"These are notes on a speech given at the celebration held at the Chamshil Fencing Stadium on February 1, l990."

It is my great honor to be given an opportunity to present these honored guests from Korea and overseas as well as representatives of 137 countries around the world with a brief history of the life of the Reverend Moon, the guest of honor of today's occasion. It would be impossible to give a full account of Rev. Moon's work in the brief time that I have today. No other person in history can claim accomplishments comparable to those of Rev. Moon either in breadth or in value. I have no choice but to limit myself today to giving you a brief glimpse at some of the highlights of his life.

Rev. Moon was born in 1920, on the sixth day of the first month in the lunar calendar at 2221 Sangsa-ri, Togun-myun, Jongju-gun, North Pyong-an Province. He was the second son among eight children between his father, Mr. Kyoung-yu Moon, and mother, Mrs. Kyoung-kye Kim. He studied at the Jongju Public Normal School and the Kyoungsung Commercial Technical School before travelling to Japan, where he graduated from the Waseda University Affiliated Industrial College.

In tribute to his contributions to the pursuit of human salvation and to the establishment of world peace, Rev. Moon has been awarded honorary Doctor of Law degrees by Ricur University in the United States, La Plata University in Argentina and Bernadine University in the United States. The Shaw Theological Seminary in the United States has awarded him with an honorary Doctor of Theology degree. In addition, he has been awarded the National Culture Merit Crucifix by the Society of Awards in Brazil and the Freedom Unity Great Golden Crucifix Award by the Organization for the Unity of North and South America.

Rev. Moon received much training from God. Because he was born into a Christian family, he was naturally raised in an environment of faith. Even as a young boy he was an unusually thoughtful child, and demonstrated an uncommonly upright attitude in his daily life.

Early on Easter morning of April 17, 1935, when he was sixteen years old by the Korean way of counting, he met Jesus and received a special revelation that led him to make a firm dedication of his life in order to answer God's calling for the Salvation Providence.

With the guidance of God, he travelled a long course in order to gain knowledge of the principles of the spirit world and the universe, as well as the relationship between God and man. With this knowledge he compiled the principles that became the basis of his religious and philosophical teachings. Even while he was living under the communist regime in Pyongyang, North Korea, he began revealing these teachings to his disciples. After suffering imprisonment on two occasions, he moved to the South, where he lived for a time as a refugee.

On May 1, 1954 in Seoul, Rev. Moon established the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, that is, the Unification Church, and began spreading his teachings in earnest. Beginning in 1958, he sent missionaries to Japan and the United States. Some of the early members in the United States decided on their own that they would go to the countries of their ancestral background in order to spread the news about the will of God. This led to an early missionary field covering more than twenty countries. Later, in 1975, Rev. Moon sent missionary teams composed of one member each from Japan, the United States and Germany to countries around the world. This increased the missionary field to 120 countries. Today, there are missionaries in 137 countries, and the representatives of all of these countries are gathered here today in this auditorium.

Already, a surprisingly large foundation has been laid in the communist world, including the Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Rumania, Albania and China. Scholars of Eastern European countries are studying the Unification Principle as something that they believe will fill the spiritual void that exists today in their countries.

Never before in history has the founder of a religion been able to spread his teachings throughout the world during his own lifetime. It is truly miraculous that on all the continents around the world, people of every race revere Rev. Moon as their True Parent and are dedicating their lives to following him. Rev. Moon not only teaches us love and the philosophy of peace but also shows us an example through his own life. He also has blessed nearly 25,000 couples of young people who have given their pledge to God that they will establish eternal ideal families.

Rev. Moon's accomplishments are not limited to his mission activities or to the fact that he teaches us about God's Kingdom. He also has made superhuman efforts in many areas of society for the purpose of establishing the Will of God on earth. I will outline these briefly now.

First, there are his accomplishments in the fields of scholarship and education. Rev. moon emphasizes that scholars have a very important role to play in building a brighter future for the world. In 1973, he founded the International Cultural Foundation. Through this organization, he was been holding annual meetings of the International Conference for the Unity of the Sciences. This conference gathers the most eminent scholars from around the world to examine, according to Rev. Moon's suggestion, the need for scholarship and science to develop in accordance with absolute values and the need for greater coordination and unity among the various disciplines.

Rev. Moon has established the Professors World Peace Academy for the purpose of finding a resolution to the ideological conflicts among the peoples of the world and of realizing world peace. This academy today has been established in 92 countries around the world, including the communist world. In Washington, DC, Rev. Moon has established the Washington Institute in order to assist scholars of good conscience in their role in the policy formation process of the United States.

Rev. Moon founded the Sunhwa Little Angels School of Arts in 1974, and has nurtured this institution so that today it is comprised of the Kyongbok Elementary School as well as the Sunghwa Middle and High Schools of Arts. His other education projects include the management of the Sunhwa Middle and High School. Last year, the Korean government gave its approval for the establishment of the Song Hwa University, and Rev. Moon is now making thorough preparations for developing this into an institution of worldwide stature.

Rev. Moon also founded a theological seminary in Korea early in the history of the church. In 1975, he established the Unification Theological Seminary in the United States, and is using this institution to educate new generations of leaders. Beginning in 1986, he has been operating special schools around Korea that give educational opportunities to those who were unable for various reasons to complete their education during their youth. More than one hundred of these schools are being operated around the country.

Thought Next is his contributions in the area of thought. Rev. Moon has founded numerous philosophical and ideological movements around the globe. The most principal of these is the Unification Thought Institute, which studies the system of thought Rev. Moon has proposed as a comprehensive solution to the historical conflicts and struggles between theism and atheism. The International Federation for Victory Over Communism, the Women's Federation for victory Over Communism and the Songwu Association, whose members are retired military generals, are all active in Korea and Japan.

