Cham Bumo Gyeong: Episode 220

Cham Bumo Gyeong
Book 8: North-South Unification and World Peace
Chapter 2: The Seven-Year Courses and the Overseas Foundation The Global Victory Over Communism Movement and the Proclamation of the End of Communism
Section 3: The Moscow Conference, Meeting with Gorbachev
Section 3: The Moscow Conference, Paragraph 21

The meeting with Gorbachev

On April 11, 1990, during the conference in Moscow, True Parents held a historic meeting with President Mikhail Gorbachev at the Kremlin. They discussed diplomatic relations between Russia and Korea, the reunification of the Korean Peninsula, the expansion of religious freedom in the Soviet Union, and many other issues. During the meeting, True Parents warned that because the only possible outcome of atheistic materialism is total ruin, materialism has to be abolished and efforts must be made to revive spiritual values based on religion.

After that meeting, at True Parents' suggestion, students and leaders who had been locked behind the Iron Curtain could leave the Soviet Union, which became the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), to begin their overseas education in the United States and other nations. On four occasions between July 1 and August 19, 1990, 380 Soviet university students visited the Unification Theological Seminary and attended the International Leadership Conference. Then, in January and February 1991, 700 students attended seminars in three locations in Hungary. In July and August 1991, CARP hosted 24 seminars in four locations in the Baltics, attended by 2,000 university students. From January 26 to February 9, 1992, 27 seminars were held in 18 locations in the Crimean region of Ukraine for 3,160 students. From March 20 to April 1, 1992,40 workshops on the Unification Principle were held for high school teachers and students from the CIS. These workshops were held in 23 locations, and 7,229 students attended, breaking previous attendance records. In the summer of that year, 18,042 students attended 129 workshops over an eight-week period in 26 locations spread over five regions of the CIS.

13  For the Soviet Union to survive, it has to follow what I say. The KGB is a fearsome organization. We have been engaging in activities focusing on the media, but during the Moscow conference, the KGB coordinated what was happening behind the scenes and the Novosti Press Agency confirmed the credentials of the participants. This is what I found out. This is why it generated a powerful influence. The fact that we co-hosted the World Media Conference together with these people was incomprehensible to Soviet citizens. This was one of three great mysteries. What were these great mysteries? First was the fact that I was staying at the Oktobraskaya Hotel. This was the hotel where people like Fidel Castro of Cuba and Kim Il-sung of North Korea stay. My staying at that hotel was a mystery. The second mystery was the fact that I met with Gorbachev. How could the very people who talked about killing me do this? In other words, how was it possible for Gorbachev to meet me? The third mystery was the fact that the Novosti Press Agency co-hosted the World Media Conference with us. Such events were unprecedented in the 73-year history of the Soviet Communist Party.

14  During my week-long visit to the Soviet Union, the Soviet inner circle completely connected with me. Key agents and other important individuals connected with me, with Gorbachev in the central position. Neither the U.S. Embassy in Russia nor all the embassies of the free world combined could do what I did. I accomplished everything up to that level. Then I met Gorbachev, and as we shook hands, I said, "Unless you do as I say, the Soviet Union cannot be saved." To that he replied, "Indeed!" I reached that level. They cannot ignore what I say.

Why was Gorbachev happy to meet me, and why did the Soviet officials come to like me? It is because I am the person who came to save the Soviet Union. I am the person who is going into debt to accomplish this. Among the people who have visited the Kremlin, there probably has been no one, politician or diplomat, who was trying to save that nation. There has been no one who went into debt to save Gorbachev. I am going into debt to do this. This is why all the conscientious people are returning. It is an enemy nation. How much did they oppose us? Even now, there are many who oppose us. Nonetheless, I went to that nation with love, with the ideal of heaven.

15  When I visited the Soviet Union, I took with me seven heads of state, including some affiliated with communism. Among them were the former presidents of Cuba and Yemen, and also the president of Costa Rica, who introduced me. I could bring them based on head-wing thought; because of that Gorbachev could not ignore me. These included nations that gave him headaches. Since all these things were sorted out and they had gathered with me at the center, I created an environment useful to everyone. We pushed forward to get some work done. This is what happens with people who work well together. Neither money nor personal ability can guarantee a job well done. To work well, one has to adjust to the environment and use it to move forward.

