The Path for America and Humanity

This week in history, April 19-25:

• True Mother completes her 12-city US tour (April 19, 2000)
• Young Hwi Kim joins the church (April 20, 1955)
• Hirokazu Ota is released by Paraguayan kidnappers (April 21, 2007)
• Noticias del Mundo is established (April 22, 1980)

April 19, 2000

True Mother Completes 12-City US Tour

Giving a public speech every day for 12 days in a row, True Mother crisscrossed the country, completing the 12-city United States leg of her 2000 World Speaking Tour from April 8 to 19. The tour had been undertaken following Phase One of the 400 Million Couple Holy Blessing and True Father’s 80^th birthday. True Mother spoke on “The Path for America and Humanity in the Last Days” to capacity audiences throughout the country. She challenged the United States to fulfill its providential destiny in living for the sake of others.

For the tour finale in New York City, approximately 3,000 people squeezed into Avery Fisher Hall, a concert hall that is part of Manhattan’s famous Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. True Mother received awards and gifts from the Nation of Islam, the True Family Values Clergy Coalition, and the Family Federation. She then selected from a basket the number which would indicate the lucky recipients of 24-carat “Pure Love” rings. At the end of the program, True Mother presented the Living for the Sake of Others Award to persons and organizations who had demonstrated the spirit of living for the sake of others.

April 20, 1955

Rev. Young Hwi Kim Joins the Church

Young Hwi Kim and Dae Hwa Chung receive the Holy Marriage Blessing.

Rev. Young Hwi Kim (b. 1928), who with his wife were one of the original three couples engaged by True Parents prior to their own Holy Wedding, joined the Unification Church on  April 20, 1955. He had studied electrical engineering at Seoul National University and joined the first class of Korea’s Special Air Force Academy in 1953. He subsequently served the Unification Church in various leadership positions over the last sixty years.  Following Rev. Hyo Won Eu’s passing in 1970, he became the second president of the Korean Unification Church. He was the lecturer at the first Divine Principle workshop in the United States overseen by True Parents and author of The Divine Principle Study Guide, Part 1. He served as a regional leader representing True Parents in several European countries and as their envoy to the United Kingdom. In 2013, Rev. Kim represented True Mother in a five-city U.S. revival tour. He also served as director of the Cheon Seong Gyeong project in Korea.

April 21, 2007

Hirokazu Ota Released by Paraguayan Kidnappers

Hirokazu Ota, a longtime Japanese Unification Church leader, Japanese national messiah to Paraguay, and president of the Unificationist-affiliated land management company in Paraguay, was kidnapped at gunpoint, along with his secretary, on April 1, 2007. Asian people there (Koreans, Japanese, Chinese) are thought to be rich and are frequently targeted by criminals. Mr. Ota, his secretary and two bystanders, one of whom was a police officer, were abducted while traveling by car. The kidnapping gang, which was thought to involve as many as 25 people, raised the initial ransom demand from $25,000 to $300,000. Negotiations were difficult, with Mr. Ota and his companions being relocated numerous times as the kidnappers attempted to stay ahead of Paraguayan authorities. In the end, through the efforts of the Paraguayan police, the Japanese Embassy, the Church and company officials, a reported $138,000 ransom was paid and Mr. Ota was released in Ciudad del Este, a city on the eastern border with Brazil. Mr. Ota recounted his harrowing experience in several news conferences and testimonies. The following year, the Brazilian kidnapping ringleader was shot to death by Paraguayan police in a gunfight.

April 22, 1980

Noticias del Mundo Established

True Father founded the Spanish-language newspaper Noticias del Mundo on April 22, 1980, as an effort to begin a relationship with the Hispanic community in the United States and Latin America that would help turn the tide against communist infiltration of the Western Hemisphere. Earlier, True Father set up the anti-communist educational organization CAUSA and sent Dr. Bo Hi Pak to meet officials in Latin America. In his remarks at its inauguration, Dr. Pak, the paper’s founding president and publisher, expressed True Father’s desire for Spanish-speaking Americans to help shape the nation’s future and to correct misunderstandings and misrepresentations in the North American press. Leadership of Noticias Del Mundo later passed to Phillip V. Sanchez, the former U.S. ambassador to Honduras and Colombia.

This Week in History briefly lists significant events in the history of the Unification Church, the lives of the Founders, and world events that are momentous to Unificationists. Most items are marked according to the solar calendar. Items marked “H.C.” correspond to the Cheon-gi or Heavenly Calendar, which is based on the lunar calendar. This installment covers the week of April 19 – 25.

Contributed by Dr. Michael Mickler, professor of church history at Unification Theological Seminary.