The tragic birth of Sammy Pak and how it changed Unification Church history

This photo will give you an idea of how close Miss Choi’s mom, Duk Sam Lee was to True Parents. It shows Father being welcomed home from on his first world tour in 1965 by his immediate family and members. In the red circle is Duk Sam Lee holding baby In Jin Moon.

I’ve waited a long time for those who know more than I do to explain the events surrounding Sammy Pak’s birth, but they have remained silent. I hope that they will now speak up, correcting any mistakes that I’ve made. I keep hearing stranger and stranger rumors about Sammy’s birth from folks who know a lot less than I do. Everything I’ve written here is what I believe to be true.

Introduction

When I joined the Unified Family in 1967, my spiritual father, Jon Schuart, was the oldest member in the center. He had been in the Unified Family for three years. He and his wife Sandy were raised by Sandi Pinkerton, so we heard many stories about the Pinkertons.

When I asked about the Pinkertons I was told that they had stopped following Father. We studied the Divine Principle from a workbook by Jim Fleming; I learned songs revealed to medium Mary Fleming, his wife. They were also gone. So were a number of others that I asked about.

Over the Christmas holiday of 1967-1968 I went to Berkley, and stayed with Edwin Ang and Farley Jones. While witnessing on campus I met Tom Robinson, who had been a pioneer missionary in Florida in 1965. He was no longer a member of the Unified Family, but was still witnessing to Father and trying to start his own movement centering of Father.

I became worried. If all these sainted elders had left Father, how could I possibly follow forever, as I had promised?

I had two big questions: How can I follow Father forever and

What Made So Many Older Members That Father Trained In 1965 Fall Away?

Later in 1968, I was asked to pioneer Mexico. Father had asked Miss (Young Oon) Kim to send missionaries to Canada and Mexico in the summer of 1968. (This is the time that Linna Rapkins and Marie Ang went to Pioneer our Church in Canada.)

Susan Miller and I were going to Mexico. (Susan is Wayne Miller’s cousin and Gary Jarmin’s first wife.) At the last minute it was decided that we were too immature to go and were sent to study with Miss Kim in Washington, DC.

There were a lot of older members who had not left in the DC center. As I got to know them I asked my two questions.

The answer to, “How can I follow Father forever?” is: “Stay in the mainstream by following the Central Figure appointed by Father.”

Over the summer, I kept talking to the older members about our history. I learned what made so many older members that Father trained in 1965 fall away.

Why Miss Kim Was Replaced By Bo Hi Pak

I learned that a lot of older members of the Unified Family left the year before I joined. They had complained to Father about Miss Kim’s leadership. Most (incorrectly) thought that Father did not Bless (marry) them because Miss Kim had given him bad reports about American members. As a result of the complaints Father sent Miss Kim to England in 1965.

Father replaced Miss Kim with Bo Hi Pak to the complaining members joy.

Suddenly Bo Hi Pak Was Replaced By Miss Kim

When Father learned that Dr. Pak had an affair with his live-in-housekeeper and that she was pregnant with Dr. Pak’s baby. Dr. Pak had to resign as leader of the Church in the USA. Father looked for another Korean to lead in the USA but couldn’t find anyone qualified who would go. (From something Chung Hwan Kwak said, I think he was one of those Father asked to go. Rev. Kwak told Father that he didn’t want to leave Korea at such a critical time for the Korean Church. When I heard him talk about it later, he felt bad about not coming.)

Dr. Pak’s affair was a secret, so the complaining members thought that Miss Kim had tricked Father into firing Dr. Pak, so she could come back to the USA. The complaining members left the Church and started their own organizations intending to follow Father directly, but Father would only work through Miss Kim and those organizations slowly faded away. (Tom Robinson kept witnessing for years and in 1983 I met one of his members who joined the Unification Church in Seattle, WA., where I was living.)

The Very Bare Facts Of Sammy Pak’s Birth

Sammy Pak’s mother is a woman that we members used to call Miss Choi. Sammy (Samuel) Pak’s father is Bo Hi Pak (Dr. Pak). While Miss Choi was Dr. Pak’s live-in-housekeeper they had a long running affair in resulting in their son Sammy. Dr. Pak took his son Sammy into his family. Miss Choi was replaced as housekeeper by a Mrs. Lee.

