314. World Unity and the Reunification of North and South Korea

Book 3: Cheon Il Guk and Our Mission
Part 1: The Road to a World of Peace
Chapter 20: World Unity and the Reunification of North and South Korea Will Be Accomplished by True Love 

This speech was given by Reverend Sun Myung Moon at the World Culture and Sports Festival 2000 on February 10, 2000, and then by Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon at the Rally for the Unification of the East, West, North and South on March 9, 2000, at the Aichi Prefecture Arena in Nagoya, Japan. 

Distinguished guests whose fervent desire is for North-South reunification, ladies and gentlemen. The new millennium that recently began is a time to clear away the divisions and conflicts of the past century and manifest the ideal of a harmonious and united one-world family. I would like to begin by thanking you for congratulating my husband, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, on his 80th birthday. Most of all, we would like to ascribe to God all the honor and glory given to my husband, for it is God who has protected us until this day.

As I look back on Reverend Moon's life, I am reminded that it has never been easy. His life has been intertwined with the suffering history of the Korean people and the numerous difficulties that our people have undergone in the vortex of the great powers. As a boy of 16, he came to understand the Will of God while in prayer, and throughout his life since then, he has devoted his soul and his energy to accomplishing God's Will.

Reverend Moon came to understand that the fundamental cause of human unhappiness is that our relationship with God was severed by the human Fall. As a result of the Fall, human beings descended into a state of spiritual ignorance. In the course of his efforts to resolve the fundamental problems this has caused for human beings and the universe, he has spoken publicly on more than 10,000 occasions around the world. In these speeches, he set forth a true view of humanity, a true view of the world and a true view of history based on Godism. These speeches have been translated into twelve languages and published in 300 volumes. My husband did not arrive at the content of these speeches from a study of historical documents. His conclusions are not the result of scholarly research. Rather, he arrived at these answers to our basic and fundamental questions through direct communication with both the visible and invisible worlds.

The reunification of the Korean peninsula is the solemn desire of our people and the final act that will bring the global Cold War to a conclusion. So today, as I express my gratitude for your having prepared this meaningful forum, I would like to outline the basic solution for bringing about unification by speaking on the topic, "World Unity and the Reunification of North and South Korea Will Be Accomplished by True Love.”

Human history is the history of the providence of restoration

The reunification of our country involves more than the mere unification of territory. It begins with the unity of the human mind and body that are divided and have been fighting against eachother as a result of the Fall. Thus, the unity of mind and body is the model for the unity of our world that has been divided. Furthermore, we need to understand this issue from the perspective of God's salvation providence. It must be resolved on a providential level.

Human history is the history of the providence of restoration through indemnity, which is intended to restore the original world that was lost due to the Fall of the first ancestors. Therefore, it is a history of the struggle between good and evil taking place between Satan's side and God's side. The goal of God's side is to realize God's ideal of creation.

Throughout the course of history, good spirits have always supported the good side, and evil spirits have incited the evil side to do evil. The history of division that began through the human Fall has expanded in scope to the levels of the family, tribe, people, nation and world. It is now being manifested as the fight between materialism and theism.

If, 2,000 years ago, the people had accepted Jesus, he would have united the Jewish people and tribes and would have brought together Israel and the Arab world where the descendants of the 12 tribes of Israel lived. Together, they would have then propagated Jesus' teachings throughout the Middle East region, to the Indian sub-continent, and all the way to the Far East. At the same time, Jesus' teachings would have won the heart of the Roman Empire and what is now known as Europe. In this way, Jesus would have realized one united world during his lifetime. As the center of this new religious and cultural realm, Jesus would have become the king of kings.

Tragically, however, Jesus died on the cross. Rome had already developed its central culture based on Hellenism, an externally oriented humanistic culture centered on the physical body. Christianity, by contrast, was a theistic culture grounded in Hebraism, an internally oriented culture that centered on the mind. In its early time, Christianity suffered persecution under Rome and its Hellenistic culture, for 400 years.

God's strategy for Satan's natural surrender

What is Satan's ultimate target? Behind the history of the struggle between good and evil, ever since the Fall of our first ancestors launched this conflict, Satan has had his sights set on God, Himself. God is eternal, unchanging, absolute and unique, and the standard of the ideal that He has held to since the beginning of creation must also have these qualities. If you ask God directly, I think He will confirm what I am saying.

