Global Peacemakers

 

 

The Reverend Sun Myung Moon and his wife, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, known affectionately as Father and Mother Moon, lead a movement active in 190 nations, with foundations and enterprises encompassing the realms of religion, academia, the arts, media, sports, agriculture, technology, ocean enterprises, and more.

Sun Myung Moon was born a farmer’s son on January 6, 1920, in what is now North Korea. On Easter Sunday, 1935, he had a life-changing spiritual encounter with Jesus, who asked him to work for the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth. He began his public ministry in 1945. After being imprisoned in a North Korean death camp for three years, he was liberated by U.N. forces in 1950.

Responding once again to the call of God, Rev. Moon came to the United States in 1971, where he began a series of national revival tours, a tradition that has continued to this day. In 1990, he fulfilled a pledge that one day he would go to Moscow. There he met with President Mikhail Gorbachev and urged the Russian people to turn back to God. The following year, he made his first visit in 40 years to Pyongyang, North Korea, embracing Kim Il Sung who had been his persecutor while seeking ways to establish lasting peace between the two Koreas.

Today Rev. and Mrs. Moon are proposing a revitalized, renewed United Nations with the help of the newly-established Universal Peace Federation (UPF), with more than 50,000 diplomats, clergy, civic leaders, current and former heads of state appointed as Ambassadors for Peace.

Among the prominent current initiatives of the UPF is the Middle East Peace Initiative. Thousands of religious leaders have journeyed to Israel and Palestine to urge the children of Abraham to unite in peace. UPF has also been active in disaster relief after Hurricane Katrina.

It is fighting against the spread of AIDS and encouraging youth to work for peace through sports and community service.

The heart and soul of Rev. and Mrs. Moon’s lifelong ministry is the re-establishment of God’s ideal of the family as the foundation for harmonious societies and the cornerstone of world peace. The Marriage Blessing movement, beginning with three couples in 1960, has reached millions of couples.

Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon is also a daughter of North Korea.  She  married Rev. Sun Myung Moon in 1960.  They have fourteen children. An internationally noted peace activist, Dr. Moon has spoken at the United Nations and the Kremlin Palace in Moscow and the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, and has been awarded a number of honorary degrees for her peace and humanitarian work.