The Words Of The Ahn Family
|
|
The Words Of The Ahn Family |
On October 6, a major Seoul television station (SBS) aired a documentary, on a program called "Tracking the News," about Japanese people -- our members -- resident in Korea who are afraid to return to their home country because they had been kidnapped and confined there. Despite some concerns, the TV program came out very well. We interviewed Mr. Ho-yeu Ahn, media relations officer for the Unification Church and the Tongil Foundation in Korea, who played a major role in supporting the program's production. His answers permitted us a behind-the-scenes look at how the program was made, and highlighted some of the challenges we face in conveying a clear picture of our church.
Question: How would you describe your work for the church and foundation?
I am in media publicity and public relations. With the media I deal with broadcasting, magazines (monthlies, weeklies), newspapers, and so on.
Question: How many years have you been doing this?
It is now about thirteen years.
Question: You have contact with high-level media people, I think.
Yes, from the presidents of media outlets down to the field reporters.
When I meet them, I work according to a principle. When True Parents speak about publicizing our activities, they say, "Your life itself must be good public relations. Your own life must convey a good message." So I am always aware of this whenever I meet reporters. When they meet me, they are meeting the Unification Church or the Tongil Group. If I make a mistake, that will convey a bad image of True Parents, the True Family or the Unification movement. Whether I exude the fragrance of the true life and faith that True Parents have taught is not a matter of my words but of my actions.
Question: I heard that Kook-jin nim recently reemphasized the policy of never giving money to the media.
Yes, actually this could make public relations work slightly more difficult here. But I realized that it is not me that is doing this work; True Parents' work is manifesting spiritually, especially since the autobiography came out and earlier, when the helicopter incident occurred and the seven deaths and resurrections. True Parents are working, Heaven is working. The spirit world is cooperating, so I realized we do not need to give money to media organizations but rather offer Jeong Seong.
At home I always do Hoon Dok Hae and prayer. I always pray, "Heavenly Father, please allow all these meetings and relationships, all that I do, to convey Your love, Your heart and the providence." In society, for example, at the big companies, public relations people have to use money because they are doing things by their own power and Heaven is not working with them. They are using their own abilities and their own contacts. With us, it is different, because Heaven is working.
Question: This is almost like a church ministry.
I have never thought of this as being church ministers' work. More like missionary work, a mission that Heaven has given me. I am not bringing these people to our church, but in terms of our image I am witnessing to them. When I meet representative of the media, there is one thing I always say. True Parents are very advanced in age, and the media tends to be interested in the question of the inheritance. I explain to them that Father and Mother Moon have no property in either of their names. Now in Korea if you have someone's citizenship registration number, you can input it on the internet and view a complete list of their assets as individuals. True Parents have never owned any assets here. Reporters are very impressed by that. So I explain to journalists that there is no concern about inheritance; everything has been returned to society already. Our schools are under educational foundations, our businesses are independent....
Christian churches here usually contribute 10 percent of their offering to society. But Chairman Moon returns 99 percent to society. He uses 1 percent to maintain the church. That's how I explain it.
There are many rumors about our business group and about Rev. Moon.... In the past it seemed we were trying to make excuses. But what is good is that now we have the internet. So I tell them to go on the internet and find the information that is supposedly the source of these rumors. One reporter who did so could not find the basis for the rumors he'd heard. Three people had called him about it. He told them, "Bring me the information and I will write an article."
But they said: "Oh I heard this from my minister." So he of course he refused to write.
Rev. Moon did not come as the leader of one religious movement. He came to accomplish world peace. The media asks why a religious leader is involved in such a wide variety of projects -- in the fields of economics, sports, business, the arts. He is pursuing a world of peace; religion is the field that is supposed to be contributing the most to peace, yet religion is the least peaceful. This is because each religion's ultimate objective is concerned with itself, rather than beyond its own group. I say to journalists, "What is Rev. Moon's goal? It is world peace. Religion is therefore the means, not the end." So for Father, religion is the means to an end, rather than the end in itself. And that ultimate end is a world of peace. If you talk about how to create world peace through various means -- politics, economics, society and culture -- people are quite astonished.
Question: How did the SBS program come to be?
Thinking in terms of faith, this is not something we could ever have managed. Kook-jin nim said we must make an issue of the abduction of our members in Japan in the media. We went to him and said this won't work, that it would lead to our more painful areas being exposed. We spoke to him a number of times in this way.
But our chairman' spoke very strongly. He said that this is absolutely unforgiveable behavior, and there certainly must be judgment of these abductions and confinements in Heaven's name.
