The Family Federation in Korea issued the following statement to the Korean media (in Korean only) on December 11, 2025. This English translation is for your information, not for publishing, and is not an official statement of the International Family Federation. [See the Korean Version]
Statement on the Position of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification in Korea
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification in Korea acknowledges the concern caused by recent events and fully recognizes our responsibility to address them. We offer the following clarification, and state our position as follows.
1. The essence of this matter is the unilateral transgression of one individual, inconsistent with our teachings.
The Family Federation Korea has upheld as core values of our faith the fundamental role of religion, political neutrality [referring to Headwing], and compliance with law and order, which our Founders have consistently emphasized.
Our Founders have devoted themselves to peace in Korea and the world, the rebuilding of families, and spiritual education, while the daily operations and administration of the church have been handled by a separate organizational structure.
The recently raised suspicions of “collusion between religion and politics” or “intervention in politics” have no direct connection whatsoever to our religious order’s teachings, operational principles, or the spiritual direction established by our Founders.
Notably, it has been clearly confirmed that at the core of this situation are the transgressions of one former leader, who ignored internal regulations and reporting procedures and made decisions and acted independently and unilaterally without consultation with his superiors.
He bypassed normal administrative procedures and arbitrarily extended and implemented his personal judgment in ways that the leadership could not grasp, causing deep concerns for our members and to the general public.
Such individual transgressions are completely inconsistent with the founding principles we have upheld for 70 years.
2. We deeply regret not having identified these transgressions at an early stage.
It was after the fact that the headquarters administration discovered the former leader’s unilateral decision-making and avoidance of reporting, and we take seriously the point that we should have examined internal procedures more thoroughly.
We express our deep regret to the public and our own members regarding this matter.
However, what we wish to make clear is that this incident does not reflect the Founders’ leadership or the core values of the movement, but was, rather, a special case of transgression in which an administrative officer exceeded the scope of his authority and violated the trust placed in him.
3. We will strive to communicate more deeply with society and become a religion that earns public trust.
As a part of Korean society, the Family Federation will implement the following measures to meet the expectations of our citizens.
First, we will more clearly institutionalize the principle of political neutrality.
On a practical level, we will further strengthen the principle of political neutrality that our Founders have emphasized, and will introduce a system to verify transparency of operations with the participation of external experts, to ensure that activities that could cause problems will absolutely not occur.
Second, we will further establish transparency and accountability in our operations.
We are reorganizing the reporting system, accounting procedures, and internal review processes of our headquarters administrative organization, and will continue to make them more thorough. We will invite regular reviews, with the assistance of independent third-party advisors, to further enhance public trust.
Third, we will continue to contribute as a religion that serves the public interest and fulfills its social responsibilities.
We will earn the trust of the general public by expanding activities that contribute to society and by strengthening our internal ethical and legal instruction so that our faith community can grow alongside Korean society.
4. A Message to the Citizens of Korea
The Family Federation in Korea is a community of ordinary citizens who live within the laws and order of the Republic of Korea—paying taxes, raising families, helping neighbors, and contributing to society.
The vast majority of our members have lived sincere, upright lives of faith entirely unrelated to this incident, and their faith and conscience should not be damaged by the transgressions of one individual.
We sincerely respect each citizen for your warm solidarity and trust, and for your love for Korean society.
We will continue to demonstrate greater sincerity and responsibility through visible, concrete action, to ensure that this trust is honored and protected.
Family Federation for World Peace and Unification Korea