“Kingdom-Building” through Global Diplomatic and Interfaith Agency: The Universal Peace Federation (UPF) and Unificationist Millenarianism

Abstract

The Universal Peace Federation or UPF is a United Nations-affiliated NGO launched in 2005 by the late Mun Sŏn-myŏng, self-proclaimed Messiah and founder of the South Korean Unification Movement. Mun considered the UPF as the pinnacle of Unificationist political and interfaith engagement. Envisioned as a complement to and, eventually, a future replacement of the United Nations, the globally operating UPF spearheads Unificationist millenarianism. This paper first traces the formation history and genesis of the UPF as a merger of decades-long international political and interfaith activities under the banner of multiple Unificationist organisations and initiatives. Subsequently, it examines the Korea-centric millenarian purpose assigned to the UPF by Mun. It is ultimately argued that embracing globalism is not only doctrinally crucial to Unificationist millenarianism, but systemically relevant.

1. Introduction

• “A world of peace can be fully established
• only when the experience and practice
• of politicians and diplomats representing the body and the external world,
• and the wisdom and efforts of the world’s religious leaders
• representing the heart–mind and the internal world are combined.”
—Mun Sŏn-myŏng1

Between 11 and 13 February 2022, virtually all major South Korean media outlets covered the Summit for Peace on the Korean Peninsula (Hanbando p’yŏnghwa sŏmit 한반도 평화서밋).2 The high-profile hybrid event was orchestrated by the Universal Peace Federation (UPF; Ch’ŏnju P’yŏnghwa Yŏnhap 천주평화연합/天宙平和聯合),3 the Unificationist flagship NGO founded in 2005.4 Its main venues were the Lotte Hotel World, Seoul, and the Ch’ŏngsim Peace World Centre (Ch’ŏngsim P’yŏnghwa Wŏltŭ Sent’ŏ 청심평화월드센터), the Unification Movement’s chief indoor arena located about 50 kilometres from Seoul in the eastern Kyŏnggi province.5

Prominently chaired by the former United Nations (UN) General Secretary Pan Ki-mun 반기문/潘基文 (b. 1944), the “World Summit” (as it was internationally promoted) reportedly drew participants from 160 nations. Video addresses were submitted by former United States President Donald J. Trump (b. 1946; p. 2017–2021) and former Prime Minister of Japan Abe Shinzō 安倍晋三 (b. 1954; p. 2006–2007 and 2012–2020). Despite quarantine mandates upon arrival from abroad, several political celebrities attended the event in person to share their remarks. For example, Mike Pompeo (b. 1963), former United States Secretary of State, recalled challenges of his diplomatic engagement with North Korea. Mike Pence (b. 1959), former United States Vice President, spoke about religious freedom, the rule of law, and family values as the foundations of a stable, prosperous nation. “We know that peace can only be fully achieved through faith” (UPF International 2022), said televangelist and Trump’s spiritual adviser Paula White-Cain (b. 1966), who regularly appears as a speaker at UPF events. Moreover, messages in video or in person were delivered by over 80 (mostly former) high-level politicians from abroad as well as eleven South Korean political and civic leaders. Weeks before, the summit received public endorsement (via social media) by Pak Yŏn-mi박연미 (b. 1993), a well-known North Korean defector. If only one key characteristic of the UPF had to be picked, it must be the seeking of mass attention to events filled with bombastic symbolism. This is a feature that might also describe the general modus operandi of the Unification Movement’s (and UPF’s) late founding figure, Mun Sŏn-myŏng 문선명/文鮮明 (1920–2012).

Admittedly, American conservatives (or representatives of nations allied with South Korea) are not the only politicians catered to by the UPF. On the second day of the summit, Han Hak-cha 한학자/韓鶴子 (b. 1943)—Mun’s widow, present leader of the Unification Movement, and UPF co-founder—presented the so-called Founder’s Special Award to Samdech Hun Sen (b. 1952), Prime Minister of Cambodia for the past 37 years.6 Among Unificationist adherents—some of them bewildered by Han’s choice of a strongman with a notorious record of human rights violations—it is speculated that Cambodia’s close ties to North Korea could open up a diplomatic backdoor. Given its former stance of unapologetic anti-communism, this episode proves that the Unification Movement is honing its skill of “track-II-diplomacy”.7