Movements such as CAUSA that are active in the Americas and other parts of the world seek to save the countries they are working in by clearing the ideological thought of those countries of any confusion concerning materialist ideologies.

The activities of the Campus Association for the Research of Principles (CARP) is active around the world as a model of a healthy and constructive student movement giving new hope to campus life. Rev. Moon has also founded the Citizens Federation for the Unification of the Fatherland (CFUF) in order to prepare for the day when the Korean Peninsula will be unified. Under the auspices of this association, thousands of university professors have travelled to the United States to participate in seminars there. The aim of the CFUF is to arm the Korean people ideologically, with special emphasis on professors, students and the churches. It also conducts a grass-roots campaign that is active in every neighborhood of every city, town and village in the country.

Rev. Moon is also active in the inter-religious sphere. More and more of the problems in the global community and conflicts between nations stem from divisions among religions and denominations over doctrines and rituals. Rev. Moon teaches us that world peace will not be achieved and God's Will will not be established without reconciliation among the world's religions.

Through ecumenical movements aimed at supra-denominational and supra-religious concord, he is working to establish greater cooperation among the religious leaders of the world. The International Religious foundation has been established to conduct these efforts for harmony in the religious world. Through these and other projects, such as the World Congress of Religions and the World Religious Youth Service Corps, Rev. Moon is working to prevent the possibility of a religious war and to lay a solid foundation for true world peace. During 1989, Rev. Moon held a conference on interdenominational dialogue in cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Church.

The next field of Rev. Moon's activities is that of public health and peace. Already for many years, Rev. Moon has been operating medical service teams. The scope of work by these teams has been increasing year by year. He also has established scholarship funds, including the Heungjin Scholarship Fund and many others.

The work of the International Relief and Friendship Fund has been expanding rapidly around the world in projects involving both long and short term assistance. Training programs in Africa teaching agricultural and machine technology. A program with the Yinbin University whereby Rev. Moon is building a College of Mechanical Engineering that will be a part of this university. As a part of this program, he is making an annual contribution of $500,000 in scientific equipment to this university.

In Korea and the United States, Rev. Moon has established Consumer Cooperatives and movements for consumer protection in an effort to create more equitable systems of merchandise distribution.

The project to build an International Highway of Peace, aimed at connecting the countries of the world with Rev. Moon's ideas of world peace, is to become the largest construction project in history. The Summit Conference for World Peace being conducted by the International Peace Foundation is another example of Rev. Moon's continued efforts to realize a stable peace in the world.

Next, I would like to describe his contributions to culture and the arts. You already are well aware of how the Little Angels dancing troupe established by Rev. Moon has travelled around the world, impressing people with the beauty of traditional Korean culture and planting the seeds of peace in the hearts of people.

It is sometimes easier to reach into people's hearts with the arts than with faith, and Rev. Moon's efforts have been to utilize the forum of the arts to help purify the hearts of people. As part of this effort, he has established the Korean Cultural Foundation, the Association of Artists International and other organizations. He has also been nurturing a number of musical groups, including guitar and vocalist groups, the International New Hope Singers, Korean Folk Ballet and a Brass Band. He has purchased and is developing the New York City Symphony Orchestra.

He founded the Universal Ballet Company in Korea and the Universal Ballet Academy in Washington, DC and both of these organizations have been highly acclaimed internationally. Most recently, the UBC and UB Academy have had exchanges with the Kirov Ballet, the most highly renowned ballet company of the Soviet Union. These exchanges have played a major role in establishing friendly relations between Korea and the Soviet Union. Hoon Sook Moon, the premier dancer of the Universal Ballet Company was recently invited by the Kirov Ballet to dance the main role on their stage in Leningrad. The audiences in Leningrad showered her with enthusiastic applause, and her performance marked a major turning point in the development of Korean ballet. Today, the main dancers of the Kirov Ballet are here in Korea to represent their organization at this seventieth birthday celebration and to give performances in honor of this occasion.

In the field of mass media, Rev. Moon's contribution goes beyond the simple fact that he has established media outlets around the world. The motivation behind the organizations has been to establish newspapers that lead the nation and the world into goodness. Rev. Moon teaches us to demonstrate the true value of a free press and to become embodiments of a responsible press.

In particular, he has established The Washington Times in Washington, DC, the capital of the United States, which is the representative country of the free world. Within a short time, this newspaper has become one of the three most influential newspapers among the 1750 newspapers published in the United States. This is a most fortunate fact not only for America but for the entire world as well. In Korea, too, the Segye Times has formed, within a year of its founding, an amazing foundation that makes it a newspaper that cannot be ignored by anyone.

Another area of Rev. Moon's work is that of science, technology and industry. Rev. Moon teaches that science and technology are blessings given to us by God for the benefit of all mankind. He foresees an age in which all people of the world will have equal access to technology, and he is leading the way in the effort to bring this about. On the one hand, Rev. Moon has established institutes of technology in the United States, Japan and Korea in order to prepare for the future of the world, while on the other he is investing in the industrial development of Third World countries.

In all his investments, he is much less concerned with the short term profits than with the significance for the prosperity for entire mankind. His investment of large sums to purchase a German machine tool company and to establish the Panda Motor Company in China are examples of this.

I must refer you to more detailed descriptions of his life for a listing of his many accomplishments that I have not been able to mention here. It is my personal opinion that even if several leaders were to work in unity with each other and were to utilize the power of a national government, it would still be difficult for them to match the accomplishments that Rev. Moon has realized by himself. There can be no doubt that he possesses a deep connection with God on a level that we cannot comprehend.

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