Amsterdam, Netherlands—UPF and partner organizations had a meeting with the South Korean ambassador in which they introduced the Peace Road initiative.
During the summer months, UPF chapters worldwide have been holding Peace Road events, and in the Netherlands we have begun to visit a number of embassies to draw attention to the International Peace Highway project.
When we called the Embassy of the Republic of Korea for an appointment, we were surprised to receive a direct response with a choice of dates on which it would be possible to meet Ambassador Yeon-doo Jeong. We were even offered parking spaces on the embassy grounds for our cars.
On August 6, 2021, a delegation from UPF and affiliated organizations arrived at the ROK Embassy. We already had sent a letter to Ambassador Jeong, briefly describing the purpose of our visit, and we came with an information folder to give to the ambassador.
The folder contained:
- an overview of the International Peace Highway, taken from the UPF-UK website;
- a report about the project being led by Dr. Michael Mickler of Unification Theological Seminary to record the history of the Unification movement;
- “Dreaming of a Peaceful World,” from the final chapter of As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen, the autobiography of UPF founder Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon;
- Reports about the International Leadership Conference webinars that UPF held in July.
We also presented Ambassador Jeong with the autobiographies of Reverend Moon and his wife, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, as well as the catalog of the online exhibition of Reverend Moon’s centenary.
The ambassador welcomed us warmly in the embassy’s reception room. He listened carefully to our introduction of the International Peace Highway initiative, which focused on the connections between the United States and Russia (a bridge and tunnel crossing the Bering Strait) and between Japan and Korea (a tunnel to the South Korean city of Pusan).
The ambassador said he was already familiar with Reverend Moon's movement. He mentioned that his father had been a friend of Col. Bo Hi Pak, who for many years was Reverend Moon’s assistant. In Seoul the ambassador had lived near the Little Angels School, which also was established by the UPF founders.
Ambassador Jeong said that he had great respect for our movement and that its pursuit of peace was very noble. About the Japan-Korea tunnel project, he noted that this will be an important link in the International Peace Highway and will require close cooperation between Japan and Korea.
In the end the ambassador wished us success in our work for peace, and the meeting ended with a group photo.