This paper traces the background and genesis of the Universal Peace Federation, an organisation whose goal is to translate and echo Unificationism in the global diplomatic arena. According to Mun, this institutionalised culmination of previous decades-long interfaith and political activities—ultimately designed to supersede a malfunctioning UN—“is truly the most revolutionary and wondrous event since God’s creation of humankind” (MS 2006b, p. 30).8 Finally, the paper examines a dimension ever-present within Unificationism and, as such, also systemically inhaled by the UPF: Korea-centric millenarianism (Pokorny 2020, pp. 301–2).9

2. The UPF’s Backstory

The Unification Movement is a vast cluster of organisations, enterprises, and initiatives all centring on a messianic congregation founded by Mun in 1954 as Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (HSA; Segye Kidokkyo T’ongil Sillyŏng Hyŏphoe 세계기독교통일신령협회/世界基督敎統一神靈協 會).10 Among the plethora of (mostly short-lived) Unificationist NGOs, the UPF has emerged at the vanguard, serving as an umbrella for a range of peace and dialogue initiatives within the broader movement. Whereas the FFWPU (at its heart) cherishes doctrinal exclusivism and (institutional) Korea-centrism, the UPF (outwardly) celebrates interculturality and religious inclusivism (Pokorny 2018b, p. 328). Put in simple terms, the Unification Movement consists of an inner, explicitly religious, and an outer, cultural, economic, political, and civil social circle, with the former ensouling the latter.

One interpretational key to Mun’s overarching range of activities can be found in a public address he first held on 8 July 2010 at his residential palace—the Ch’ŏnjŏnggung 천정궁/天正宮 or Palace of Heavenly Righteousness11—and repeated on several occasions since.12 Mun sketched his lofty vision of realising world peace in characteristically monumental terms:

“Now is the time to reveal and praise the name of the True Parents [that is, Mun and Han, who unite in their messianity] throughout the entire world. The time has come to honour and inherit the tradition and spirit of the Korean people, among whom the True Parents have arrived, establish the heavenly tradition, and anchor world peace through uniting the 6.5 billion people of the world with the United Nations”.

(CSG XIII.4.1.15, pp. 1445–46)13

This brief passage contains two central elements of Unification thought: (1) The True Parents (ch’am pumonim 참부모님), representing the highest fruit of Korean (and world) history, are supposed to be revered as the messianic couple by all of humankind; and (2) the UN must play a role in facilitating this providential event.

Mun’s entire religious enterprise—transferred to Han with his demise in 2012—is single-mindedly aimed at the goal of what Unificationists call “kingdom-building”, that is, establishing a literal Kingdom of Heaven on Earth (chisang ch’ŏn’guk 지상천국/地上天國; or in Unificationist parlance, Cheon Il Guk or ch’ŏnilguk 천일국/天一國) with the Korean peninsula as its navel point.14 Hence, the gateway to world peace is a reunified Korean peninsula under the helm of True Parents, the living embodiment of God on Earth. The outstanding providential mission of the Korean people as the “third Israel” (chesam Isŭrael 제3 이스라엘) runs like a golden thread through Mun’s teachings (cf. WK II.6.3, pp. 551–52). Most poignantly, this belief is expressed in Mun’s above-quoted public address of 2010, where he declared that “Korea will now become God’s fatherland and hometown” (CSG XIII.4.32, p. 1450).15

Apart from Korea’s providential significance, Mun also understood the UN to be instrumental in the process of ultimately realising world peace or Cheon Il Guk. Considering his biography, he had good personal reason to do so. Due to a bombing raid by UN troops on the night from 13 to 14 October 1950, dozens of prisoners incarcerated in the North Korean Labour Camp of Hŭngnam 흥남/興南 were freed; among them, Mun.16 Soon after his escape, with the Korean War (1950–1953) being in full swing, Mun fled as one of the millions of civilian refugees to the southern harbour city of Pusan, where he first systematically formulated his doctrine that became the bedrock of his ministry. Mun’s experience of liberation has been interpreted as divine intervention and became a standard element in his hagiography (cf. Mun 2009, pp. 108–25).17

