Hak Ja Han
February 2015
Monthly JoongAng Magazine
Translated by Tongil Group, Steve Sakuwa
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification’s Vision for Peace and Unification in 2015
Working hard in society to become a religion that answers the needs of the citizens… Investing to prepare a blueprint for the age of the Korean reunification, centered on the ideals of the citizens
The late Rev. Sun Myung Moon (1920-2012) founded the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification in 1950, just after the Korean War ended. He embraced the suffering people of his nation through reconciliation and peace, and spread the message of unification throughout the world. Thanks to his efforts, the Family Federation has grown to become a global religion, with chapters in about 190 nations throughout the world. Through his teaching of “shedding sweat for the earth, tears for humankind and blood for heaven,” the members of the Unification Movement have grown together in true love.
On January 13th 2013, one year after Rev. Moon’s Seonghwa, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon made a new start for the Family Federation with the proclamation of Foundation Day of Cheon Il Guk.
Foundation Day is the staging point for the ideal world of creation longed for by God. Since the proclamation of Foundation Day, Dr. Han has been working hard to support many businesses and enterprises that are laying the way for Cheon Il Guk. One such enterprise is the publication of the Cheon Il Guk Scriptures, which are to become the basis of Cheon Il Guk, and the establishment of the Cheon Il Guk Constitution. She then restructured the worldwide Unification Movement based on the new Constitution, and appointed a new Cheon Il Guk Supreme Council and new leaders for the top organizations.
After the launch of Foundation Day, Dr. Han introduced “Vision 2020.” The year 2020 marks the 100th anniversary since Rev. Moon’s birth, 77 years since Dr. Han’s birth, and the 60th anniversary of the couple’s holy marriage.
In 2014, the Family Federation celebrated its 60th anniversary, and emphasized restructuring upon the basis of witnessing and fostering leaders in each church around the world. This is one of the ways in which the Federation seeks to become a religion deeply needed by the citizens of society.
The Family Federation, together with the Korean Multicultural Peace Federation, is tearing down the walls of religion, race, culture and national borders to establish the ideal of humankind as one family of global citizens by opening the “2014 Multicultural Peace Festival in Korea,” and by establishing service organizations in regions throughout the nation to encourage volunteering in rural areas.
To bring about interreligious reconciliation and Korean reunification
The Family Federation held the “2014 Peace Bike Unification Tour” in collaboration with Unification Korea Foundation Corps and the “2014 One Race Peace and Unification Symposium.” Both events were widely attended. They also banded together with the Korean Religious Association, and contributed to the interreligious conversation and to reconciliation between religions.
Last June, the Family Federation met with the executive chief of the Korean Buddhist Taegyo Order Monk Dosan and Korean Islam Central Association President Shin Man Jong concerning cooperation between their religions. And in December, the Federation worked with the Korean Mormon Church to bring about exchange and cooperation between the two religions.
The Family Federation is working hard to create a multicultural society by initiating a wide variety of multicultural projects. Centering on Rev. and Dr. Moon’s vision of “One Family Under God,” many movements have been established to break down the barriers of race, nation, religion and culture, and to work toward realizing a peaceful world.
Rev. and Dr. Moon have been commended for the international marriage blessing ceremony that they have developed, in which couples from conflicting backgrounds get married in order to create peace through reconciliation and cooperation. Foreign wives who have been blessed to Korean husbands work especially hard to realize the traditional Korean values of filial piety and passion. These women, through their lives of service, have changed fixed ideas and prejudices that Korean society holds towards international marriage, and have become the stars of “Korea, a Multicultural Society.”
The Korean Multicultural Peace Association supported the founding of the alternative “True Love Peace School” at the boarding high school in beginning of 2015, with the goal of fostering talented youth who can become global leaders of the age of multiculturalism. The “True Love Peace School” plans to focus on helping the children of multicultural families who have trouble adjusting to standard education curriculums, by instilling then with a strong sense of confidence and identity, as well as assisting them with studying and earning their diplomas.
Rev. and Dr. Moon have made many efforts over the years to contribute to the unification of North and South Korea. They established the Citizens’ Federation for the Unification of Fatherland, and have worked with many unification movements.
One project that the Unification Movement created for citizens last year that gained a lot of attention was the “2014 Peace Bike Unification Tour (Peace Bike 2014).” The tour, that carried with it hopes of the construction of a peace park in the DMZ and the realization of the Korea-Japan Undersea Tunnel, spanned over 3,800 km between Japan and Korea. Fourteen other nations participated in the tour as well, including the United States, China, Russia and Israel, crossing a distance of over 6,000 combined kilometers.
In 2015, the Family Federation plans to focus on the 2nd Anniversary of Foundation Day in the first half of the year, and the 3rd Anniversary of the Seonghwa in the second half of the year. They will hold an international marriage blessing ceremony, the fruit of the true family movement which transcends national and racial barriers. They also plan to hold the 21st World Media Conference in Seoul, a conference for the media that strives to create a peaceful world.
The Peace Bike Tour 2015 Organization Council has been formed in order to expand the peace and unification bicycle tour to include 120 nations. People from around the world will come together in reconciliation, unification and peace for this event. The 1st Sunhak Peace Prize Awards Ceremony will be held as well, in the spirit of spreading the hopes and wishes for world peace.
Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon is the center of all of these events. She has poured her heart and soul into the fostering of young leaders that will guide us into the future. She recently supervised the “Cranes Club,” a gathering of 2nd generation leaders in Las Vegas, U.S.A., and told the young leaders gathered there to “become central leaders who carry their hopes and dreams with them as they prepare their skills and abilities to expand the horizons of the future.” We greatly anticipate many expansive projects initiated by Dr. Han and the Family Federation for Peace and Unification throughout 2015.