Unification Church

Left: Reverend Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon Meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union in 1990. Right: Meeting President Kim Il-Sung in DPRK in 1991.

The Unification Church is a religious movement, often described as a cult, founded in South Korea by the late multimillionaire and self-proclaimed messiah Reverend Sun Myung Moon. Since its founding in 1954, the movement has attracted hundreds of thousands of members in more than 100 countries, mostly in Korea, Japan, and other East Asian nations. The church has been regularly accused of conning new recruits, holding them against their will, splitting families and forcing initiates to give over their life savings. The church and its adherents are sometimes colloquially and pejoratively known as Moonies.

The numerous political, business, cultural, and religious activities associated with Rev. Sun Myung Moon have also been referred to in U.S. government reports as the Moon Organization. According to a 1978 U.S. report, by the end of 1973, "industries run by the Moon Organization had become defense contractors for the Government, and ROK officials were attending anti-Communist indoctrination sessions at a Moon training center."

The church is known for its mass wedding ceremonies and promotion of the belief that international marriages will bring about world peace. The Unification Church has also had involvement in both the unification movement of the Korean peninsula, as well as holding strong conservative and anti-communist tendencies. Since the death of Reverend Moon, his various family members have continued carrying on on the work of the Unification Church. In particular, his wife, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, is a prominent figure in the church.

Business and political activities

Former US Defense Secretary Mark Esper delivers a keynote speech at the 4th THINK TANK 2022 Forum, organized by Rev. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon's Universal Peace Federation.

In later years, the church built a business empire that included the Washington Times newspaper, the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan, Bridgeport University in Connecticut, as well as a hotel and a car plant, Pyeonghwa Motors (평화자동차), in DPRK. It acquired a ski resort, a professional soccer team and other businesses in South Korea, and a seafood firm that supplies sushi to Japanese restaurants across the United States. Additionally, a 1978 U.S. report states that Tong II Industries Co., a Korean component of the Moon Organization which manufactures parts for the M-16 rifle for the Korean Government, negotiated with the American patent holder for permission to export Korean-made M-16 rifles, apparently acting on behalf of the Korean Government.

In 2022, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, Reverend Moon's wife, co-founder of Think Tank 2022, hosted the Think Tank 2022 Forum, which featured a number of leading conservative figures and members of the bourgeois class, such as Raytheon lobbyist and former U.S. Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, to discuss the question of security and reunification of Korea. Among the keynote speakers listed for the event were Shinzo Abe, Donald Trump, Samdech Hun Sen, 8th secretary-general of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, and multimillionaire investor Jim Rogers and also featured U.S. politicians Mike Pompeo and Mike Pence.

On July 7, 2022, while former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe was giving a speech in Okayama City, he was shot and killed by Yamagami Tetsuya, citing the former prime minister's involvement in the Unification Church as his reason. Yamagami's mother reportedly had given large amounts of money to the Unification Church.

Connection to Korean Central Intelligence Agency

According to a 1978 report conducted by a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives, Pak Bo Hi, a military attaché at the ROK Embassy in Washington and a "key figure in the Moon Organization" was sought out by the KCIA as part of its plan to "increase its manpower by using other than regular KCIA officials" and at one point, Pak Bo Hi "acted as a conduit for a KCIA payment of $3,000 to a Japanese Unification Church member." The report also states that "In pursuit of its own goals, the Moon Organization at various times has submitted to the control of, and has coordinated its activities with, the Korean Government" and has organized as well as cancelled demonstrations in Washington "at the behest of the KCIA."

Reverend Sun Myung Moon

Rev. Moon met with US President Richard Nixon during the Watergate crisis of 1974 and called on Americans to "forgive, love and unite."

According to Moon's biography on the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) website, Jesus appeared to him in 1935 and asked him to complete the task of establishing God's kingdom on earth and bringing peace to humankind. Rev. Moon has been imprisoned six times under four governments: Japan, North Korea, South Korea and the United States. The International Federation for Victory Over Communism was the first of many organizations and activities founded by Rev. Moon to "bring about the peaceful downfall of communism." Rev. Moon taught that communism should be defeated ideologically "through education about the fallacies of Marxism-Leninism", offering a counterproposal consisting of universal principles called Godism, which he promoted through conferences, global networking, rallies and demonstrations in Asia, the United States and Latin America. According to the UPF biography, "God directed Rev. Moon to expand his ministry to the world level by going to the United States in 1971" and he went on a speaking tour in the U.S. with the purpose of reviving traditional Judeo-Christian values. Moon began spreading his message to other countries, and by the mid-1970s, held a rally attended by 1.2 million people. Rev. Moon "spoke a message of determination to stand against communism in South Korea and establish a world centered on God" at the height of the Cold War. An estimated 300,000 people came to hear Reverend Moon speak at the "God Bless America Festival" on September 18, 1976 at the Washington Monument in the nation's capital.

Moon also developed good relationships with conservative American leaders, including Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George Bush Senior. However, he was found guilty of tax evasion in the United States, where he lived for 30 years, and served 13 months of an 18 month sentence. At the time of his death in 2012, Reverend Moon had a net worth of $900 million.