Often extolling the sixteen nations that intervened in the Korean War under the UN banner and their relative success in pushing back the communist forces, Mun presaged the UN’s greater peacebuilding potential. At the same time, he was vocal about the UN’s dysfunctionality and ineffectiveness. He particularly criticised the UN’s secular nature, which would make it vulnerable to the propaganda of member states from the Communist Bloc, and diverted the institution from its providential purpose (Mickler 2008). In his view, the existing UN’s political establishment represents the body at the world-level and is involved in continuous conflict with religion, which would represent the world of the heart–mind. Hence, to restore the unity of mind and body at the global level, he suggested that the UN should integrate a religious dimension (CBG VIII.3.1.2, pp. 910–11). To develop an organisational tool that could reform (or actually supersede) the UN, Mun oversaw a global web of interfaith and political projects over the period of several decades. These activities laid the groundwork for the creation of the UPF.

2.1. Interfaith Efforts

Mun’s declared motives to engage in interfaith work included: (1) the forming of an alliance opposed to communism; (2) to bring an end to interreligious strife; and (3) to advance world peace (CBG XI.2.1.1–5, pp. 1276–77). He saw the establishment of a world-level religious council within a UN framework that would contribute to policy making as an essential step towards peace. This idea matured over several stages, resulting in a vast number of initiatives and organisations.

In 1966, Mun launched a supra-denominational association of Christians in order to promote ecumenical activities with the aim to mend the strained relationship between the HSA and mainline churches (Gray 2011). Four years later, the HSA joined the Korean Religious Council (Han’guk Chonggyo Hyŏbŭihoe 한국종교협의회/韓國宗敎協議會), South Korea’s earliest interreligious organisation. Its founding members represented the six traditions of Buddhism, Wŏn Buddhism 원불교/圓佛敎, Confucianism, Ch’ŏndogyo 천도교/天道敎, Catholicism, and Protestantism. As of 1988, the Korean Religious Council leadership has effectively been run by the Unification Movement. Since November 2017, the Council has been closely associated with the UPF via its sub-group entitled Association of Religious Leaders for World Peace (Segye P’yŏnghwa Chonggyoin Yŏnhap 세계평화종교인연합/世界平和宗敎人聯合 operating internationally as Interreligious Association for Peace and Development).

Mun continued interfaith activities shortly after arriving in the USA through the Unification Theological Seminary (UTS), which he founded in 1975. The Seminary’s initial faculty, headed by Kim “David” Sang-ch’ŏl 김상철/金相哲 (1915–2011) as president, was highly diverse and invited scholars from across the Judaeo–Christian spectrum, ranging from Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Dutch Reformed, and Methodist to Jewish Death of God theologians. Moreover, the UTS hosted speakers from non-mainline traditions including, among others, Evangelical and Charismatic Christians, Latter-day Saints, Islamic scholars, indigenous African Christians, and Tibetan Buddhists. Held on the premises of the UTS in Barrytown, New York, interreligious weekend dialogues attracted scholars, dignitaries, and students alike. In the early 1980s, these meetings evolved into larger conference settings (Mickler 2019).

The first truly global Unificationist interfaith project was the New Ecumenical Research Association (Sae Chonggyo Ilch’i Yŏn’guhoe 새종교일치연구회) or New ERA (Nyu Era 뉴 에라), incorporated with the support of the UTS in New York in 1981.18 In December of that year, New ERA organised a conference at Maui in Hawai‘i, entitled “God: The Contemporary Discussion”, which was attended by 160 scholars from the fields of theology, religious studies, and philosophy, hailing from 33 countries and embodying major religious traditions (Sontag and Bryant 1982). This format of “academic ecumenism” was followed by a series of annual “God conferences” (Hananim’ŭi hoe 하나님의회) in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (1982), Puerto Rico (1983/1984), and Seoul (1984) (Smalls 1984). Taking its interfaith work to the next level, in 1985 (15 to 21 November) New ERA organised the first Assembly of the World’s Religions (AWR; Segye Chonggyo Hoe 세계종교회/世界宗敎會). Over 600 selected religious dignitaries, scholars, and scholar-practitioners gathered to attend the event held at the Americana Great Gorge Conference Center in McAfee, New Jersey. Participants came from 73 countries and represented mainline traditions as well as new religious movements (Bryant et al. 1986, pp. 274–76). Featuring less theological discourse and a more experiential focus, the AWR’s programme allowed for ceremonial and artistic expressions of religious unity, including supra-confessional prayers, meditation sessions, and a ritual where religious representatives solemnly poured glasses of water into a large bowl. These elements would become key features in subsequent Unificationist-led interfaith gatherings.19

