HSA-UWC: Highlights of Recent Years

The regular summer witnessing and winter enlightenment programs continued and expanded as the work of HSA grew in Korea. In the winter of 1970-71 1,200 women were assigned a special three-year mission of witnessing and teaching throughout the Korean countryside. Organized in 120 teams of ten each they taught children, established kindergartens, enlightened the uneducated country people as part of the general enlightenment program, and taught the Divine Principle. In the summer of 1972, 360 volunteer pioneer evangelists were organized to visit every county in the Republic of Korea.

Beginning on November 26, 1970, special two or three day hearings of the Divine Principle were offered in Korea, attended by Christian pastors and church leaders. By the eleventh such hearing, August 24-26, 1971, 716 pastors had participated in the program. Guest speakers have included Reverend Nakamura, Japanese leader of the Union Church Movement.

At least eleven seminars on the Divine Principle for some 600 professors and prominent people have been held since January 10, 1971. At the tenth seminar, December 27-29, 1972, Dr. Sang Hun Lee introduced several lectures from the newly developed Unification Thought, an application of the Divine Principle to philosophical fields such as ontology, ethics, epistemology, and theory of history.

In 1972 in Japan, 600 volunteers were organized into One World Crusade teams in order to teach the Divine Principle and the theory of Victory Over Communism. By the fall of that year, the Japanese One World Crusade was expanded to 51 units, one for each district of the country.

The United States saw the beginnings of mobilization in a team of five people who set out on a pioneer mission on December 15, 1971. This was expanded to approximately 80 “pioneers” who gathered in New York City on January 14, 1972 for intensive training in the Divine Principle and publicity for the first public speaking tour of Reverend Moon, beginning on February 3 in Alice Tully Hall. His Day of Hope Tour of seven cities concluded in Berkeley, California on March 11, when forty individuals drew names of states out of a plate and went alone to pioneer new Unification Church centers in those states. The remaining trainees were divided into two One World Crusade teams, commanded by Miss Young Oon Kim and Mr. David S.C. Kim. Forty-one new pioneers joined the others at a training session in August 1972 and a third One World Crusade team was formed. On his return to the United States that December, Reverend Moon conducted a third training program and expanded the One World Crusade teams to ten teams of ten each. These were soon joined by approximately 100 European members, ten to each American team.

At the May 1973 Director’s Conference, each of the 50 states of the United States was assigned one mobile unit of the One World Crusade.

The Belvedere estate in Tarrytown, New York, was acquired as a training center on October 10, 1972. On March 1, 1973, a hundred-day training program was instituted there for Unification Church leaders throughout the world. Forty-three men arrived for the first training program, and approximately 200 graduated from this program by May 1974.

For the 1973 Day of Hope tour in 21 cities, most of the Unification Church and One World Crusade members in the United States were mobilized. Three International One World Crusade units rotated cities in making preparations for Reverend Moon’s speeches, and members from neighboring areas assisted in many ways. This tour, from October 1, 1973 co January 29, 1974 was enlivened by Reverend Moon’s Watergate Statement, issued in Minneapolis, Minnesota on November 30. His appeal co “Forgive, Love, and Unite” was dramatized in three nation-wide rallies, December 14, January 21, and January 31, and climaxed by a meeting with President Nixon on February 1. Rallies in Japan, Korea, Germany, England, and other countries drew world-wide attention co his message.

A 32-city Day of Hope tour from February 15 co April 20 carried Reverend Moon’s message on the New Future of Christianity to all scares of the Union. At the conclusion of this tour, the United States was organized into ten regions, each under the leadership of an International One World Crusade commander and his team.

An entirely new outreach of the Unification Church is the Sun Myung Moon Christian Crusade, launched in Oakland, California on May 15, 1974. A “Celebration of Life,” it features singing by the International New Hope Singers, folk dances by the Korean Folk Ballet, and inspiring messages by Colonel Bo Hi Pak, Reverend Moon’s interpreter and special assistant during the Day of Hope tour.

The first conference of HSA-UWC members in Europe took place in London, England on October 3-5, 1969, with 28 participants from seven nations.

