Thomas (Yop Joo) Hwang Promoted to International Vice President of Family Federation

Rev. Yop Joo (Thomas) Hwang has been appointed to the position of International Vice President of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. Dr. Chang Shik Yang has been reassigned from the position of International Executive Vice-President to the position of International Vice-President, according to a church memo from Dr. Chang Shik Yang distributed last week.

“From now, the newly appointed International Vice-President Hwang shall oversee operations related to the mission and be responsible for reporting to True Parents the situation of the mission in each nation beginning with the strategic and providential nations. Furthermore, Rev. Hwang will be responsible to convey True Parents’ directions in relation to missionary activities,” Dr. Yang wrote in the memo dated Sept. 23, 2013.

Rev. Hwang takes over the responsibility for the World Mission Department, whereas Dr. Yang will be responsible for the church Rev. Thomas (Yop Joo) Hwang and movement in Korea, sources in Korea tell Unification News.

Background of Rev. Hwang

Rev. Thomas Hwang (Korean name pronounced “Hwang Yop Joo”) joined the Unification Church in November, 1965, in Cheongju, Korea, at the age of 16. He was an active member of the Seonghwa High School Student group in the Cheongju Church.

After completing high school and three years of mandatory military service, he entered Yonsei University in Seoul, graduating in 1976. He began his public mission as a CARP center leader in 1977. He attended the Korea Methodist Seminary for two years from 1978 to 1979, and later served as a lecturer at the Unification Theological Seminary in Seoul.

After being matched in 1978 with his American wife, Kathleen, Rev. Hwang came to the United States in 1980. The couple was blessed on July 1, 1982 in Madison Square Garden in New York, one of the 2075 couples.

Rev. Hwang worked as a CARP center leader in Los Angeles for one year, at the World Mission Center in New York for one year, and served as assistant to Rev. Im Do Soon in Ocean Church for one year. In 1983, he was appointed Korean Evangelical Association (KEA) leader in Boston.

In 1985, True Father assigned Rev. Hwang as a missionary to China, and in December of that year he moved with his family to the Yanbian region of northeast China. Both Rev. and Mrs. Hwang were invited by the Foreign Experts Bureau of China to teach English classes at Yanbian University, where Rev. Hwang also gave lectures in Korean history. In 1988, he transferred to Heilongjiang University in Harbin, and in 1989 to the University of Nationalities in Beijing. In 1995 he was invited to become a visiting

scholar at People’s University in Beijing, where he set up a Korean Studies Institute and lectured on Korean history, culture and language.

In 1996, Father assigned Rev. Hwang as National Messiah to China. Since that time, he has participated in the National Messiah providence around the world, including fishing in the Pantanal and Alaska and many other activities.

In 1998, the Hwang’s moved to Hong Kong after the territory reverted to Chinese rule. (Unlike the rest of China, Hong Kong enjoys religious freedom.) There he served as Chairman of FFWPU. He also published a Chinese-language newspaper, The Global Rev. Hwang and wife, Kathleen, with their grandsons Family Times, for several years.

In 2013, Rev. and Mrs. Hwang moved to Korea, after True Mother called all National Messiahs to return to Korea. They worked together on the translation into English of the new Cheon Seong Gyeong for six months. On Sept. 23, 2012 True Mother assigned Rev. Hwang as International Vice President, to lead the World Mission Department.

The Hwang’s have three children – Nam Hi, Dae Hi and Jaimee – and two small grandsons.