In the founder’s address, entitled “Dialogue and Alliance”, Mun laid out his understanding of the essential task of religion:20

“[… T]he ultimate purpose of all these religions is only to realize God’s will, that is, the ideal world of peace and happiness. Religions should be concerned with God’s will for world salvation more than with the salvation of the individual or the welfare of their own denomination. […] Today God is trying to embrace the whole of humankind as His children. Through interreligious dialogue and harmony we should realize one ideal world of peace, which is God’s purpose of creation and the common ideal of humankind”.

(Moon 1986, p. 98)

In short, Mun deems religions to hold the key to world peace. However, as he reminds his co-religionists, to realise God’s kingdom, religious groups cannot just focus on the world beyond, but must actively carry its value perspective into the fields of “politics, the economy, social programs and education” (ibid., p. 100). Taking the UN as the standard, Mun envisioned the AWR to grow into a significant platform of religious leaders in good standing, who would actively engage in a collective this-worldly process of kingdom-building (ibid., p. 101). Or, to take up the metaphor employed in his farewell remarks to the AWR: rivers representing the various religious traditions should ultimately flow to their final destination, that is, the great ocean signifying the millenarian kingdom (ibid., p. 223).

Mun’s long-term intent was to import international expertise on interfaith matters back to his homeland and, thus, equip the Korean Unification Movement with a competitive edge. Thus, he did not shy away from mobilising considerable financial and human resources for his projects. The AWR was sponsored by the International Religious Foundation (IRF; Kukche Chonggyo Chaedan 국제종교재단/國際宗敎財團), founded by Mun two years earlier (1983), which continued to support the Unificationist interfaith outreach throughout the 1980s. The first event was followed by two other assemblies in San Francisco (1990) and, finally, in Seoul (1992). Attended by reportedly 2000 international religious dignitaries, the AWR in Seoul was embedded into the programme of the World Culture and Sports Festivals (Segye Munhwa Ch’eyuk Taejŏn 세계문화체육대전/世界文化體育大典), a series of mass conventions inspired by the 1988 Seoul Olympics and held in irregular intervals between 1992 and 2007.21 Launched in 1991, the US-based Interreligious Federation for World Peace (Segye p’yŏnghwa chonggyo yŏnhap 세계평화종교연합/世界平和宗敎聯合), headed by Frank Kaufmann (b. 1952), succeeded the IRF. It functioned as a temporary umbrella for the Unification Movement’s expanding international interfaith work and co-hosted the World Culture and Sports Festivals in South Korea. Furthermore, the Interreligious Federation for World Peace inspired pilgrimages, interreligious service projects, and grassroots interfaith meetings, thus, laying the foundations on which UPF would continue to build in the 2000s and thereafter (cf. CBG XI.2.2.1–8, pp. 1285–88).

By holding interfaith conferences along with interreligious sports competitions and large-scale blessing ceremonies in South Korea drew public attention to Mun. However, being no stranger to controversy and breaking both diplomatic and interfaith protocol, Mun also dared to use the stage provided by the first World Culture and Sports Festival in order to publicly declare his messiahship (cf. Moon 1992). Such tendencies of self-aggrandisement did not always sit well with the guests. Several longstanding friends of the Unification Movement were put off by this “provocation” and consequently severed their ties with the movement; others, however, respectfully declined his bolder claims while witnessing to the “spiritual power” and charismatic “energy” of Mun’s works, and continued their collaboration (see, e.g., Gregorios 1992; Rubenstein 1992). Bravado was a distinguishing feature of Mun’s ministry, and from this “charismatic audacity”, sprang forth his idea of reshaping the UN.

Going beyond the centenary celebrations of the World’s Parliament of Religions of 1893, Mun sought to build a global interreligious forum that aimed at nothing short of world peace (cf. MS 2002, p. 275). The institutional basis for this endeavour would be complementing the UN General Assembly. On 1 October 1993, Mun declared: “I am planning to create a UN of religions that is aligned with religious people. We are entering such a stage” (MS 1999, p. 212).22 Thus, since the early 1990s, reforming the UN became an essential aspect of Mun’s millenarian masterplan. Technical questions of how religious representatives would be selected, who would preside over the “UN of religions”, and how exactly the organisation would operate were of little concern to Mun. After all, it was obvious—or so he thought—that he was designated by heaven to represent the absolute oneness of God. Thus, if all religions connected with him as the nodal point of the providence, a world of peace would unfold (ibid.).

