“This was for me a historic opportunity to return to North Korea for the first time in more than forty years. No one can claim more justification than I for harboring ill will against North Korea. I received severe persecution from the government because of my position as a religious leader and my unswerving anticommunist principles. I was tortured harshly and imprisoned for nearly three years in a labor camp. There I witnessed the death of many who had also been imprisoned without cause. The fact that I am alive today can only be described as a miracle and as a result of God’s special blessing and protection. Now I have visited North Korea. For someone in my position to love those who really cannot be loved is the essence of true love. I was not entering the house of my enemy, but rather I was returning to my homeland to visit the house of my brother. I carried with me to North Korea the principle that I have always lived by-to forgive, love and unite.”
True Father on his return from Pyongyang
From the 1960s True Parents initiated and supported a global movement to confront the communist ideology and its practice. Father would speak about North Korea and its leader Kim Il Sung. Yet, against all the odds, in the later months of 1991 True Parents were able to visit North Korea. That they could go at all was a miracle and that they could engage so personally, meaningfully and productively with the leader of the strongest communist dictatorship of all time evidences the great work of God. Not long after Father and Mother and their party returned from Pyongyang, Dr. Peter Kim gave the following testimony to the American members in New York. That was 30 years ago this month.
By Dr. Peter Kim
World Mission Center (New Yorker Hotel), New York City – December 15, 1991
Part 1
Good morning, brothers and sisters. I was honored to accompany Father and Mother to North Korea, but also sorry because not all of us could go together. But some day all of you will be able to visit and enjoy the beauty of True Parents’ homeland. Father said he could visit his own hometown because of hometown tribal messiahship.
One of the North Korean high officials said to us, “Rev. Moon, I know you told your members to go to their hometowns on September 9 this year.” That means they have studied Father’s doctrine, life story, and speech books. In some ways they are more knowledgeable and equipped than we are.
I will begin with a dream I had on November 18 before going to North Korea. I dreamed that Father, Mother, Dr. Pak, I, and several others were at a lake. Father and Dr. Pak were standing in it. The water was about waist high. Father was in front and Dr. Pak was standing about fifteen feet behind. I did not know what they were doing, but suddenly Dr. Pak pulled out a fish from the lake and said, “Look at the eel I caught!” Mother and I looked at it, but Father did not pay any attention. He just kept looking into the water. A few minutes later he put his arm in the water just like a bullet. I thought he grabbed something, but it was not easy for him to bring it out, so he was following it, going deeper and deeper. Soon Father’s entire body was in the water and then suddenly he came out like a scuba diver, took a deep breath, and smiling from ear to ear, said, “I made it!” In his hands was a big fish. He said, “This is the blackest fish and biggest eel in the world.” It looked like a fish with a wide mouth and body. I thought it was an alligator. You will see that the dream pretty much came true.
Right after that dream, before 5 am, I was awakened by a telephone call from Mother in Korea. She was preparing for the big rally in Korea that gathered about fifteen to seventeen thousand women leaders from all over the country. Mother simply asked, “Are you healthy enough to accompany me? It may be someplace colder than New York, so you may need a heavy coat.” Back then we had no idea about the possibility of Father’s visiting North Korea that soon. We had planned that Father would go to Pyongyang with two to three hundred people, including several dozen heads of state and media people. Nothing like that had been scheduled, so I did not know what she was talking about. Since Father had not visited the Panda project site yet, I thought perhaps she was thinking of Beijing.
I met True Parents in Hawaii and I shared my dream with Father and Mother. They just looked at each other and nodded their heads, but even then I was not totally sure what they were thinking about. While in Hawaii, Father teased me about the dream a couple of times. For example, Father went out fishing for two days, yet he could not catch any fish. Strange, right? Father said, “Well, if I catch a real fish, your dream will be kind of nullified. So I should not catch any fish, in order that we can wait for the real dream to come true.”
The day before we left Hawaii, Father woke up at 2 or 3 am and drafted a very serious letter. When I read the contents, I was shocked. Father had already put down the thoughts he wanted to share with Premier Kim Il Sung. Father said, “This is not final. I am planning to do this, but nothing is definite yet.”