Three times I remonstrated with him about doing the program. "This is difficult to do," I said. But he insisted that we do it. I had not expected this issue to make it into the newspapers. My problem was this: Would Korean broadcasting companies, which worry about Christian church's opinions, actually cover an issue related to the Unification Church? So we decided to do a demonstration in front of the Japanese embassy -- and then the media began to take an interest.
Reporters in Korea are beginning to have a good image of us. Our chairman said to have them make a documentary. That surprised us. How were we going to do that? I met the presidents, the news directors of the main broadcast stations, but all of them refused to do it. Only at SBS was there a spark of interest among some of the reporters. One particular reporter, someone I have known for ten years, saw the report about the demonstration in front of the Japanese embassy in the Saege Times. He called us and said he would like to do the program.
1 was glad to receive the call from him but at the same time I was a little bit afraid. Frankly, I was hoping that we could tell the chairman that no one wants to do it. And that would have been the end of it. That was what I wanted because we didn't know what they might say about us. I told the reporter about all the difficulties he would likely face in putting such a program together. He understood but he said he'd like to try anyway. So I said, All right, and that's how we got started. It was not something I originally wanted to do, but something that Heaven helped with. Hyung-jin nim and Kook-jin nim had offered so many conditions and made so much effort for Japan. This was the fruit of that. This was not something I could do if I wanted to, or not do if I didn't want to; it was something the spirit world was arranging. And that's how it came about.
Question: What were your fears over the making of this documentary?
There were three things I was concerned about. One was the spiritual sales in Japan. The second was that among ten people kidnapped, four or five leave the church. Those who leave the church might say all sorts of bad things about the church. The third thing is that the Japanese members are offering many donations, because they are responsible for the worldwide providence. Those who have left our church might talk about that. What kind of impression would that give to the viewers?
Also, Japanese members have been assigned all over the world, to countries in Africa, South America.... People might respond by saying, Oh that's why their parents or relatives kidnap them!
Those were the reactions I feared. I told our chairman, Kook-jin nim, that this was what I was worried about; but he was very determined.
He said, "Why are you looking at this in humanistic terms? This is providential work that Heaven needs done and is doing. You should not think humanistically."
I repented because he spoke very strongly. "Don't think of this from the viewpoint of ordinary people. You have to look from the viewpoint that this a providential task True Parents are doing. Heaven is working, so don't worry."
"With donations, someone who doesn't want to donate won't donate, even if someone tries to persuade them. But the abductions and confinement are violating and trampling on human rights, people's unique God-given rights and creativity. This is unforgiveable. It is disrespectful of Heaven, disrespectful of True Parents and disrespectful of the Eve nation."
When I came to the Foundation in 1969, I had the revelation that if I thought something was a bad idea I would say so. I will report that opinion, at least three times. If the person in charge still insists that we do it, I go ahead, because he is also receiving guidance from Heaven. I do not have many qualifications for what I do; the only thing I can offer is Jeong Seong. When Kook-jin nim speaks, I feel it is based upon revelation, Heaven's directions, and so I follow it.
After a problem arose with the filming of one of the abduction victims, Mr. Ahn temporarily felt that production should be discontinued.
He was worried that, because SBS would naturally have to fill the extra space, they might possibly include unfavorable views about our church recorded when their reporters visited Christian ministers in Japan. After all, the producers couldn't expand the content on human rights violations without limit; the program would have to be balanced, or SBS would be criticized. Mr. Ahn explained his worry that our senior members would give him a hard time if the program contained material attacking our church. When he approached the reporter on the matter, however, he received a surprising response.
The reporter said, Please go ahead with this! The reason he felt that way is that the Unification Church he had previously heard about and the real Unification Church he had encountered were very different. He was very moved by the purity and honesty of our members.
I asked him why he felt that. He said that he had met the Japanese wife in Chungbuk. She is a farmer's wife. And her husband is slowly going blind. He asked her, "Don't you regret having married this way?"
She replied, "No. I don't regret it at all. When I was in Japan, I was a nurse. I thought then that if I were to marry a blind man I would like to be his eyes. And if I were to marry someone who was disabled I would like to be his hands and feet. That was the way I was always thinking. If I had been blessed with someone in Africa, I would have been willing to live there. So I don't regret this at all."
The reporter asked, "Don't you worry about your livelihood, since your husband's eyesight is getting worse?" She said, "Why would you ask that?"
The reporter then asked, "Isn't it a worrying that with your husband's eyesight failing you won't have the means to live?"
The wife responded, "What are you saying? Our children are growing up well. It is True Parents who brought us together. I really have no such concerns." That is how she responded.
The reporter told me he had been deeply moved by this. And he told me that this story must be made known around the world. And even about such things as our separation period after we receive the blessing.
