Address to Peace Summit 2023
May 2-5, 2023
Greetings, Dr. Walsh, Dr. Yacoobi, distinguished scholars, peace-loving citizens! I am Jin Sung-Bae, the chair of HyoJeong Academic Foundation, co-host of this conference with UPF, titled “Peace Ideology and Vision for a Peace Movement on Each Continent.”
Korea is a centrally situated nation, important in world affairs. No one denies this. Korea has gone through hardship and became the leading country to protect freedom allied with America. Now Korea has risen up from the destruction of the Korean War. Once a recipient of aid, it has become a donor country. Korea’s hallyu culture is popular worldwide, including in Islamic countries; young people enjoy K-POP and BTS. Now Samsung refrigerators, Hyundai batteries and cars, and LG cellphones are everywhere!
In 1950, the date of the Korean War, Korea was the frontline between free democracy and communism backed by the Soviet Union. All the world was upset by the North’s surprise invasion.
President Yoon Seog-yeol just this week paid a historic visit to the United States. He spoke before both houses of Congress and made some notable remarks. I would like to paraphrase what he said. General Douglas MacArthur took command of the UN Forces and the forces of 16 member nations. MacArthur turned around a hopeless situation with his unthinkable landing at Incheon. It was a landmark military strategy in world history.
There were many severe battles in that war, with countless invasions and retreats. Marine Corps troops just managed to escape from the Battle of Jangjeon Lake. The US troops broke through a one hundred-twenty thousand–strong Chinese army. Almost all the 4,500 American youth who died there froze to death in the cold. The troops sacrificed greatly to protect “a people they’d never met in a country they’d never heard of.”
Thirty-seven thousand US soldiers lost their lives in the Korean War. But the UN forces not only saved our Republic of Korea, they also saved Rev. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon from the communist yoke. What happened was a miracle of divine providence. Rev. Moon was innocently imprisoned in Heungnam concentration camp for doing missionary work in North Korea. UN airplanes bombarded the prison camp. This allowed Rev. Moon’s escape alive from the prison camp.
Likewise, the hand of God worked through the UN forces to save Dr. Hak-ja Han Moon. Both Father and Mother Moon escaped from the clutches of communism, overcoming many close calls.
This May 7th Dr. Han, “Mother of Peace,” will dedicate a Veterans Memorial Hall next to Cheon Won Palace to honor the troops who saved our country in the Korean War. That hall, a museum, stands for Peace Essentialism, promoted by Rev. Moon and Dr. Moon. Be sure to visit this hall before you go back home!
Just 4-5 years ago, two rounds of North Korea–US talks were held in Singapore and in Hanoi, Vietnam. Presidents Kim Jung-un and Donald Trump tried to reduce tensions on the issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons. North Korea offered a “small deal” to dismantle the Yongbyon nuclear facility, but the United States expected a big deal, demanding C.V.I.D., complete verifiable irreducible denuclearization. Nuclear scientists would manage it from abroad. But the Hanoi talks failed. Kim Jong-un slammed Trump’s “big deal” as Mafia gangsterism.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo, who led the talks at that time, spoke yesterday at this Peace Summit. Let’s hear a big round of applause for him! Just after the failure of the Hanoi talks, “North Korea’s denuclearization was finished without even taking the first step,” Mike Pompeo said. The reason is simple: It was because the concepts of denuclearization behind North Korea’s Small Deal and the US’s Big Deal are completely different. Six months after the Hanoi talks, North Korea blew up the inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong, negating decades of inter-Korean peace talks.
Why did the North-South peace talks of over 40 years disappear like bubbles bursting? Let’s ask a fundamental question. A peace ideology must not emerge from the ideology of North Korea based on class struggle and materialism. Communist peace can only be fake peace. Their peace is camouflaged. Their strategy of peace means that the US forces would withdraw from South Korea, making this country a communist society. This is the communist definition of peace.
In contrast, the definition of peace in South Korea is somewhat ambiguous and relative—merely an absence of war. As regimes change, the strategy for peace changes, depending on North Korea’s attitude and policy. We call this peace relativism. Since liberal democracy is a system based on freedom and reason or rational freedom, it is bound to be relative peace.
As we reflect on Father and Mother Moon’s life, genuine and eternal peace must start from God’s love and heart. This means Peace Essentialism. The definition of peace essentialism originated from the lives of Father and Mother Moon. A prime example of peace essentialism is the peace movement of our founders, now spread all around the world. In fact, this system of thought was decisive in the collapse of the communist regime of the Soviet Union. The Washington Times and the CAUSA movement are examples of this peace movement in Asia, South America especially, and worldwide.
A North Korean dictatorial peace and a philosophy of hatred are short-lived, for human nature does not bow to force. Today you may see that relative peace simply satisfies short-term demands. We are one family, with common heavenly parents, based on a philosophy of heart. These cold winter winds will pass. A new day of serene peace in the mature human family is dawning, and the birds are already singing.
To go to the Peace Summit 2023 Schedule page, click here.