16  When I went to Moscow, I made a clear declaration: the only way for the Soviet Union to survive is to follow a religious path. I have lived my entire life as a religious leader. I made a clear declaration in Moscow, the center of the communist world. This shocked the communist leaders, as it did Gorbachev when he heard me say it. In the closing banquet, I spoke in even stronger terms, "The Soviet Union must absolutely know about God. The Soviet Union can revive when it finds this new path. It must return; otherwise it will become obsolete!" I said that unless they accept God, they will fall further and further behind. I proclaimed, "All the people living in the Soviet Union hate communism. Therefore, you must all go back to a point before you started 70 years ago. You must return to the beginning, when Russia was vigorous!" We opposed the core of communism.

17  I visited Moscow, and through the conference there we fundamentally turned communism upside down. When I met Gorbachev, I told him to get rid of the statues of Marx and Lenin. I said that if you do not get rid of them, even if you become a global leader worthy of being remembered in history, you will not be able to accomplish deeds that will heal the wounds perpetrated under the name of communism. Because breaking down the statues could set a condition that would lead to good outcomes, he got rid of the statues. I am the person who brought down all the statues of Marx, Lenin and Stalin in Moscow.

18  After completing my week-long stay in the Soviet Union, I shed tears when I left. I said, "Moscow, goodbye. I will be back. I will return before you know it; I will send my representatives." Then, as I left, I heard a voice; it was the voice of the countless spirits from the Soviet Union who are in the spirit world. They said, "Please come back." 

I am not an ordinary person. This is why there is hope in the Unification Church. Based on my experience, I realize that the foundation and activities of the Unification Church can dramatically expand in the Soviet Union. All of you need to take an interest in the Soviet Union and its satellites. Even before the 1970s, I was sending secret envoys there. I educated and sent young people from developed nations such as the United States, the United Kingdom and those of western Europe. These young people disappeared suddenly, and now they have reappeared as missionaries in the Soviet Union and its satellites. People did not know what happened to them, but this is what had happened. I am the Teacher who has endured through this type of history. The era has come when you too have to follow this path of responsibility.

19  I did not meet President Gorbachev of the Soviet Union on a moment's notice. I met him by making it impossible for him not to meet me. I even met his wife and all the important people under him. I began planning for this 12 years ago. They know that I am the person who awakened the Soviet Union's satellite nations. They all know that what has happened to Soviet communism is because of me. When Gorbachev came to the United States in 1988 and tried to speak before Congress, who chased him away? Through The Washington Times, I worked behind the scenes to chase him away. This is what happened two years ago; yet, he knew that he could do nothing except kindly invite me all the way to his inner room. Now, even if I say no more about this, the Soviet Union can only follow me. That is why I plan to invite 200 of their key government officials for a seminar in the United States. I made a promise and have devised a plan to educate their eminent professors and people with doctoral degrees in economics.

20  Fifteen minutes before taking off from Moscow, I met the Minister of Culture sent by Gorbachev. He asked me, "You have a record of leading the fight to bring about the collapse of communism. As a religious person, you must be happy to see its collapse. What is the path for communists to find life?" In response, I emphatically told him that they need to worship God. To assist in this endeavor, over a period of several months I brought 3,500 to 4,000 Soviet leaders to the United States, where they received guidance using my teachings.

In this world, propitious times do not linger. The CIA was very concerned when I brought communists to the United States to be trained and then go back; but eventually, they trusted me. Because I dealt with the Soviet leaders wisely and took the lead in guiding them, I had a foundation and they had no basis to oppose me. Even a deputy chairman of the KGB came, heard our presentations and went back. Some members of the opposition party also came. While Gorbachev was in power, there was a coup d'état attempt that lasted three days. However, 3,000 university students laid down in front of the tanks and stopped the coup. After that, the Soviet Minister of Culture sent me a letter of gratitude. These were my experiences of history as it was in the making. Yet you have no idea how much difficulties and hardships I endured so that these events could take place.

21  On December 13, 1990, 58 Communist Party leaders from the Soviet Union and its satellites came to the United States. The Soviet Union and its satellites were enemies. However, after hearing our presentations, they all united and before going home started a club to develop Unification political philosophy. My philosophy alone could unite the European satellite nations with the Soviet Union and other communist nations. By forming this club, the satellite nations formed a united front line and resolved to proclaim, on a global level, national policies and other administrative policies based on my teachings.