How can God reply when Satan says to God, "God, when you made me an archangel at the beginning, were you acting out of a love for me that was temporary or eternal?” I think God will say that He made the archangel out of a love that was eternal. If He were to say that His love was temporary, that would make Him a transitory God. Unless God maintains a standard of loving the archangel eternally, there will eventually come a time when He will no longer be able to exercise His authority as God with respect to the angel. Thus, no matter how much Satan may oppose God, God has no choice but to maintain a stance of love toward Satan.

Satan says to God, "I became an evil monster as a result of the Fall, yet You and good people can't use methods that are similar to mine, can You? I may like to fight, but You are not supposed to enjoy fighting. Even when You take a blow, You have to endure, don't You?" God has to agree with him, because indeed God's philosophy is one of non-resistance.

Why is that? It is because, until the world of the heavenly ideal is manifested on earth, God has to love the archangel, Satan, regardless of the circumstances. No matter how much trouble Satan may cause, God cannot punish him or cut him off. He has to establish the condition of having loved Satan regardless of what Satan does. God can only have complete victory when Satan confesses to Him, saying, "You truly are a God who loves me. I surrender to You.” This is the problem. Because of this, God is in the position of being tied up by Satan.

Since the principle path of the providence of restoration is for God to bring about Satan's surrender by loving him, we who are His children have to walk this same path. It doesn't matter if we are persecuted and abused and regarded by everyone around the world as enemies. We who are God's children must establish the condition of having loved those who oppose us.

From this perspective, there is amazing truth in God's teaching, "Love your enemy.” In fact, this is one of God's strategies in His battle against evil. These words sound simple. Yet few realize that they mark the boundary line between victory and defeat in the battle between God and Satan.

If God were to adopt a philosophy of looking on Satan as His enemy and seek revenge against him, then God would never be able to stand on the pinnacle of victory. Thus, God says, "Love your enemy” and pursues a strategy of love. The words, "Love your enemy" are the culmination of Jesus' teachings.

It is remarkable that Jesus, the only begotten son of God, stood before Satan and prayed for him despite the fact that Satan was trying to kill him. If Jesus, as he hung dying on the cross, had felt malice toward his enemies, God's providence would have suffered a severe setback. Jesus overcame death with a heart to love his enemies and with a prayer of blessing for them. That is why Satan surrendered in that moment.

This is where one gains the qualification to be God's eternal child. Even Satan recognizes this qualification and gives his signature of approval. You, too, will be able to stand and say, "Listen, Satan, am I not unmistakably the child of God?" and Satan will reply, "Yes, that is correct.” We must conduct ourselves in such a way that when we say to Satan, "You have no right to oppose me and people who live like me when we expand God's realm of loving dominion, beginning with the individual and moving to the family, clan, people, nation and world;” Satan's response will be, "That is the Principle, so I cannot do anything about it.”

It is under these conditions that God has pursued the providence, centering on the Christian cultural sphere. Whether we have to sacrifice our possessions or even become martyrs, in the midst of the bloody battle we must build a movement that loves God and loves our enemies. We have to build this movement in our families, in our societies, and in our nations.

The Roman Empire persecuted Christianity severely; nevertheless, it ended up surrendering in the face of the power of Christians' love for the country that was their enemy. This is how Christianity became a worldwide religion. Christians found the starting point of the path to heaven within the country that was their enemy. These days, Christians think about loving individual people who are their enemies, but that is not enough. We have to love the country that is our enemy, and even the world that is our enemy.

The starting point on the path to heaven is within the country of our enemy. Unless we make the tradition of true love our foundation and go forth on that foundation, we cannot establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Let us establish this tradition; there can never be a philosophy or teaching greater than this.

When Korea was under Japanese imperial rule, the four providential countries—Korea, Japan, Germany, and the United States—were enemies. Given the circumstances of that time, Japanese and Koreans were enemies, Japanese and Americans were enemies, and Americans and Germans were enemies. That is why Reverend Moon brought Japanese and Germans to America, their former enemy country, and instructed them to help revive America and keep it from falling into ruin. He was practicing the way of God's true love.