How Miss Choi Became Dr. Pak’s Live-In-Housekeeper

Miss Choi’s mom, Duk Sam Lee was a trusted Church insider who lived in Church Headquarters in Seoul with True Parents and was a part of the staff there. Mrs. Lee heard about Dr. Pak’s appointment to the South Korean Embassy in Washington DC as a Military Attaché and that he could take one servant from Korea to the USA to be his housekeeper.

Mrs. Lee wanted to get her second daughter, Miss Choi, out of Seoul. Mrs. Lee was worried that her daughter was developing the wrong type of ties to a certain brother. Mrs. Lee asked the Paks to take her daughter with them to the USA. When Father was asked he gave his ok to the plan.

Because Father had approved the plan, Father felt responsible for what happened to Miss Choi and tried to keep Miss Choi in the church after her affair with Dr. Pak became known. Father was not involved in the Pak’s negotiations with Miss Choi. Father wanted to set up a situation where Miss Choi could remain in the church and that baby Samuel would be properly cared for.

The Pak family made a contract with Miss Choi that I don’t know much about. Later Miss Choi felt cheated by the Paks and the Church. Father was not in the USA at the time the arrangements were made. Bo Hi Pak had told Father that he would take responsibility for his son Samuel and be sure that Miss Choi was taken care of.

As the Pak’s live-in-housekeeper Miss Choi did a lot more than cook, clean and care for the kids. She also helped with Dr. Pak’s Church work. She worked closely with Dr. Pak on his Radio Free Asia project and other undertakings. They grew close and …

The Fallout Of The Affair

It is a terrible tragedy that we lost those Church elders who Father trained in 1965. Many would not

have left if they had known what had happened.

Even though Dr. Pak’s affair was a secret, some local members found out about why he had to resign. Things came out accidentally as a part of everyday life. As far as I could tell the people who told me didn’t know that other’s knew what had happened. It is a secret that I would have kept, but I love Father and can’t bear Father being persecuted for Dr. Pak’s mistake.

How The Rumor That Father Was Sammy Pak’s Dad Began

Dr. Pak was ashamed of his affair with Miss Choi and never told his children about it. (Mrs. Pak [Ki Sook Yoon] learned of it when Miss Choi became pregnant. Mrs. Pak forgave Dr. Pak.) The Pak children were surprised by Sammy’s birth. Suddenly there was a new baby brother and Dr. Pak’s children knew that their mom, Mrs. Pak hadn’t been pregnant, even though she pretended she was. They knew that Miss Choi didn’t have a social life because they lived in the same house with her. They counted back 9 months from Sammy’s birthday (January 28, 1966) and looked for father candidates who were in the area when Sammy was conceived, around April 28, 1965.

In early April 1965 Father appointed Bo Hi Pak as the leader of the movement in the USA, replacing Young Oon Kim. Father called members to a workshop in Washington DC, which was led by new American leader Bo Hi Pak and Unified Family President Gordon Ross. The workshop ran from April 12 until May 2, 1965.

To the Pak kids the obvious candidates for Sammy’s father were present at the workshop. Koreans at the workshop included: Joon Rhee (a member living in DC), Papasan (Sang Ik) Choi (who Father had just removed as leader of Japan, where he was known as Mr. Nishikawa) and Father. I don’t think that the Pak children ever considered that Bo Hi Pak, their father, could have fathered Sammy with the housekeeper. Those who knew what had gone on didn’t want to hurt Bo Hi Pak’s kids and didn’t say anything to them.

Ignoring the possibility that Dr. Pak was Sammy’s father and thinking of the workshop attendees, the Pak children concluded that Sun Myung Moon must be Sammy’s father. After all, the only person whose child Dr. Pak would bring into his family as his son would be Father. Dr. Pak said that Sammy was his son, but it was assumed Dr. Pak was lying to protect Father. Dr, Pak did nothing to correct this error.

