A Unified System of Thought

This week in history, November 22-28:

• Mrs. Han Sook Kim Lee ascends (November 22, 1989)
• International delegates attend historic World Assembly (November 22, 2010)
• The first ICUS Conference is held (November 23, 1972)
• Tiempos Del Mundo is launched (November 23, 1986)
• World Culture and Sports Festival is held in Washington, D.C. (November 23-30, 1997)
• The New Victoria Plaza Hotel is inaugurated (November 24, 1996)
• True Parents visit Oceania for the first time (November 26, 1992)
• True Parents prepare for a meeting with Kim Il Sung (November 28, 1991)

November 22, 1989

Mrs. Han Sook Kim Lee Ascends

On November 22, 1989, in Seoul, Han Sook Kim, the wife of President Sang Hun Lee of the Unification Thought Institute of Korea and America, passed on to the spirit world. In 1956 Mrs. Lee, together with her husband, joined the Unification Church. Mrs. Lee was a pioneer missionary and in 1970 took part in the mobilization campaign for blessed wives, going out on a three-year witnessing mission. After her passing, Mrs. Lee communicated to her husband thorough Mrs. Young Soon Kim. This was the beginning of Dr. Lee’s efforts to explain the reality of the spirit world. He wrote: “While I give Unification Thought lectures, the audience asks many kinds of questions to me. About the earthly things I gave all the answers with True Father’s teachings, but about spiritual things I couldn’t give an answer, so I was very frustrated.” After his passing in 1997, Dr. Lee authored a number of works about the spirit world, notably Life in the Spirit World and on Earth.

November 22, 2010

International Delegates Attend Historic World Assembly

A special World Assembly, “The Era of Universal Peace: God’s Providence and the ‘Abel UN,’” was held on November 22, 2010, at the Manhattan Center in the heart of New York City. According to unofficial notes taken at the time, True Father said that the assembly was providentially important because it took place on Nov. 22 (10.17 H.C.), the day after the three-day period (10.14, 10.15, 10.16 H.C.) centered on 10.14 H.C. in 2010, which was the 60th anniversary of True Father’s liberation from the Heungnam labor camp in North Korea. True Father said that especially through these three assemblies, the proclamation of True Parents must reach perfection, conclusion and completion. He said that it is proclaimed that Korea, which is where True Parents were born, became God’s homeland. True Father said that the internal meaning of these assemblies was that all the leaders of the Group of Twenty major economies and other countries should join the assemblies and attend the victorious True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind.

November 23, 1972

First ICUS Conference

A session from the first ICUS conference.

The First International Conference on Unified Science (later renamed the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences, or ICUS) was held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City from November 23-26, 1972. It convened twenty scientists from seven nations to discuss “Moral Orientation of the Sciences.” The previous January, True Father had suggested the idea to Edward Haskell, a lecturer at Southern Connecticut State College who dedicated his life’s work to the unification of human knowledge into a single discipline. Haskell, who had been contacted by the New Haven center, was enthusiastic about the proposal and helped draw up plans for the conference. The conference itself included an opening banquet and three working days of lectures, responses, panels and open discussions. In his closing address, True Father called for “a unified system of thought” and “a new standard of value” that will establish “the unified world of prosperity, happiness and goodness.” The conference was successful both in the quality of participants, presentations and as a building block for future conferences. The movement published the proceedings and held the Second International Conference on Unified Science the following November in Tokyo. Expanded guest lists and formats would characterize annual ICUS meetings.

November 23, 1986

Launch of Tiempos Del Mundo

President Bush holding a copy of Tiempos Del Mundo at its inauguration.

True Parents unveiled Tiempos del Mundo, the first inter-American Spanish-language newspaper at the Buenos Aires Sheraton on November 23, 1996. With publication beginning as weekly in Buenos Aires, plans called for the newspaper to come out on Sundays at first, but go daily very quickly via satellite transmission to editorial centers in 17 countries (10 in South America, five in Central America and one in the Caribbean and the United States). At the gala evening inauguration attended by 300 leaders from 33 Latin American nations plus more than 600 local VIPs, former U.S. President George Bush stated, “I want to salute Rev. Moon, who is the founder of The Washington Times and also ofTiempos del Mundo. … A lot of my friends in South America don’t know about The Washington Times, but it is an independent voice. The editors of The Washington Times tell me that never once has the man with the vision interfered with the running of the paper, a paper that in my view brings sanity to Washington, D.C. I am convinced that Tiempos del Mundo is going to do the same thing.”

In a preamble to his speech, “In Search of the Origin of the Universe,” True Father said that the “guideline” for the newspaper will be to provide “edifying reports,” to offer “constructive information, promoting harmony” and to reverse “the tendency toward disbelief.”  He stated that he was “especially interested in emphasizing family ethics and in guiding youth in the right direction.”

November 23-30, 1997

World Culture and Sports Festival Held in Washington, D.C.

From November 23 to 30, 1997, the third World Culture and Sports Festival (WCSF) was held in Washington, D.C., taking place for the first time in the United States. True Parents envisioned the WCSF as an event that would gather thousands of participants from many fields for the purpose of establishing a foundation for world peace. Each gathering brought together many of the projects which represented True Parents’ lifelong efforts around the world. The Unification movement organized the first World Culture and Sports Festival in 1992 and the second in 1995, both of which took place at Jamsil Olympic Stadium in Seoul, Korea.

November 24, 1996

Inauguration of the New Victoria Plaza Hotel

True Parents inaugurated a new annex tower and a newly remodeled Victoria Plaza Hotel in Montevideo, Uruguay, on November 24, 1996. A modern five-star hotel with state-of-the-art conference facilities, the Victoria Plaza prominently stood out as a premier landmark for Uruguay and the Southern Cone region of South America.

November 26, 1992

True Parents First Visit to Oceania

True Parents visited Australia and New Zealand for the first time on the occasion of True Mother’s Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP) 1992 world speaking tour. They had visited Hawaii on several occasions and True Father had established a Holy Ground in the Philippines during his first World Tour in 1965. However, this was their first visit to the South Pacific. Following their arrival at Cairns in northeastern Australia on November 26, True Father tested the black marlin fishing grounds for three days. True Mother then delivered her address, “Women’s Role in World Peace,” before an audience of 500 in Sydney on November 29. The next day, True Father spoke to Unificationists on “The Liberation of Women” for seven hours and wrote a calligraphy, “Unification World is from Oceania.” True Mother spoke before 400 people in Auckland, New Zealand on December 2. Afterwards, they visited the South Island deer farm which had won first prize in a 1991 nationwide deer velvet competition. Observing the countryside and beautiful clear running water, True Mother was heard to say, “I have always dreamed there was a country like this.”

November 28, 1991

True Parents Prepare for Meeting with Kim Il Sung

True Father and Kim Il Sung.

Prior to True Parent’s epoch-making visit with North Korean leader Kim Il Sung in December 1991, they stopped in Hawaii to make their final internal preparations. He also wrote a speech he intended to share with Kim Il Sung alone. True Father later stated, “I … visited Hawaii and prayed here at a critical moment when I was on my way to meet Kim Il Sung of North Korea in 1991 with the purpose of bringing an end to the cold war era.” According to Mrs. Gil Ja Sa Eu, True Father “went to Hawaii to offer Heaven the last prayer so he could overcome his hatred for Kim.” His attitude was “even if the whole world hates him and accuses him of being a murderer, if I hate him, too, he cannot be saved.” True Father concluded that he would go with the heart of a parent. Mrs. Eu said that the “trust created” at True Father and Kim Il Sung’s meeting “was possible only because Kim could feel Father’s sincere love.”

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 November 22-28.