Yearly conferences from that time showed steady growth as new missionaries were sent out and as numbers grew. A German revival team was launched in September 1971. After Reverend Moon’s first Day of Hope tour in the United States, he spoke in England and in Germany. Before leaving Europe he organized One World Crusade reams in England, Germany and Austria. The One World Crusade continued to expand, with the organization of a team in France in February and Ireland in June 1973.

Future plans call for establishing missions in 120 countries in 1975 and international tours for the One World Crusade teams and the Sun Myung Moon Christian Crusade.

Participants in the Belvedere International Leadership Training program listen to Reverend Moon

International Federation For Victory Over Communism

The concepts of the Unification Principle were applied to a study of the theory of Marxism-Leninism by Dr. Sang Hun Lee, and in the 1960’s anti-Communist work was begun in several countries.

The International Federation for the Extermination of Communism (later renamed International Federation for Victory over Communism) was established first in Korea and in April 1968 in Japan. An extensive educational program in Korea necessitated the building of a special training center in the Sutaek-Ri complex in 1970. Military and government personnel from the village to national levels have participated in special training programs sponsored by the Korean IFVC. The women’s society of IFVC, organized in January, 1971, held a Women’s Anti-Communism Rally on July 13, 1971, with 600 participants.

Korean and Japanese IFVC organizations have cooperated in many projects, including the First Asian Victory over Communism Rally in Tokyo, May 22, 1971. Following this, 160 members held a public fast and demonstration for seven days, May 23-29, 1971, to protest opening of diplomatic relations between

Japan and Red China. The Japanese chapter hosted the 4th World Anti-Communist League Conference in Tokyo in September 1970.

In 1973, three Asian Professors’ Goodwill Seminars brought educators and scholars in all disciplines from Korea, Japan and Taiwan together to seek common proposals for bringing about prosperity and cooperation in Asia and ways to overcome the threat of Communism. These meetings were the first ideological conferences between scholars of these three Far Eastern cultures.

Out of these meetings grew the concept of a Professors’ World Peace Academy. In May 1973, 163 professors of all disciplines met in Seoul to elect officers and form a constitution. Activities of the association include publishing a newsletter, the Forum; collecting books and research materials; organizing an international exchange of research materials; extending friendship and cooperation to other educational and cultural groups; and establishing an award program for outstanding contributors to world peace. Dr. Lee Hang-Nyong, President of Honguk University, was elected first president of the Professors World Peace Academy.

The World Students Conference for Victory Over Communism, April 22-May 23, 1972, brought students from ten nations to Japan and Korea. They visited universities and spoke to an estimated 15,000 people. Seminars for foreign students studying in Japan in the spring and summer of 1973 attempted to counter the influence of leftist propaganda found in Japanese universities.

Another project of IFVC is the Asian Religionists Conferences. Held in March, June, and September of 1973, these conferences invited prominent religious leaders from the Republic of Korea, the Republic of China, and Japan. Attendance at the respective conferences was 26, 35, and 50.

The Third Asian Victory Over Communism Rally on December 26, 1973, climaxed activities of the year 1973. Attendance at the Tokyo rally included 2,500 Japanese people and many delegates from foreign countries, including 17 members of the Korean National Assembly, 27 members of the National Assembly of the Republic of China, and 104 members of the Japanese Diet.

Korean IFVC publications include VOC News, and the IFVC Bulletin (in English). The Japanese association publishes Shiso Shimbun, a weekly newspaper with a 1973 circulation of 200,000; and a monthly magazine Shinjo Koron, with a circulation of 50,000. It also publishes student newspapers on 27 university campuses.

Similar organizations to IFVC have been established in the United States and Europe. The Freedom Leadership Foundation was established in August 1969 with headquarters in Washington, D.C., and a bi- weekly publication The Rising Tide. Its educational and training arm, the World Freedom Institute, has trained hundreds of American and international students in a critical analysis of Marxist thought, an ideological alternative to it, and the history of Communism.

Another project, the Committee for Responsible Dialogue, has arranged effective debates, particularly on American university campuses, with leftist speakers, in order to provide a balanced perspective on world issues.

Numerous rallies and campaigns in support of freedom fighters around the world have been a focus for uniting various anti-communist groups.

In Great Britain, the Federation for World Peace and Unification, founded in April 1970, began publishing a weekly Rising Tide newspaper last year. Other activities include demonstrations on behalf of persons suffering under Communist oppression, such as a May 1971 open-air service in London’s Trafalgar Square in commemoration of oppressed Christians, and a nation-wide speaking tour by FWPU President Dennis Orme.

