Distinguished presidents, former heads of state, heads of government, prime ministers and eminent leaders from all walks of life gathered here today in Seoul, Korea:

May I offer to the participants in this Opening Ceremony of the Fifth Summit Council for World Peace, which is a part of the World Culture and Sports Festival, my sincerest welcome and warmest thanks for attending this conference, whose theme is "The Reunification of Korea and World Peace."

The problems of our world in their diverse aspects are complex and reciprocally connected. Accordingly, under the grand banner of the World Culture and Sports Festival we will in one location be dealing with a wide range of issues in the fields of ideology, politics, academia, religion, the media, science, art and every cultural field. I believe these events will be epoch-making, contributing to the exploration of the true way towards world peace.

Moreover, the simultaneous convening of the Summit Council and the World Sports Festival is meant to demonstrate the importance of maintaining a balance between the spiritual and physical sides of human society. At the center of the festival is the largest mass wedding in history-30,000 couples of sincere, pure-hearted men and women from 130 nations. As we enter the new historical age of the 21st century, I envision this grand project centered on God as the pathway to realize true world peace.

If you look back at the history of our planet, there has not been a single day nor instant in which true freedom, peace and happiness existed on this earth. Communism, under the banner of economic equality, declared it would free mankind from exploitation. However, it became not the solution, but the cause of even more conflict and poverty.

We see that democracy, which put forward the ideology of freedom to counteract communism, has fallen into extreme egoism and moral decay. The smoking guns of war are not beginning to fade from the face of the earth, as expected. Rather we see intense confrontation and chaos cast a growing and ominous shadow upon the future of the world.

However, no one has a right to harbor bitterness over the countless trials and pain that humankind has suffered. The reason is that it was humanity itself which put forth human-centered systems of thought that ignored the ideals and goals of God. Even if they did occasionally consider theological thought, because humankind has neither known nor understood the will of God or His ideology. Mankind has had only a superficial grasp of the ultimate direction of history. In fact, let it be known that it was God the Father in the background of history who has been carrying out His providence for the restoration of humankind.

As we prepare to enter the 21st century, a new future ideology must emerge that clearly examines God's will and ideal for humanity. This new thought must precisely clarify the true relationship between man and his Creator.

Originally, the mind and body of a man and of a woman, centering on true love for God, were supposed to harmonize together as a husband and wife focusing on God's true love. This type of family would represent a unified body of God's love, and would become the original dwelling place for true freedom, happiness and peace.

God's true love wants to give limitlessly to its object, the creation. It is similar to that of parents whose heart of love wants their children to become greater than themselves, and who only want to give and give again to their children. The same is true for the loving husband and wife as well. Each wants the partner to be better than himself or herself, and from this attitude they each determine to invest, and invest more in their partner.

The special characteristic of true love is a longing to give to its object. It is such an expression of heart that initiates a give and take relationship. God stands in the subjective position of true love. He wants to give to His children in this unselfish manner. The eternal existence of God can be traced to the original nature of true love, which is to give and keep giving, and by so doing maintain a reciprocal state of action.

Man is God's eternal object of love. It is God's will and man's ideal that God and man become one in heart, and through the giving and receiving of love, this relationship would last for eternity. When God and man cooperate in the sense of joint ownership over creation in the ideal of true love, then for the first time mankind can come to enjoy true freedom, true happiness and true peace.

This principle is the common maxim for peace, not only for the individual but for the family, society, nation and world. The basic direction of human history, which should have been realized in the beginning, was for man, centering on the ideal of God's true love, to become the unified body with God. However, human history did not walk a path uniting with this direction of God. This was due to the fall of man.

There has been no husband or wife in the history of humankind who became one body centering on the true love of God. Accordingly, the ideal of the True Parents, who are the source of God's true love, was never accomplished.

To the contrary, because selfish love, selfish life and selfish blood lineage were passed down through married lives built upon self-centered love, then mankind had no alternative but to wait and prepare for the Savior who, coming as the True Parents, would restore these historical errors and recover the original love, original life and blood lineage of God.

If man and woman had become one with God's ideal direction from the start, then human history would never have seen the endless division, conflict, exploitation and oppression that documents our history books. Instead, centering upon true love, a unified history of the True Parents, the True Family, the true society, the true nation and the true world would have come about.