How The Rumor Became Public

For a while Hyo Jin Moon lived with the Paks in the Washington DC area and attended school there. While living with the Paks, Hyo Jin Nim heard the rumor that Sammy was his, Hyo Jin’s, half-brother. Years later Hyo Jin told a sister named Madeline Pretorius that Sammy Pak was actually his physical brother. Madeline repeated the story to Hyo Jin’s first wife Nan Sook Hong. Nan Sook included the story in her notorious book about her life with the Moon family. Because no one directly and publicly denied it, it became gospel that Sammy Pak’s father was Sun Myung Moon.

It was easy to believe that Sammy wasn’t a Pak, because not being Mrs. Pak’s child, he doesn’t have her distinctive bulging eyes the way that her physical children do; so he doesn’t look like his siblings. No wonder the announcement of his birth said that Sammy weighed 6.6 lbs. and looks like his father, Bo Hi Pak.

When the Paks asked Sun Myung Moon to name their new son, Father named him “Samuel.” It is very unusual for Father gave a biblical name to a child. Samuel is the Old Testament Judge who was raised by his father, Eli the High Priest, who wasn’t married to Samuel’s mother, Hanna.

Bo Hi Pak Didn’t Defend Father

At the time of Nan Sook’s book I expected Dr. Pak to step up and take a DNA paternity test to prove that he was Sammy’s physical father. He didn’t. He didn’t even publicly admit what happened. He didn’t clarify his old statements that he was Sammy’s father by adding he was Sammy’s physical, natural, birth father.

When Sun Myung Moon was asked about his being Sammy’s father, all he would say is that he never misused his sexual organ. Father couldn’t bring himself to out Dr. Pak, who had confessed his affair in secret to Father in 1966. Father waited for Dr. Pak to tell the truth.

This led some faithful members to believe Father had committed adultery and was Sammy’s father, but did it for some mystical reason and that Father didn’t think it was a sin. Of course this is not the case; Bo Hi Pak is Sammy Pak’s birth father, not Sun Myung Moon.

Father claimed his two sons, Sung Jin Moon (born in 1945) and Hee Jin Moon (born in 1955) that he had before he married Holy Mother Hak Ja Han. Father was proud of them and kept them with the rest of his

family in the 1960s. Father wanted 12 sons if Sammy Pak was his physical son he would have claimed him just like his other sons.

My Opinions About What Happened

I give kudos to Father for loving Dr. Pak and not revealing Dr. Pak’s sin, even when Dr. Pak, by his silence, was embarrassing Father and acting against Father’s and the church’s interests.

I think that it is shameful that Bo Hi Pak let Father take the heat for Bo Hi Pak’s sin. I also believe that Dr. Pak’s heroic efforts in working for our church should not be overshadowed by a mistake made decades ago. Dr. Pak has pioneered so many heavenly projects that they would be hard to list; he has touched thousands of lives, including mine, with his good works. I’m grateful for Dr. Pak’s many distinguished works. I wish that I didn’t have to expose his mistake, but it seems like the only way to begin to clear Father of the false accusation that he is an adulterer and Sammy Pak’s dad.

I feel that Mrs. Pak is a hero; forgiving Dr. Pak’s fall, saving her family, and raising her husband’s son by another woman.

I apologize to the entire Pak family for making public something that should be their family secret, and no outsider’s business. I hope that they will understand that my motivation is to clear an innocent person of a false allegations and that they will forgive me.

I sympathize with Sammy. Dr. Pak’s not setting things strait publicly is putting pressure on Sammy, who doesn’t know who is father is.

I hope that Sammy Pak will take a sibling DNA test with one of his brothers or sisters and put an end to the rumor that he is Sun Myung Moon’s physical child.

I feel sorry for Miss Choi, who seems to have become bitter and grasping. I imagine that Miss Choi had to wait (over 40 years) for witnesses to die before she made her allegations. It looks like she has a lot of anger over her affair; feeling abandoned by Dr. Pak; and for giving up Sammy. I’m sorry that she was not treated more kindly and lovingly in the 1960s. Unfortunately it sounds to me like she has become a cynical x-member trying to cash in on the accusations and lies of those who resent Rev. Moon and the Unification Church.