Mass Marriage at age 19 according to Unification Church custom “My first priority is to recover the self-confidence of the Church members” As befits the leader of the Unification Church, which focuses on the formation of families, Rev. Hyung Jin Moon was married early in life. On September 6, 1997, the year he turned 19, he was married to Yeon Ah Lee (now 31), a daughter of a minister of the Unification Church and a year older than he. Though still relatively young, he is now the father of four sons and a daughter. At present, his wife is also recognized as a minister and she assists him in every way possible in his ministry. The couple rises every morning at 2:30 am, without fail, and begins their day with prayer and meditation. Rev. Moon also explained about the Korean-Japanese international weddings, which have taken root as a trademark event of the Unification Church. At present, some 10,000 Korean-Japanese couples live in Korea and about another 3,000 live in Japan. All these were brought together through the Korean-Japanese international marriages officiated by the Unification Church. Last year, another 500 couples were married internationally. “In the Unification Church, we usually match couples internationally, between countries that are historical enemies,” Rev. Moon said. “Christianity teaches, ‘Love your enemies,” but the Unification Church goes a step further and says, ‘Marry your enemies’. “When people from enemy countries marry and have children, then the grandparents become a family as well, and they can never hate each other. So we encourage marriages between Koreans and Japanese, Japanese and Americans, Americans and Russians, and Caucasians and Africans.” Some might think the divorce rate among such couples would be high because of cultural differences or the unique marriage procedure, but the divorce rate is less than 5 percent of all couples. In particular, the more devout the believers are, the lower the divorce rate is. “We should begin a marriage relationship the same way we would begin a spiritual course,” Rev. Moon said. “A husband and wife should encourage each other and make efforts to overcome cultural differences. The family is the basis for all organizations.” He says in the Unification Church, only in the cases where a spouse has had an affair or disappeared is divorce accepted. The Church also has a strict standard with regard to chastity before marriage. This is because, as the example of Adam and Eve illustrates, the Church believes that false love, the love lusting after one another, is the origin of all sins. Neither Rev. Moon nor his wife had any romantic involvements prior to their marriage. “When you get married, you need to have the most precious gift to give to your spouse,” Rev. Moon said. “The most precious gift to your spouse is your pure mind and chaste body. Having children and forming an ideal family when you are chaste is very important in bringing about world peace as well.” At the end of the interview, Rev. Hyung Jin Moon emphasized, “The most important thing is for Unification Church members to recover self-confidence. The Unification Church is still a minority group in our society. Even now, when our members identify themselves as Unification Church members when entering the Korean military, or when our children reveal at school that their families belongs to the Unification Church, they are often required to attend special counseling sessions. My first priority will be to have our members take pride in ourselves.” |
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