On Nov. 15, the Deputy Prime Minister of North Korea had received a phone call at midnight from Kim Il Sung’s son, Kim Jong Il (he is the General Secretary now) telling him to go to Beijing the next day first thing in the morning and meet a man called Dr. Bo Hi Pak. “When you get there you will know why you have to meet him.” This man does not get this kind of phone call often, so he started trembling. The next morning, Nov. 16, he went to Beijing and met Dr. Pak. They discussed the possibility of Father’s visiting North Korea. Dr. Pak reminded him that when Chairman Mao wanted to open the door of China to the West, the first thing he did was invite President Nixon to China, because President Nixon was well known as an anticommunist. In the same way, if Kim Il Sung invites Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who is a well-known anticommunist, the entire world will see how much North Korea is ready to open up.
Before the Deputy Prime Minister reported back to Kim Il Sung, he asked Dr. Pak for a picture of Father and took it to the best fortune teller in North Korea. I do not know why communists believe in fortune tellers. The Deputy Prime Minister later told me that if he were to make a mistake, he would lose his job and maybe his life. The country is that rigid. The fortune teller did not know Father, but said that he would bring great benefit to North Korea, so please do not hesitate to invite him. The Deputy Prime Minister felt easier about bringing his report to Kim II Sung.
The Deputy Prime Minister reported to Kim II Sung, and he approved Father’s visit to North Korea. Father is one extreme and Kim II Sung is the other. It is like North Pole and South Pole meeting together, that impossible. But it took place.
We flew to Hong Kong on November 29, and were joined by Dr. and Mrs. Pak, Mr. Kamiyama and Mr. Terada. We spent one night in Hong Kong and went to Beijing on November 30 where we met the other brothers and sisters at the airport who were mobilized to travel with Father. However, at the last moment the North Korean government cut everyone off the list except Father and Mother, Dr. and Mrs. Pak, myself, two East Garden staff—Mr. Yoon and Mrs. McDevitt—and Thomas Hwang, a Korean brother who has been stationed in China for the past six years. There was one more gentleman from the World Bank, in charge of the Asian section, Dr. Robert Lee. That made nine altogether.
Where angels fear to tread
The invitation letter from the Deputy Prime Minister of North Korea was hand-delivered to Father and Mother at the airport in Beijing on November 30, and at 1:12 p.m., we left for Pyongyang on a special charter plane that Kim II Sung sent.
We were warmly welcomed by one of the government officials on the plane. That moment was a very serious one for me. Originally we had planned for thirty people to go, including camera crew, Washington Times reporters, and so on; that way we would be more secure and safe. But suddenly they trimmed the number to nine people. I have to confess I was afraid. My pledge and prayer was to somehow make sure Father and Mother landed back in Beijing in seven or eight days. I was scared and frustrated, but Father was smiling and waving out of the window to those left behind.
At 3:30 p.m. we arrived in Pyongyang at the Sun An airport. Mr. Yoon and I started running around trying to do our best to take pictures. Two important government officials and about twenty North Korean TV crew and reporters were already waiting for Father and Mother. One was Deputy Prime Minister Kim.
He is a very powerful man in North Korea, right under General Secretary Kim Jong Il, Kim Il Sung’s son who is virtually running the country now. He is a very good filial son who does everything for his father. The other official, Mr. Yoon, is the chairman of the committee that deals with Korean residents in foreign countries. He is one of the six most powerful men in North Korea. This man did not know until the night before we arrived that Father was coming, even though he had to officially greet Father at the airport.
Chairman Yoon received Father warmly with Deputy Prime Minister Kim and some other people there. Father gave them a big hug. When Father shook hands with Mr. Yoon, I am pretty sure Father almost cracked his hand. Later on, I heard that Chairman Yoon had really hated Father in the past. This man is the number one teacher in North Korea. He is the one who develops the strategies regarding unification with South Korea. Juche ideology originated from Kim Il Sung, and Chairman Yoon has published many books on it. Even in South Korea it is known Chairman Yoon is the toughest one to deal with in North Korea.
Continued next week…