He asked not just one but several Unification Church members. He understood that the Unification Church's faith, rituals and philosophy have very clear objectives, and he was very moved by that. People spread mischievous rumors about our ceremony to begin married life. "But Unification Church members explain it in terms of clear principles," he said. Through this broadcast people came to know that Unificationists have a very clear purpose. So, as he said, his heart was indeed very moved. So he said to me, Let's do it! That's how it happened.
Question: Are you aware of some of the difficulties that the victims of abduction go through?
The victims are truly in a serious situation. I can explain what I mean. One person was five months pregnant when she was abducted and confined. She escaped and returned to Korea. Until the child was three years old, he would cry all night. When she was confined, this lady prayed in tears every night; her parents were pushing her to abort the baby. On account of that, she prayed in tremendous fear for her child. Nowadays even, if this child has to go to the toilet, or when he is sleeping at night he has to keep the door open.
Another sister, when she goes to Japan, she develops atopic dermatitis; she is all right in Korea but it appears when she is in Japan. The kidnappers had said to her, If you run away to Korea we will contact Christians in Korea and have them kidnap you again. If any Japanese person comes close -- even if it's a member -- she becomes nervous. There are people in such situations.
Another example is of a woman who escaped from the balcony of the apartment she was confined in to the balcony of the adjacent apartment. When she got down to the ground, she looked up and could not imagine how she had made it across the gap between the two balconies at such a height. Even now when she looks up an apartment building she feels fear.
Many also have some kind of fearfulness; for example if they get a telephone call late at night, they feel fear. If they suddenly get a telephone call from their home in Japan, from their parents or a sibling, they are immediately afraid, wondering, Why are they calling me?
The ones who are in the greatest fear worry that the abductors will come to Korea to kidnap them in Korea. That is their deepest-held fear. So, quite a number have changed their names. The kidnapping of a member has never happened in Korea, but they have that fear nevertheless.
Question: How did SBS find the people who appeared in the program?
SBS interviewed about twenty people. I, myself, did not want to include the lady from North Chungcheong Province.
Question: Kiyomi, the farmer's wife?
Yes. She is living in a rural area, and their standard of living is not high. I worried that the people carrying out the abductions in Japan would say, "Look at how difficult her living situation is!" Several times I recommended to the journalist, let's change to another person. I asked, How about the woman in Seoul, for example? She's got a good standard of living and has a very bright spirit. I was concerned about the overall image that viewers might receive. But the reporter wouldn't make that change.
I asked the reporter why he had continued with her, even though I opposed it. He said that he had heard that she was a wonderful person. Even though she is in that kind of environment, her face has no hint of a frown -- and on the program she was always smiling, so those watching were touched by her.
That was very moving to the viewers. The journalist went to where they were doing the filming and saw that the lady had a very bright expression. She was always smiling when she spoke. The journalist was touched by this.
At the beginning they thought she might be acting. So the reporter kept asking her the same question over and over. Finally she became angry. Why do you continually ask me the same thing! So they stopped doing that. The reporter said she looks very photogenic on television. And her husband is blind, but she spoke very positively about him.
Question: The husband also spoke well of his wife.
Yes, he spoke so well of her. And her mother-in-law likes her so much! Kiyomi also spoke very well about True Father, but what she said about him was so good that SBS took it all out! They took out the part where she said that when she was a nurse she had even then thought that if she met a blind man she might have married him because they thought viewers would say it was just said for the TV program.
Question: Was the fact that many of the abducted wives had Korean husbands something SBS emphasized?
Nothing specific like that came up. Japanese people tend to look down on Koreans, and are negative about the Unification Church. NHK and other Japanese media report so negatively about the church that of course parents become concerned. Yet the Japanese women living here in Korea are all doing well. They are actually enjoying their lives. I was disappointed that this aspect did not come out. Parents are concerned that their daughters blessed to Koreans are suffering and in poverty; but that is not the reality.
But the ministers in Japan who are perpetrating the abductions and confinement are saying this. The parents are fooled by this and they agree to carry out the abductions. When Kiyomi visited her parents, the parents told her, at the end of what you see in the program, that they have to go somewhere so her daughter and grandchildren must leave now. The reporter said he felt very sorry at that point. The reason he was moved was that this lady is Japanese, and her Korean husband is blind. She could have brought her children to Japan and stayed there, and abandoned her husband. Frankly, she would be able to marry someone else. But instead she went straight back to Korea. That also struck the SBS reporter very deeply.
Question: What was the response to the program?
These kinds of news feature programs usually get 5 or 7 percent ratings. But this documentary got 11.8 percent. This is a very high number of viewers. Usually these programs draw between one hundred and two hundred hits on the program's web page afterward. But SBS received more than two thousand comments on this program. So the broadcast company is very happy with this result. They depend on getting a certain number of viewers in order to increase their advertising revenues. Many advertisers wanted to advertise on this program.