The basic principle capable of unifying North and South Korea can work only when true individuals, who have achieved the unity of their minds and bodies, come together to form true families. This same principle can also be magnified to the world level to become the principle by which true freedom, true peace and true happiness can be realized. The unification of the Korean peninsula, therefore, will provide an important opportunity to achieve a future unified world and, eventually, even to bring about the unity of God and humanity.

The Korean peninsula, where today we discuss Korean unification and world peace, is the site of history's sharpest ideological conflict. It is here that God-centered Hebraism and human-centered Hellenism, two currents of thought that have been in conflict throughout history, face each other in the form of democracy and communism. Overcoming the ideological division of the Korean peninsula, therefore, will point the direction towards achieving a unified world.

The Korean War that broke out in 1950 was a concrete starting point of the Cold War, with the countries of the world aligning themselves with either the United States or the Soviet Union. More important, it was also a microcosm of the intense global struggle between the democratic and communist blocs. As such, the frontline of the Korean War was the frontline of the forces of God and the forces of Satan which have formed two distinct currents in history.

From this standpoint, the Korean War was a holy war on behalf of the forces of good in the world fighting against the forces of evil. Since the Cold War began in the region of the Korean peninsula, we cannot declare the Cold War truly at an end until the Korean peninsula has been unified.

The Games of the 24th Olympiad held here in Seoul in 1988 harbored great significance. For twelve previous years, the Olympics had been stifled, boycotted first by the United States and then by the Soviet Union. In Seoul, the two blocs participated together and the games thus became a starting point for East-West reconciliation. Also with a record 160 countries participating, it became a symbol of reconciliation for the entire globe.

The Seoul Olympics, however, were also an opportunity for us to understand that, in order to build a healthy world, it is important to consider not only our physical aspect but also the spiritual and cultural things as well. It was for this reason that, at the close of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, I began preparations for the World Culture and Sports Festival as a festival for all humanity, a unique event to foster the development of both our spiritual and physical aspects.

The conflict on the Korean peninsula exhibits characteristics of a conflict between the advanced and less developed countries of the world as well as characteristics of the conflict between the Eastern and Western cultures. Thus, the unification of the Korean peninsula is indispensable for the achievement of world peace and is an important signpost toward resolving the issue of a unified world culture.

Today we are in need of a great spiritual enlightenment. Individuals, nations and the world as a whole must achieve a new understanding of the existence of God. We must have a meeting of God and humanity such that we can restore and establish our original inseparable relationship with God.

It is for this purpose that I have advocated Godism, which is centered on true love. Godism is headwing philosophy, meaning that it is of neither the left wing nor the right wing.

Since I inherited the mission of the True Parents, I have endured all kinds of trials and hardships in order to realize world peace through Godism. Godism allows us to find God, forgotten due to materialism, pushed aside by secular humanism. It is letting us know the point of unity at which God and man can meet.

In the former Soviet Union, previously the center of official atheism tens of thousands of politicians, scholars and religious leaders, have, already undergone five days of training through which they were awakened to Godism, and through which a dynamic new movement of spiritual renaissance is rapidly spreading.

True love is the place where God and humanity meet and become one. It is in true love that humanity is able to meet God and enjoy eternal life. For this reason, true love is capable of overcoming all the world's problems. Through true love, by which we sacrifice ourselves in order to live for others, we can find the solutions to such problems as interracial conflict, violence, the conflict between rich and poor, and the various environmental issues. Families in which the individual members are united centered on true love can successfully combat the corruption of morals that has contributed to the downfall of so many of our youth.

When the individual, family, society, nation and world become one through true love, then mankind can expect a very bright future.

My dear esteemed world leaders: This modern age has already gone beyond all national boundaries in the fields of politics, economics, culture, and every other aspect; we are entering the age of "supra-nationalism". Now the age of the national unit for which you have been responsible and for which you have sacrificed yourselves has passed. A new stage is opening in which the world must cooperate together as one.

In reality, the world of today is being influenced and led by only a few leaders. If all of you who are gathered here today will simply unite together and step forward to educate mankind, then the future of the world will soon rest in your hands.

I hope that your three days of conference are very fruitful and that a new milestone in the quest for peace can be achieved. I pray sincerely that God's blessing be upon you, your families, and your nations.

Thank you very much.

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