The Words of the Lu Family

"A Peace Loving Global Citizen" documentary airs on Korean TV

Kyung Seuk Lu
April 13, 2014

A documentary, "A Peace Loving Global Citizen," aired at 3 pm on Friday and 6 pm on Sunday, April 13 over the South Korean cable television network Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC). Ostensibly about True Parents' efforts to contribute to the development of peace in Northeast Asia, it focuses on their efforts to deal with the complex, often nettlesome relationship between Korea and Japan. It begins with their contributions to preventing the communization of Japan, which surely would have had dire repercussions for the region. The material for the documentary was provided by the FFWPU History Compilation Committee and includes interview excerpts from members and non-members. The documentary should help raise awareness among the Korean public of underreported but significant work that True Parents initiated.

Following her defeat in World War II, Japan wallowed in deep-seated malaise and disillusionment. In an atmosphere of widespread discontent, communism made inroads, especially among students. In the days when the Japan Communist Party and student groups that the JCP had inspired were wreaking havoc in the streets of Japanese cities, a learned observer summed up the likely effects of Japan's example on neighboring countries: "Neutralism, if not open pro-Communism, would be shown to be the obvious 'wave of the future,' and a scramble to get on the communist bandwagon would probably soon follow."


Korean news coverage of Father with Nobel Laureate John Eccles at the 1977 International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences

In the recently televised program, elder Japanese members relate their personal experiences over having found hope and direction though the church amidst Japan's chaotic atmosphere and public officials (non-members) speak with admiration for True Parents who were willing to confront danger by opposing Japanese communists. "A Peace Loving Global Citizen" covers more recent years as well with the work being done by the Japanese church and UPI' Japan.


Father and his interpreter Dr. Bo Hi Pak at Washington Monument on September 18, 1976

The documentary also delves into complications surrounding the hundreds of thousands of Koreans that are permanent residents (mostly without citizen status) in Japan. These Korean residents, many of whom belong to groups loyal to either North Korea or South Korea, reflect conflicts between the two Koreas much like referred pain within an individual's body -- heightened conflict between Pyongyang and Seoul is felt in the relationship between members of Chongnion and Mindan.


Father speaking in New Delhi, India, on November 23, 2005, during the tour that established national chapters of the newly formed Universal Peace Federation

True Parents' work to bring harmony between these groups in Japan has thus increased societal harmony in Korea's neighbor and is seen as a means of influencing the two Koreas to take steps toward normalizations of relations and eventual reunification.

Another portion of the documentary highlights the Blessing Ceremony and includes an extensive profile of a couple in which the Korean husband moved to his wife's home village in Japan, where he took up farming. He and his wife were interviewed as were the wife's parents and even a villager that knows the family. The next portion of the program segues from blessed families to service projects that blessed couples and other Japanese members are involved in.

Finally, the documentary highlights True Mother in her role as the head of the Women's Federation. It explains the unusual status that Mother has among Korean women, indeed among women from any nation. Korea has a woman president but few women -- and likely none outside government -- have True Mother's extensive experience with public speaking, public work and a public mind-set that has characterized her efforts in the years she stood beside her husband and that have continued to the present day. 

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