Dr. and Mrs. Moon arrived in Majuro, Republic of the Marshall Islands after a four hour flight from Palau, and were welcomed at the airport by the Vice President Witten T. Philippo representing President Kessai Note, away with the First Lady on a state visit to Israel.

Marshall Islands has a population of approximately 70,000. An independent nation only since 1986, Marshall Islands is in a compact of free association with the United States.

The USA has a military base on one of the islands, Kwajalein, with about 3,000 personnel. Also the USA pays ongoing reparations to Marshallese who suffered from radiation due to many nuclear tests carried out on or near some of the islands in years after WW II.

Father and Mother Moon first visited the Marshall Islands in 2000. At that time they discussed the establishment of a school to educate youth from the islands throughout Oceania. After more research, the school was eventually located in Hawaii. However, quite a few Marshallese are students at the new school, and they and their parents are extremely pleased with it.

At a late lunch upon arrival, Father Moon took up the theme of his vision for a commonwealth or union of all the Oceania nations, as one unified nation. "Unless this happens, you will be dominated by stronger nations," he said, indicating that he would create peace embassies in each of the island nations of Oceania.

The UPF inaugural event began at 6 PM at the main government building which houses the president’s offices and the parliament.

At the inaugural event, Vice President Philippo represented the government and gave the welcoming address. 300 people attended the event. Dr. Chung Sik Yong gave Rev. Kwak’s Chairman’s Address.

During his speech, Dr. Moon sympathized with the Marshallese for their suffering. "I have heard about how you have suffered due to atomic testing some years ago," he said, "The first lady was in tears, sharing about this situation."

To avoid future exploitation by powerful nations, he said that it was very important that the small nations unite together. "The entire region of Oceania, including Australia, has about 40 million people," he said, "God wants one nation, not 14 or more nations. Just as England has a commonwealth of nations, we can create a union of all the Oceania island nations. In time, the entire six billion population of the world should become one."

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