2.2. Political Agenda

Since its inception, the Unification Movement has decisively pursued a political agenda with a spirit of utmost urgency. Mun’s millenarian vision was unapologetically this-worldly, which had clear political implications. Differing from its interfaith work that usually operated under overarching organisational frameworks, Unificationist political activities spread across various projects, organisations, and publication bodies. The more apparent examples of Mun’s political work include his open defence of US President Richard Nixon (1913–1994; p. 1969–1974) at the height of the Watergate crisis in 1973 (Kim 1974, pp. 177–225), various anti-communist initiatives including CAUSA (K’ausa 카우사 or Nambongmi T’ongil Yŏnhap 남북미통일연합/南北美統一聯合, established in 1980),23 and protests at the Berlin wall during the 1980s by the Unificationist student organisation CARP or Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (Chŏn’guk Taehak Wŏlli Yŏn’guhoe 전국대학원리연구회/全國大學原理硏究會, founded in 1966) (Dubisz 2010). Most saliently showcasing Mun’s alignment with the US Republicans was the founding of the Washington Times in 1982 (cf. D’Souza 1985, p. 28), which he rapidly established as a conservative daily newspaper still in print today. Jeffrey M. Bale, scholar of religious extremism, has made a strong case for the assumption of ties between the Unification Movement and the Korean CIA as well the World Anti-Communist League, an international umbrella organisation encompassing numerous right-wing groups (Bale 1991). Such associations notwithstanding, Mun’s political pursuits were not subject to external directives but thoroughly driven by his own idiosyncratic brand of millenarianism.

In the final years of the Cold War, Mun made meticulous preparations to meet the shakers and makers of communist states. As the Communist Bloc began to show signs of waning, Mun toned down his anti-communist rhetoric and entered high-level diplomatic endeavours. In the spring of 1987, Mun launched the Summit Council for World Peace (Segye P’yŏnghwa Chŏngsang Hoeŭi 세계평화정상회의/世界平和頂上會議) in Seoul. This first summit reportedly drew twenty former heads of state and was followed up by a series of four more summits, organised by the Federation for World Peace.24 In 1990, one year prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mun met with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev (b. 1931) in Moscow, followed by another “providential” meeting in 1991 with North Korean President Kim Il-sŏng (1912–1994) at a time when formal diplomatic relations between the Koreas were absent.

Although these high-level encounters carried great symbolic value to Mun and his adherents, the success of the Unification Movement’s grassroots political work remained limited. In the 1990s, his focus had shifted from ideological warfare to the promotion of family values. After having relocated from the US to South Korea, Mun launched the Family Party for Peace and Unity (P’yŏnghwa T’ongil Kajŏng Tang 평화통일가정당/和統一家庭黨) in 2003 and entrusted the project to his right hand (and later apostate) Kwak Chŏng-hwan 곽정환/郭錠煥 (b. 1936).25 However, as the party’s campaigns focused almost exclusively on the themes of family values and Korean reunification while showing little expertise in broader political and economic questions, the party failed to win a seat in the South Korean general election of 2008. Unificationist party politics was, thus, soon put on hold. Nonetheless, Mun preferred the world as his stage. Throughout the 2000s, he completed several world tours to present his vision of an “Abel UN” (Abel yuen 아벨 유엔).

3. Merging the Religious and Political Spheres

For the purpose of synthesising the Unification Movement’s international political activities with its interreligious initiatives, Mun launched the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace (IIFWP; Segye P’yŏnghwa Ch’ojonggyo Ch’ogukka Yŏnhap 세계평화초종교초국가연합/世界平和超宗敎超國家聯合) in the Lotte Hotel, Seoul, on 6 February 1999. The IIFWP was tasked to serve as an overarching entity, uniting various organisations and initiatives of the movement. In particular, Mun envisioned the merging of two spheres: the political realm represented by the Federation for World Peace, with the religious and cultural realm represented by the Interreligious Federation for World Peace.