Reverend Moon emphasized to the Japanese and Germans that they could not establish a new ideology capable of leading humanity into the new world that God desires unless they set the condition of loving their former enemy, America, even more than their own native lands. Thus, he made a new beginning based on a tradition of true love.

People must establish a tradition of loving the countries that are enemies of their own country. Yet the only way to establish such a historic tradition is with the true love of God. We need this foundation if we are to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

In the days when my husband was being humiliated by the United States federal government and unjustly brought before a court of law, his response was to intensify his effort to give life to America by founding a conservative newspaper, The Washington Times and a media production company.

Recently, in his concern for the future of Russia and China after the collapse of communism, he also arranged for the publication of dozens of textbooks to generously support character education programs for teachers and young people.

It takes boundless sacrifice to overcome the suffering path

Everyone here needs to bear one thing in mind. Reverend Moon was involved in the resistance movement against Japanese imperial rule, and from that perspective, the Japanese people were his enemy. This was the case for the Korean people as a whole and for him individually. Yet after Japan's defeat in World War II, he lovingly supported Japan.

After the war, he could have reported the identity of the policemen who had taken him into custody and tortured him severely for his activities in the underground independence movement. Had he done this, the Koreans would have executed them. However, instead, when he came across a Japanese policeman who was running for his life, Reverend Moon packed some things for him and helped him escape to safety under the cover of darkness.

Do you know why so many young people in Japan stake their eternal lives on
Reverend Moon and pledge their undying loyalty to him? It is because of the principle that governs the relationship between cause and effect. It dictates that because he gave to Japan, Japan will give back to him. It is because Reverend Moon transcended national boundaries and planted the seeds of true love in Japan in accordance with God's heart. It is because he planted that foundation with a heart to love the nation that was the enemy of his nation and led its people toward life. That is why Japan today is in Reverend Moon's camp. Without even realizing it, Japan is fulfilling its heavenly calling.

As the citizen of a nation under Japanese occupation, Reverend Moon had reason to harbor resentment even toward the Emperor of Japan. Yet, the Emperor had already been defeated. Heaven does not strike a person who is defeated. In fact, Heaven shows mercy toward those who recognize their sin and apologize. Since this is Heaven's way, a person who raises a sword and strikes a defeated person will find his own descendants driven to ruin.

The United States is also a country that considers Reverend Moon it's enemy. Despite that, he left his family behind and diverted his attention from his Korean homeland to bring salvation to the United States. He threw away everything that belonged to him in order to save the world from Satan.

Think, too, of how much animosity the established Christian denominations have directed toward the Unification Church. It might be said that they consider us enemies. However, we must not fight them as enemies. We must come together in love. What happens when we come together in love? The Christian denominations and the Unification Church together will lead the Republic of Korea to fulfill the Will of Heaven by embracing the people of North Korea. If the established denominations and the Unification Church had become one immediately after Korea's liberation from Japan in 1945, everything would have been solved then; yet, because that did not happen, we have had to make extraordinary sacrifices to overcome enemies—enemies of ourselves as individuals, enemies of our families, enemies of our clan and enemies of our society. In order to attain the position that we would have reached at the outset had there been no conflict, we have labored on this suffering path, while harboring no thought to strike at our enemies.

The plan for North-South reunification

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, all the people in North Korea have armed themselves with Juche ideology. We must arm ourselves with the philosophy of true love that is capable of embracing them. North Korea is part of a northern culture because it has been influenced by the cold winds of the Soviet regime. Let us work to naturally melt them with our warm region civilization. We must arm ourselves with true love.

We must thoroughly arm ourselves philosophically. The philosophy of true love is not one that seeks the fulfillment of personal desires. Rather, it seeks the salvation of all humanity. It is not centered on the self. Communists have the idea that everyone must work according to the orders of a small group of top Communist Party leaders, they tend to eliminate anyone who stands out as a potential rival. We do not operate that way. Our concept is to create an environment of giving and receiving, in order to establish a standard of giving and receiving on a higher level. This is a principle gleaned from biblical history—that Cain and Abel should seek to become filial sons united in love in order to receive their parents on the level of the family, which is a higher level.