From right after the program, many Christians telephoned in and protested in various ways:
Has SBS lost its sense of reason?
Has the reporter gone crazy?
Are the SBS executives members of the Unification Church? Is the reporter a Unification Church member?
How much money did they pay you?
I will certainly never watch SBS ever again!
These are the kinds of comments that came in. The reporter kept his mobile phone turned off for three days because he began to get so many calls.
Question: Did any Christians call to say they were appalled that Christian ministers were involved in kidnapping for money?
At first, many complaints were telephoned in and it became such a big issue on the internet. There were telephone calls coming in from both Christians and non-Christians. In the beginning it was mainly protests. People were also asking, "Is this really true?" SBS responded, "Yes, it is true; why would we lie? I will tell you how to contact these women if you want to check what they said in the broadcast."
Then the caller would say, "Oh you really made a lot of effort; thank you for your hard work." SBS would then asked if the caller was a Unification Church member. The caller would respond, No, I am a Christian. But I got a lot out of the pro- gram.
Some people responded to the Christian comments, "You Christians should make sure you do what you do properly" Or "Get your own house in order."
"A person is confined for twelve years and five months in order to get him to leave his faith. Whether he is Christian, Buddhist or in the Unification Church, what does religion have to do with it? Whether he is a Japanese, an American, no matter which nationality, this is unforgiveable behavior."
There was one person who telephoned constantly; he was a Christian from another media outlet. He continually called and asked, What was your purpose in doing this?
The reporter responded in this way:
If the people being abducted and confined in Japan were instead from a Christian denomination in Korea, would you still object to the program? You wouldn't object to the program if it were anyone else but the Unification Church.... You are objecting because this is the Unification Church! But the Unification Church that I see, in reality is very different from the Unification Church that you speak of. These are very pure and very sincere people. They don't try to hide anything. They tell things as they are. I am a Buddhist -- and have been one since the day I was born -- and I was moved by this story.
I approached this from the angle that this is a human rights issue. Whether this concerns Protestants, Buddhists, Catholics or Unification Church members makes no difference. I would broadcast such a program whatever the religion of the people concerned. It is about value of human life. You cannot say, Oh, she belongs to a certain group and therefore this and that...We can't do it that way.
The internet advertising for the program made it seem as though it was our church that was abducting people.
That was controversial! It went out like that and they received phone calls in protest from Unification Church members! The Segye Times, the newspaper Father founded here, also called. The advertising was done deliberately by the reporters to increase the number of viewers. If you read the advertising objectively it was not clear who was doing the kidnapping. Looking strictly grammatically it didn't specifically say the Unification Church was doing it. But because of a negative image of the Unification Church, most viewers assumed it meant the Unification Church was abducting people. Christians called in to complain that SBS had made it seem as though the Unification Church was doing it. So what's the purpose of making it seem like that?
And SBS said, When did we say it was Unification Church members doing this?
Question: What role could this TV program play in helping to solve the problem of abduction and confinement?
This has to be seen as an issue in society. Whether at the UN or in the United States. It has been very effective on a broad level that this went out on the public airwaves. We're making a DVD of the program to send to the U.S. or to the UN. The program is being translated into Japanese and English. We will send this to the government in Japan, to members of the Diet, because we must make an issue of the situation.
Also, providentially, we want to make it clear that there is a serious problem to be solved here. Parents are kidnapping their children. Those parents themselves are acting out of ignorance and being used by the perpetrators, the Japanese Christian ministers. The parents are being used by the perpetrators. If the Japanese wives in Korea were suffering and miserable, one might understand. But that is not the case.
These things being uncovered, we now have a plan to do a human rights campaign. This is how Kook-jin nim put it. "I believe this is a big milestone in the providence. Father and Mother watched the program and Mother cried. Father said that seeing this had released the painful feelings he had held toward Japan."
People know that some people say the Unification Church is a bad organization. But that is not the reality. Those who perpetrate the abductions and confinement of its members are the ones who are bad, and it is because of such people that True Parents have been persecuted.
Question: Is there something else you observed that you think would be interesting for us to know?
You will have seen that there is one professor who speaks about the church on the program. SBS actually interviewed four theologians but he was the only one who appeared in the program. I asked him what happened to the other three. He said they spoke so well of Hyung-jin nim. For example, they detailed that since he was in his twenties he had risen every morning in the early hours to pray and train himself. They also mentioned that members of the Unification Church are offering devotions to the great religious founders, but you cannot see even the portrait of the founders of the great religions in the headquarters of other faiths. Rev. Hyung-jin Moon is doing these things and so he is a great person. The professors spoke in these terms. So SBS felt they could not use that footage!