By way of presenting his new organisation as a model, he suggested to restructure the UN to form a “bicameral system” (yangwŏnje’ŭi hyŏngt’ae 양원제의 형태), bringing together both religious and political leaders from every nation of the world. Their co-operation would signal the unification of politics (the realm of the body) and religion (the realm of heart–mind) (MS 2000, pp. 103–7).

Mun’s idea of restructuring the UN as a bicameral system entailed the division into an upper and a lower house. Whereas the current UN body, which, according to Mun, had been subverted by communist ideologues, would constitute the lower house as “Cain UN” (Kain yuen 가인 유엔), the upper house should be formed by the “Abel UN”. The latter was supposed to represent the conscience of the world and would function as an umbrella for the UN of religions, together with a “Parents’ UN”, a “Women’s UN”, a “Youth UN”, and a “Students UN”. Whereas the “Cain UN” had allegedly proven to be a paralysed and impotent organisation with regard to the advancement of its founding purpose, the “Abel UN” was to form the vanguard for ushering in a new global era of peace (CBG VIII.3.1.6–32, pp. 911–19).

Having a penchant for exuberant symbolic events, Mun laid out this idea publicly at an assembly of the IIFWP in a hall of the UN headquarters in New York City on 18 August 2000.26 The following year, on 27 January 2001, Mun held a mass blessing ceremony in the UN headquarters in New York City to underscore his proposal of connecting the “traditional family ideal” with the political sphere as the cornerstone for world peace, with 210 couples participating, all dressed in ethnic garb or national costumes representing 135 countries. However, as the celebration of religious events was considered a serious breach of the UN facilities’ protocol, Mun was barred from holding further gatherings at the UN headquarters. As a consequence, Mun sidetracked the idea of reforming the UN and resolved to create an alternative version of the UN (Mickler 2008).27 In an address to Unificationist leaders on 24 September 2003, Mun performed his role as the Commander-in-Chief in the operation of reshaping the world through introducing an “Abel UN”:

“There is no one who can fix the world except Teacher Moon. […] After having made perfect preparations, the conquest of the current UN is an all-out attack. As the world became united through World War II, we are now preparing to mobilise all of Asia through the UN and the advanced nations of Europe to become one with Teacher. After this is completed, the Abel UN will be formed. It is also good to have the Cain UN. […] Centring on a new world that resembles the time when enemies became one after World War II, the Abel UN is going to be an organisation that attends God beyond the universe”.

(MS 2006a, p. 226)28

After a brief period of six years, the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace finally merged into the UPF, which was formally launched in 2005 to represent the UN’s “able” or “Abel” counterpart.

4. The UPF’s Millenarian Raison D’être

Interfaith on the one hand and political activism on the other were two hallmarks of the Unificationist NGOisation process. These two lines of development were first consolidated through the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace with the purpose of connecting religious and political leaders, thus, creating a model to reform the UN. The torch was passed on to the UPF in 2005, which was solemnly inaugurated by Mun on 12 September 2005:29

“Thus, today, I declare before all of humankind the creation of a new international organisation capable to exert the function of the Abel-type UN along with the renewal of the existing UN for the realisation of world peace, which is God’s eternal ideal of creation. It will be launched under the name of ‘Universal Peace Federation’, […] having received the mandate of heaven”.

(MS 2009b, pp. 236, 41)30

In Mun’s understanding, the mandate of heaven (ch’ŏnmyŏng 천명/天命)—which, incidentally, is an explicitly Confucian notion—is tantamount to his (or, more accurately, True Parents’) providential calling. His ministry and Unificationism at large would be the only means for humankind to accomplish God’s ideal of creation (ch’angjo isang 창조이상/創造理想), that is, the very purpose why God had created the cosmos and humans in the first place. This purpose is Cheon Il Guk, which refers to personal, communal, and civilisational harmony and harmonisation centring on God and, by extension, True Parents (Pokorny 2014, pp. 154–61). Unificationism manifesting in a vast concert of activities is what would bring Cheon Il Guk to pass.31 In other words, lived Unificationism means kingdom-building. In this, Mun assigned a crucial role to the UPF. To him, the foundation of the UPF is the culmination of “True Parents’ blood, sweat, and tears” (MS 2009b, p. 247), that is, his (and his wife’s) triumphant millenarian life course, virtually every part of it being celebrated in altogether hundreds of soteriological proclamations (O 2012). Speaking “their language”, the UPF shall convey Unificationism to the world’s political and religious leaders, and consequently, the people of the world, aligning their mindsets towards kingdom-building. That the UPF—being marshalled as the diplomatic mouthpiece of Unificationism—would prevail is deemed to be certain, for it already epitomises “God’s victory” (Hananim’ŭi sŭngni 하나님의 승리) in creating Cheon Il Guk (MS 2009b, p. 247).