Related Organizations

The International Cultural Foundation, incorporated in the state of New York this year, has sponsored two International Conferences on the Unity of the Sciences, the first in New York City in November 1972 and the second in Tokyo in November 1973. These conferences assembled scientists of all disciplines to discuss how science could help in forming a moral base for society and to explore new ways of international cooperation among scientists.

The idea for international medical service teams of doctors, nurses, and medical students was conceived in 1970. Donations were collected and in August 1971 forty Japanese volunteers went to Korea to give medical service to needy people. In April 1972, a 25-man team went to Taiwan and a fifteen-man team to Okinawa; that August a fourteen-man team went to Korea. In 1973 again a team went to Okinawa and a team of 48 to Korea, where they were joined by 24 Korean medical students.

Altogether 123 Japanese youths have participated in the medical teams and treated 17,600 people in Korea alone. A Korean medical team was formed in August 1973 and plans are being made for international expansion.

The Little Angels have become Korea’s foremost cultural ambassadors.

The inspiration for this Korean folk ballet corps came in 1962 to Col. Bo Hi Pak and Miss Soon Shim Shin, Korea’s foremost ballerina and choreographer. For three years they selected and trained the top dancers in Korea, and by 1965 they were ready to begin their first world tour. In their eight world tours, they have played for at least even heads of state, won the top dance award at the Mexico Olympic Folk Arts Festival and received acclaim through a performance at a UNICEF program. On December 27, 1973, they were featured at a benefit show for UNICEF at the United Nations. A March 27, 1973 ground- breaking ceremony for the Little Angels’ Performing Arts Center in Seoul, Korea was presided over by Mme. Park Chung-Hee.

The Collegiate Association for the Research of Principle (CARP) was organized in Japan in 1962 to promote the application of the Unification Principle to academic studies and encourage new advances in education. Four years later CARP was organized in Korea. There are presently CARP chapters on 800 university campuses in Japan, making it the largest student organization in the country. CARP cooperates with IFVC in sponsoring some international student conferences, as well as holding its own lectures and seminars and publishing student newspapers on each member campus. National and international monthly magazines also help foster goodwill and understanding among different peoples.

CARP chapters have been organized as well on various American and European campuses and are developing programs similar to those in Japan and Korea.

The Belvedere International Leadership Training Center in Tarrytown, New York, was the host for a leadership seminar for 118 students from top British universities, July 18-August 31, 1973. Concurrently 87 students from Japan’s Tokyo University attended a CARP seminar at the International Re-Education Foundation in San Francisco, California.

President Nixon greets Reverend Moon at the White House on February 1, 1974

Publications

The first publication of HSA-UWC was the Sungwha Monthly (Sungwha means “building harmony”), which was founded in 1954, along with the Sungwha Students Association. In 1968 it changed to a magazine format and later changed its name to Tongil Segye (meaning “unified world”). It prints articles and news of interest to HSA members in Korea.

The Way of the World was launched in September 1969 to serve as a communication among the overseas missions of HSAUWC, in particular the English-speaking peoples. With the theme, “God’s Dispensation in the 20th Century” it was published during its first four years in Seoul, Korea, under the editorship first of Young-Tyang Chang and later Hal McKenzie. In September 1973 editorial and printing offices were moved to Washington, D.C. and its readership was expanded beyond the bounds of the membership of HSA-UWC.

On July 4, 1971 the Korean HSA-UWC began a new publication, Weekly Religion to support the

unification of religions in Korea. Its slogans are “Ensign of the world spiritual revolution,” “Fulfillment of combined world religions,” and the “Establishment of the welfare world.” It has a fulltime staff of 24 reporters and editors collecting news from all over the country and international religious news. It is guided by president Jae-Suk Lee and editor Young-Tyang Chang. The first inter-religious newspaper in Korea, it also publishes a Pan-Religious Annual, a compendium of all religious groups in Korea.

In July 1972 a Japanese Weekly Religion began publication under similar principles as the Korean Weekly Religion. The Grass and Star in Korea promotes Korean poetry and literature. Other internal and external publications of HSA-UWC have appeared in Japan, the United States, England and other countries.