USA Pastors Visit Han Nam Dong House

On February 20, after taking part in the Foundation Day festivities in Korea, FFWPU USA leaders and District Pastors took a trip to the Han Nam Dong house, True Parents’ official residence in Seoul from 1983 to 2006. For some, this visit was a trip down memory lane, of working with True Parents there many years ago. For others, this was their first time seeing the Han Nam Dong house; yet for all, the experience was a deep one.

FFWPU USA leaders inside the Han Nam Dong house

“This was the first time I’ve ever been to the Han Nam Dong house, so it was an entirely new experience for me,” said FFWPU USA Vice President Miilhan Stephens. “We didn’t have too much time to learn the history, but it was wonderful to be able to experience the atmosphere and be in the places where True Father conducted so many historical activities.”

“It was a deeply moving encounter with the spirit of True Parents,” said Dr. Michael Balcomb, FFWPU USA President. “Living in England and later the United States, I didn’t have many chances to visit the Han Nam Dong house, but one occasion that is forever lodged in my mind was back in 1988 at the time of the Seoul Olympics.”

“After two successive Olympic boycotts in 1980 (Moscow) and 1984 (Los Angeles),” he recollected, “True Father sensed a possible breakthrough in relations between the democratic and communist blocs, both of which came in full force to the Korean games. Accordingly, he called church representatives of all nations to come to Seoul and outreach with our countrymen and women—athletes, coaches, diplomats and spectators—throughout the two-week Olympiad. It was my privilege to be invited to attend.”

The campaign was successful, and at some point along the way Dr. Balcomb ran into Simon Winchester, a reporter for the Manchester Guardian who was covering Olympics and had just written an acclaimed book about Korea, “A Walk Through the Land of Miracles.” 

“We spent a day or two together,” said Dr. Balcomb, “and his account of our meeting appeared in the paper soon afterward.”

Reporter Simon Winchester spins an ironic account of Unification outreach during the 1988 Olympics in Seoul

When they arrived at Han Nam Dong, just as the sun was setting, the group said they could feel True Father’s spirit so powerfully, and were deeply affected as they thought back to the time when True Father was still on earth.

“I felt sure that he would be sitting in the living room just as he was that summer in 1988, when he would have three large TVs on the go at once in an effort to support all the teams in all the sports,” said Dr. Balcomb. “The feeling of his presence was so overpowering that by the time I stood inside those sacred walls, I was so choked with emotion I could barely speak.”

After a tour of the house, the group emerged into the early dusk to see the lights of Seoul and the Han River twinkling below, a memorable end to a most memorable day.

Outside the Han Nam Dong house