In the years following the inauguration of the UPF, Mun—then in his late 80s—time and again stressed the utmost millenarian significance of this providential organisation. He did so, for example, in a “peace message” (p’yŏnghwa meseji 평화메세지) in 2007:

“Ladies and gentlemen, on 12 September 2005, I proclaimed to all under heaven the establishment of the Universal Peace Federation (UPF), which will bring God’s providence to blossom. The Universal Peace Federation may now serve as an Abel-type counterpart to the UN in the Era of the Creation of the Latter Heaven. It will renew the existing Cain-type UN and mobilise tens of thousands of ambassadors for peace everywhere in the world, who have inherited my teachings, ‘Heavenly Fatherism’ [ch’ŏnbujuŭi 천부주의/天父主義], that is, the principles of true love and the true family, and who will fulfil heaven’s decree of ‘One Family Under God’”.

(T’ongilgyo 2009, p. 243)32

By drawing on the notion of the Era of the Creation of the Latter Heaven (huch’ŏn kaebyŏk sidae 후천개벽시대/後天開闢時代), Mun clothes his millenarian vision in a Korea-centric fashion (Pokorny 2013a, pp. 177–79), typical for Korean new religious movements (Pokorny 2018a). Huch’ŏn kaebyŏk refers to the successful millenarian transition that has the Korean peninsula and its people as the lynchpin. This shift, which allegedly came to fruition in essence in February 2013 (see note 31), would ultimately have the UPF take the place of the UN.

From its conception, Mun was clear about the UPF’s purpose in line with his Korea-centric millenarianism. For example, on 5 September 2005, a week before the formal founding of the organisation, Mun stated during the daily morning devotion—called hundokhoe 훈독회/訓讀會 (literally, gathering for instruction and studying)—with his adherents:

“That is the Universal Peace Federation, and that is why Satan has disappeared from the earth […]. The Earth is to be embraced within the boundaries of a peace in perfect blossom! Now, the goal of our activities is to establish the Universal Peace Federation, and, thereby, to restore the territory of the fatherland [i.e., Korea]. Setting this as the goal of our future lives we should move on. Now, do you understand?” .

(MS 2009a, pp. 290–91)33

God’s fatherland is the Korean peninsula and the UPF will be decisive in its millenarian restoration. Three selected instances nicely illuminate how Mun linked the UPF with his Korea-centric millenarian vision in more practical terms.

First, before Mun could stage the UPF as the global herald of peace to his core clientele in South Korea and Japan, he needed to make the point that abroad his ideas were already being wholeheartedly welcomed. Therefore, shortly following the UPF’s inauguration, Mun and Han embarked on a world speaking tour with the purpose to widely disseminate the news of this latest millenarian project that took them to 120 nations and formally ended on 23 December of the same year. Meetings with various political leaders, including a number of current heads of state of smaller countries, were arranged during their tour. In early 2006, Mun (then at age 86) continued his campaign throughout the Republic of Korea and choreographed several “Conventions for the Restoration of the Fatherland and Hometown” (Choguk Hyangt’o Hwanwŏn Taehoe 조국향토환원대회/祖國鄕土還元大會) where he delivered his (only slightly modified) UPF inauguration address. Immediately following these rallies, Mun dispatched his wife as well as several of his children, their partners, and four grandchildren to embark on another world tour in order to disseminate his speech. Finally, in October 2006, Mun concluded this three-generational mission ceremoniously in the Ch’ŏnjŏnggung, the construction of which was completed just a few months prior.