We must have the philosophical conviction that we will love Heaven even more than communists love communism. We must become men and women of ability and character who can bring about their natural surrender. There is no other way for us to embrace North Korea. In other words, we need to move them based upon how we ourselves live. By our outlook on life and our standard of character, we have to be able to amaze the people who believe in communist ideology.

We cannot restore the Cain-type nation of North Korea unless we have an environment that can influence it. If we cannot restore that Cain-type nation, we cannot elevate South Korea's capability to the level where it can be the starting point of a world-level nation centered on the Kingdom of Heaven. Although North Korea and South Korea are pitted against one another, we n liberate North Korea by peaceful means. Thus, we must find a love that will bring benefit to both sides.

Ladies and gentlemen, at this moment, North and South are going in different directions. One is trying to go south and the other trying to go north, and their paths conflict. Their purposes are at odds with one another. If both sides insist on their own position, it is certain that the situation will again result in hostilities.

What can be done about this? South Koreans must appear who love North Korea with a love greater than any South Korean has for South Korea. Also, North Koreans must appear who love South Korea with a greater love than any North Korean has for North Korea. There is no alternative, no solution other than this.

If there is even one person whose patriotic love for a reunified peninsula is greater than that of the South Koreans for South Korea and greater than the North Koreans for North Korea, it is through him or her that the path to reunification can begin. Can there be another way? No matter how hard you may think about it, you will find no other way.

People with true love and a connection of heart

The issue is how to resolve this problem. The answer is that we must make greater efforts than either any North Koreans or South Koreans. How are we to uphold such a standard of patriotism, established through suffering and transcending nationality? This is the only way for us to give this land life and solve its problems.

The same principle applies to overcoming the world of evil and uniting the world of goodness. Someone must appear in the world of goodness that is a greater patriot for the world of evil than anyone in that world. A person has to appear and set a higher standard of loyalty to his or her nation than anyone before has done. This is the only way to resolve the divisions of history.

Jesus was particularly remarkable in this regard. He realized it would do no good for the two sides to fight. The best thing he could do for the sake of God and for the sake of the people of Israel was to die for God and for his people. This was Jesus’ reasoning behind his decision to go the way of the cross.

Jesus' love for humanity was greater than anyone else's since the beginning of history, and his love for God was greater than that of anyone else in history. Because of this, his death caused a history destined for destruction to take a new direction toward a world of purpose. That direction resulted in the Christian cultural sphere of today. This is historical fact.

Thus, the only way to unite North and South is to become a people who can die for both the North and the South, with the heart of truly wanting to live together in harmony with the other side. There is no other path to achieve unity.

When a person considers how to lead his life, the fundamentals can be expressed as the path of a filial child, the path of a loyal patriot, the path of a saint and the path of a son or daughter of God. Each of these stages expresses the heart of wanting to live in harmony with others eternally. Logically, the summit of this path is to want to be with others, regardless of whether they are higher or lower, in front or at the back, to the left or to the right.

What is the common denominator among those who say, "I want to live in harmony with others?" It is not power. Power cannot transcend history. Whatever power one has is for a limited period of time. The same is true of knowledge. The world of knowledge is always changing. Does knowledge give us the desire to say, "I want to live with this particular piece of knowledge forever?” Clearly, we cannot keep either knowledge or wealth with us forever. What, then, is the common denominator that transcends above and below, front and back, left and right, and the changes of history across past, present and future? It is nothing other than true love centering on God.

A filial child lives in his family and gives profound love to his or her parents. A patriot lives with profound love for his or her country. A saint lives with profound love for the people of the world. A son or daughter of God lives a life of profound love for all people and for God. All of us are challenged to develop such a true foundation in our hearts. We have to want to develop the heart of a patriot. We have to want our life to be in concert with the fortune of our people. If we do, we will look upon the difficulties faced by our people as our own difficulties. We will look upon the joy experienced by our people as not just temporary joy, but as eternal joy to be shared with everyone. Once we possess such a true heart and form relationships of true love, we will receive Heaven's authority to participate in the realm of unification.

