Chapter 2 The Unification Movement in Korea

1992 - The Unification of New Nation

Reverend Moon welcomed the new year at a midnight prayer service at the World Mission Center and gave the New Year's motto as The Unification of the New Nation.

"Having passed through a period of forty years and an additional period of seven years, today we are greeting the year of 1992, and have finally reached the summit of a historic turning point. Today as we look back on the past, we have passed through every circumstance and event that we had indemnified in a heavenly way, indemnified the foundation on the national level and on the worldwide level, while Heaven attained victorious supremacy centered on the restoration of elder son-ship, parentship, and kingship. As we confront the year of 1992, we will at once have the magnificent and fated task of the so-called ?˜unification of the new nation,' to establish the new heavenly nation and heavenly land."

Reverend Moon explained to the members that they were to  advance towards the creation and building of a completely new nation this year, together with the worldwide blessed families and members who had been connected with True Parents' new love and blood lineage after severing all connections with the satanic blood lineage caused by the fall.

The words "New Nation" in the motto The Unification of the New Nation mean that no nation established in the history of humankind was centered on God, existing according to the will of God, or ruled by true sons and daughters of God. Reverend Moon was able to consolidate the foundation for the "Unification of the New Nation" by successfully passing through the worldwide seven-year course of restoration and a life of enduring persecution and suffering in the wilderness. He achieved this victorious foundation by the end of 1991.

In January, the Korean church dissolved the Headquarters Steering Committee and revitalized the previously abandoned direct system of administration. At the same time, the church restructured its personnel into a direct system with four departments, under which there were nine sections, one separate office, and appointed staff. The structure of the administration was as follows: The General Affairs Section, the Administration Section, the Culture and Publications Section, the Photographic Section and the Audio-Visual Office under the General Affairs Department; the Witnessing Section, the Education Section, the Student Section under the Witnessing Department; the Family Section under the Family Department; the Business Management Section under the Business Department.

A conference for nationwide university students was held at the Sutaek-ri Central Training Center from January 26 to 28, Attended by five hundred students. Speaking to them on January 27, Reverend Moon said:

"The history of unification will come about through the world shifting toward unification and the Pacific era. True Parents, the true olive branch, and humankind, the wild olive branch, have to be engrafted together in order to change the blood lineage of humankind."

Reverend Moon visited Japan on March 26, for the first time in fourteen years since 1978. The visit was possible through an invitation which came through a meeting of members of the Japanese's Diet convened by Takenori Kato, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. They were concerned about peace in Northeast Asia. The significance lay in that it was centered on members of the Diet who were de facto representatives of Japan.

The founding rally of the Women's Federation for World Peace (WFWP) was held at the Seoul Olympic Main Stadium on April 10, and Mrs. Hak Ja Han Moon was inaugurated as president. One hundred and fifty thousand gathered at this inaugural rally which was also the Seoul Rally of the Women's Federation for Peace in Asia including representatives from seventy-two nations in Asia, Europe, North and South America, Oceania, and Africa, and the expansion of a movement for world peace, guided by women, was declared. A Blessing Ceremony was held for married couples at the stadium, during which it rained. The ceremony, for a total of 1,267 married couples, was conducted with solemnity and dignity. Among the couples, the most notable were forty-five couples representing nine Moslem nations.

The rally successfully concluded, Reverend Moon presided over a national meeting for leaders of churches, businesses and other church-related organizations at the Hannam-dong residence on April 13. He directed that the future goal of activities should be to give education centered on the second generation, and the restoration of the Christian sphere centered on the first generation; also, that the presidents of the various bodies should devote themselves to educating the nation's leaders.

In the 6,500-couples Blessing members special meeting on May 8, and at the meeting for the Tong-Il Group leaders on May 31, Reverend Moon said, "An era has emerged when the sinful history  initiated by Eve is to be liquidated by virtue of Eve herself, through one perfected Adam," and declared that Korea and Japan, the Adam and Eve nations, had entered into an era of cooperation and unification.

On June 8, Chung-hwan Kwak, chairman of the HSA-UWC Foundation, was also appointed to the position of church president, and Sung-pyo Hong, the former president, was assigned as continental leader in Europe

From July 6 to 9, WFWP leaders rallies were successfully held nationwide. In a special address entitled The Reappearance of The True Parents and the Ideal Family, Reverend Moon declared: "I have fulfilled my mission as the Lord of the Second Advent, Savior and  the True Parents." He could finally declare the words that he had waited half a century to proclaim. The time had come to say these things. He urged the audience to understand that God had called Reverend Moon to complete the history of salvation. Reverend Moon further declared his messiahship at the August 24   banquet celebrating the First World Culture and Sports Festival (held from August 19 to 30), through which declaration he secured the position of True Parent, both in name and in substance. At the banquet, Reverend Moon also proposed the establishment of the House of Unification for World Peace and made public that he was planning to advance the work for cooperation and peace among the world's nations.

The World Culture and Sports Festival was accomplished on the basis of Reverend Moon's September 27 proposal following the 1988 Olympic Games:

In view of the historic task to create and build a peaceful world of new culture in which God, humankind, and all things are in harmony, and to find true value for human happiness by rectifying the devastated spiritual culture of humankind, I propose the holding of a world cultural festival, a cultural Olympics for humankind. Here, scholars, artists, men of religion, media representatives, economists, politicians, sports men and youth leaders from around the world would meet in one place as a part of the worldwide family, not only for sports, bur to pool their wisdom and experience for the sake of human harmony.

The 30,000-couple International Holy Wedding, the largest joint wedding held up until that time, was conducted as part of the World Culture and Sports Festival. Solemnized at the Seoul Olympic Main Stadium on August 25, this International Holy Wedding was a historic ceremony transcending the barriers of race, nation, and culture. One hundred thousand people including well-wishers crowded into the stadium.

Notable events this year included:

April 1: Russian newspaper Izvestia published the Russian-language Divine Principle.

August 12: Public support of the International Holy Wedding by one hundred Japanese professors.

September 23 to November 18: WFWP rallies held in a total of eight cities in Japan, America, and four European nations.

Witnessing activity in the CIS and Baltic states became possible on a large scale.