Second, in commemoration of the UN troops that had participated in the Korean War, Mun emphatically promoted the idea of a Peace Army and Peace Police (p’yŏnghwagun’gwa p’yŏnghwa kyŏngch’al 평화군과 평화경찰) in October 2005 in Kiev, Ukraine, during his 120-nations speaking tour. Whereas this idea has not been implemented yet, it served a highly symbolic purpose: The Peace Army and Peace Police was to explicitly honour the legacy of the UN soldiers who had sacrificed their lives for the Korean people. Thus, the task of this Abel UN force would be to serve the safety of the “heavenly nation” (hanŭl nara 하늘나라), that is, Korea as the centre of the future Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, and be dispatched to wherever conflicts would erupt, however, without carrying any weapons apart from education and “true love” (ch’am sarang 참사랑; i.e., piousness) (CBG VIII.3.4.26–33, pp. 943–45).

Third—and more fundamentally for Mun’s Abel UN vision—is Mun’s dream of nation-forming, interlaced with the somewhat abstract idea of a complementary (later turning into a substitute) UN structure. Modelled after the Vatican, which has a permanent observer status in the UN general assembly, Mun envisioned a city-state endowed with the status of a nation that would represent at the UN not only Unificationism but the entire “religious and cultural realm” (chonggyo munhwagwan 종교문화권/宗敎文化圈) (MS 2003, p. 93). The idea of a utopian city-state that could function as a “World Religions UN” (Segye Chonggyo Yuen 세계종교유엔) (ibid.), while at the same time being fully integrated into the UN system, stood at the outset of Mun’s plans to create the UPF. Subsequently, the UPF was meant to effectively supersede the UN overall. Naturally, South Korea was his first choice for the territory on which such a multicultural mini-state would be built.34 Notably, through the efforts of the (later ousted) Unificationist “court medium and exorcist” Kim Hyo-nam 김효남/金孝南 (b. 1952), the Unification Movement, from the 1990s, started to develop several hectares of land at the southern banks of the Ch’ŏngp’yŏng Lake in Kap’yŏng county 가평군/加平郡 into a veritable Unificationist Holy See (Pokorny and Zoehrer 2023), which would (and is, in fact, presently deemed to) serve as the governing centre of Cheon Il Guk (Pokorny and Zoehrer 2018, p. 238).35

Concluding Remarks

Mun promoted Unificationism as a millenarian desideratum. Humankind hitherto failed to realise God’s apparent plan for creation, winding up in a hellish world instead. Not only does Unificationism elucidate this very plan, but it is meant to represent the only fully fledged theoretical and practical programme to bring the original purpose of everything to pass. Unificationism is, thus, understood as a cosmic providential necessity. However, this universal claim, which is pursued from the outset, is wed with a distinct Korea-centrism. Koreaness is thought by Mun to essentially represent the most exalted earthly vis-à-vis of the divine. Hence, the global agenda of Unificationism is inherently turned towards Korea. In other words, the Korean agenda spells out in global terms. This is true for Unificationism as a whole as it is for its individual parts. The UPF is a case in point. Being the result of a wide range of (occasionally institutionalised and ephemeral) Unificationist interfaith and political endeavours over many decades, the UPF is the chief (religio-)diplomatic translation agency for the Unification Movement’s idiosyncratic millenarianism. The UPF’s “bilingualism”, where global interreligiously driven diplomatic peace work meets Unification theological exclusivism, serves the Unification Movement to disseminate and propel its millenarian scheme. This not only involves actual “kingdom-building”, but feeds back to the morale of the group’s core clientele in South Korea and Japan, for global visibility and (apparent) high-profile endorsement (see, e.g., the Summit for Peace on the Korean Peninsula mentioned in the Introduction) engenders motivation, which entails continuous or rising social and economic contribution among rank-and-file Unificationists. The latter specifically are the sine qua non for kingdom-building and for retaining a global presence. Moreover, it is this elitist peace work globetrotting by the UPF which is much conducive particularly for the (hitherto markedly negative) image of the Unification Movement among South Korea’s general public and, more importantly, the stakeholders of domestic politics and civil society.

Overall, Unificationism is intrinsically globalist. For one, the world (in fact, the whole cosmos) would need Unificationism for accomplishing millenarian perfection. Concurrently, the Unification Movement needs the global discourse for both consummating the Kingdom of Heaven and keeping its core religious business in full operation. In this, the UPF plays a key role.