Ladies and gentlemen, if a woman who lacks formal education marries a man with a doctoral degree, she suddenly becomes the wife of a scholar. Isn't that true? This is what I mean when I say that anyone who possesses the breadth of relationships of heart and the desire to live with others in harmony has the right to participate in the realm of unification. God Himself is such a being. So if the quality of a person's life enables him or her to harmonize with others, this person automatically has the right to participate in their lives.

The one who inherits and pursues the Will of God

Where do we begin the process of unification? Where do we make a start in order to achieve North-South reunification? What is the first step? Do we begin by using our fists, by physical force? If we subjugate the other side through force, then eventually they will develop a force stronger than ours and the conflict will begin all over again. We cannot achieve unity by this method. The way to unification will open when each of us has the heart to say, "Even though I live in the South, I truly want to live in harmony with the people of the North. I truly want to become one with them.”

If we who live in the South look upon our compatriots in the North and shed tears to see the miserable conditions in which they live; if we say to them, "I am living my life in such a way that I can share in your difficulties;" if we promise them, "Someday soon I will appear before you, having completed the preparations for your day of liberation;" and if we carry out a practical movement for unity based on such a heart, then I believe the day of unification is not far off.

Ladies and gentlemen, we must consider how we can live in harmony with our compatriots in the North. We cannot be patriots if we do not want to live with our parents and with our compatriots. For such people to claim to be patriots would be a falsehood.

We must first be able to live in harmony within our own country before we can live in harmony with the world. We must first live in harmony with the world before we can live in harmony with God. That means we cannot be patriots unless we first love our compatriots in the North and love the society in that region of the peninsula.

Any politician who lacks the heart to truly want to share in the life of ordinary citizens will soon disappear. It doesn't matter how well-bred or educated he or she may be; he or she will disappear like an air bubble floating on the water's surface. Healing the division between North and South is not a simple process. As fellow patriots struggle to bring this about, we will need the determination to work through many sleepless nights, transcending time and overcoming all manner of difficulties.

"I truly want to live with them. I don't want to die unless I can die with them. I don't want to live unless I can live with them.” The movement for North-South reunification begins when both sides have such a heart toward the other.

When North-South reunification is accomplished, it will be the beginning point in the effort to unite the democratic and communist worlds. Each of us must consider the future of our people and of the world. Each of us is a representative of the world, a representative of its six billion people, and a representative of the three billion people of Asia. We must determine ourselves to carry out a movement to share in the lives of our compatriots in the North.

When such an effort connects you to the way of the saint, then you will come to resemble a saint. If you practice this with respect to God with the loyalty of a son or daughter of God, then you will become God's heir and a successor to those who carried out God's Will in the past. I tell you these things today because I have already confirmed their truth in my own life.

What is true love?

When you enter into a relationship of true love with God, you will be given absolute authority to have dominion, ownership and the right of inheritance. In the world of mechanics, the energy produced by a system is less than the energy put into it. However, in the world of true love, the energy produced is greater than the energy put in. What is true love? It is a love that lives for the sake of others. It is love that gives and forgets without limit. No memory is kept of how much was given. It is love that never tires of giving. A 90-year-old mother can turn to her 70-year-old son and say, "Be careful when you cross the street,” and there is nothing strange about that. Even if the mother has repeated those same words countless times during several decades, she will always say them one more time.

If this is true with parents in the fallen world, how could we ever grow tired of giving and receiving God's love in the original world? When we establish God's true realm of giving and receiving in our own lives, we will experience for the first time the unchanging glory of true love. Then we will be able to apply the ethics of eternal life by practicing true love with human beings.

In 1984, when my husband was lying in bed in an American prison where he had been unjustly incarcerated, God came to him. God told him, "You are the only person I can trust. I want you to resolve the situation in Nicaragua.”

Is Reverend Moon really the only person whom God can come to with such a command? America is said to be a great country standing at the forefront of all developed countries. It has a population of 240 million people and numerous religious leaders. How helpless must God have felt that He could not go to any of those people and had to go to Reverend Moon instead? At least it is fortunate that God knows someone who possesses His love, and with whom He could communicate. If Reverend Moon had not worked for the sake of the world at that time, South America might have been completely ravaged by war by now.

Ladies and gentlemen! North-South reunification is the fervent desire of the Korean people, and it is also the earnest desire of God in this age. It is Heaven's desire that North Korea and South Korea be united and that a peaceful dwelling place for God can be established in our homes, in our churches and in our God-centered movement worldwide. How are we to attend God? How can we wipe everything clean? What can we use to wipe everything off so that God will say it is completely clean? The answer is simple. We have to clean up our communities with a true love that is greater than our love for our parents, greater than our love for our spouses and greater than our love for our children. We have to place our offerings on the altar centering on such love in order to realize the ideal of North-South reunification. Then we can bring about the ideal blending of eastern and western cultures. Then we can bring about the ideal unity of the divided earthly and heavenly realms.

We need the key of true love. A person must bring his or her mind and body into unity if he or she is to realize the unity of love in the family. A husband and wife have to love each other and make a harmonious family before they can see their love manifested within their clan. If a loving husband and wife are united, who would dare try to tear them apart and defile their relationship? A world made of harmonious families, harmonious peoples and harmonious governments will be a world of harmony. It will bring harmony to heaven and earth. There, true human love will be in harmony with God. Isn't this the ideal world of true love?

Love is the life element for humankind

Love is the life element for all people, in the same way that plants receive life elements by absorbing the rays of the sun. Our fervent desire is to build a Kingdom of Heaven on earth and in heaven, where we can resonate with true love eternally. How many people are there who can stand as people of character, qualified to own all things, and who possess both the value of a remarkable life and the special authority that comes with living such a life?

I sincerely hope that each of you participating here will remember what I say today. I hope you will work to unite your mind and body. I hope that you will become people who live for the sake of your spouse, and who go on to live for the sake of your family, people, nation and world. If you do this, then North-South unification will be as good as done.

Even communist ideology will be easily absorbed and will disappear when it is placed in the midst of God's love. Once we develop our hearts of love, North-South unification will be no problem at all. That is not all; problems between East and West and the worldwide North-South problem created by the inequality between rich and poor nations can also be completely resolved through the true love of God.

We must fulfill the ideal for the world centering on God's ideal that I have described, if we are to realize the ideal for our nation. Then we have to move on to the boundless realm of peace, the ideal world that links the ideal of the nation to the ideals of clan, family and individual. This is, without a doubt, the way that the ideal world of true love that God has long desired can be built on earth.

My husband declared this fundamental principle for unification more than 40 years ago. Since then, he has carried out an ideological movement, centered on Godism, both domestically and around the world. He has worked in the four major countries surrounding the Korean peninsula to lay the international groundwork for unification. Millions of people in Korea, Japan and the United States have worked through the International Federation for Victory over Communism and CAUSA, non-governmental organizations that have laid foundations in each of these countries. Through the years, leaders of many nations and leaders in the world of philosophy have recognized Godism as the only teaching capable of uniting materialism and atheism, which are diametrical opposites, with God's purpose. It is also the only philosophy capable of reforming secular humanism.

Let us work for North-South reunification and world peace

My compatriots filled with passionate hope for North-South reunification, let us together establish our value system on the basis of Godism and join forces in arming the people of this country with this new teaching. Let us pledge ourselves to work toward North-South reunification for the sake of the Korean people and for the sake of world peace. Let us stand up to answer the call of history in our age and the call of Heaven. Let us be leaders and people of righteousness who stand at the forefront of the movement for North-South reunification.

Women, in particular, need to take the lead in this. History has followed a mistaken course as a result of Eve's error at the beginning, so in the Last Days women need to take the lead in overcoming conflict, strife and division with their motherly love and create a new history of reconciliation and unity. The mission of women is to restore their children, meaning all young adults and students, into true children by means of true education. Furthermore, mothers and children need to combine their efforts and set an example in order to restore their husbands and fathers. This is how women can become the true daughters of Heaven, follow in the footsteps of True Parents and attend God as the center of their family, in order to realize the ideal of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

I conclude this speech hoping once again that my words today will help to develop an international movement that can advance the day when North and South Korea can meet and harmonize together in true love.

I pray for God's blessing to be with you and your families. Thank you.