Rev. Moon: Nixon Backer

By Ellsworth Dents—The Washington Post The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, left, as he arrived here in January. Z F By Laurence Stern Afterward the White House issued a and William R. MacKaye brief announcement of the unscheduled Washington Post Staff Writers visit. It explained that "the President Shortly before noon on the first of wanted to take the opportunity to per- February the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, sonally thank Rev. Moon for his sup- known variously among his followers as port . . ." No other details of the ses- the Father of the Universe and the sion were provided by the White House. Messiah returned. was ushered into the No photographers were called in. presence of President Richard M. Nixon. The previous morning Tricia Nixon Cox and her husband mingled with ap- The chunky, 54-year-old Korean evan- preciative smiles among the disciples gelist embraced Mr. Nixon and then of Mr. Moon's Unification Church in prayed fervently in his native tongue Lafayette Square. They were character- while the President listened in silence. istically well-scrubbed and well-trimmed Mr. Moon ended the audience with the young men and women carrying signs exhortation: "Don't knuckle under to pressure. Stand up for your convictions." See MOON, MO, Col. 1 wide scale. In the United States he has gathered MOON, From Al behind him thousands of young adher- proclaiming that "God Loves Nixon" and ents from college campuses and city urging that all "Support Our President." streets, some disenchanted fugitives The First Family was clearly basking from the New Left, some stalwarts from in the spiritual embrace of "The Fam- the ranks of organized conservatism. ily" of the Holy Spirit Association for Most of all, however, the ranks of Mr. the Unification of World Christianity, Moon's "family" — as the faithful call of which Sun Myung Moon ("shining themselves — are filled with apolitical beauty") is founder, guiding light and— young, floundering in search of mean- in accordance with his own theological ings and certainties. precepts—the divine and ultimate mas- (Today he is beginning a new 32-city ter. tour of the United States on the theme of "Christianity in Crisis".) For 40 days at the turn of the year Among his constituency of true believ- Mr. Moon and his followers waged a ers many see him. as the Messiah. re- "Forgive, Love, Unite" crusade in behalf of the Watergate-besieged President of turned to complete his work. Mr. Moon claims no divine status — he does not the United States through mass rallies, deny it either — but preaches that full-page newspaper ads and demonstra- tions staged in a dozen world capitals. Christ will be born again in Korea in Each morning at the gates of the our time. The theme is a pervasive one White House they prayed for forgive- in the unorthodox Korean Christian ness of Watergate. They packed the cults from which Mr. Moon's own doc- stands and waved "God Loves Nixon" trine sprang. placards at the lighting of the National The established, mainline Christian Christmas Tree, thanks to an obliging churches both in the United States and National Park Service which awarded Korea generally take a less admiring the Moonies 100 front-row gold-ticket view. In these ecclesiastical circles Mr. positions, along with 1,100 other seats Moon is regarded as a religious quack, in the stands. a Korean-style Elmer Gantry who en- Mr. Moon's religious followers paraded joys a warm and privileged relationship in downtown Tokyo, carrying effigies with the military-backed dictatorship and photographs of the American Presi- headed by President Park. dent and sounded the call for forgive- Park has been jailing Christian clergy- ness. The scene was repeated in Seoul, men in Korea in reprisal for the church's home of the Unification Church move- opposition to his regime's repressive ment, where mass demonstrations are policies. Unlike most of his countrymen, generally frowned upon by the military- Moon and his principal supporters enjoy backed dictatorship of President Park unrestricted travel and exchange priv- Chung Hee. ileges from the Park government. In Seoul repo"ters who covered the In Seoul this week, General Secretary event were given envelopes by the Kim Kwan Suk of the Korean National church containing the Korean equivalent Council of Churches told Washington of $12.50 for "carfare"—the equivalent Post correspondent Don Oberdorfer that for many of them of two days' salary. Mr. Moon said the decision to rally his followers behind the embattled Presi- dent came to him as a direct revelation Mr. Moon's religion "is not a church. It from God while he was resting in Korea is a cult .. . a new sect Which has been from his 1973 coast-to-coast evangelical undermining the established church." "Day of Hope" stump of the United During a row between the major States. church organizations and the Unification "We were all eyewitnesses to Amer- group in 1968 a group of Moon's follow- ica's assassination of President John F. ers —in a widely publicized incident - Kennedy in 1963," Mr. Moon proclaimed poured a pot of urine and feces on the in full-page ads purchased in leading 'head of a Seoul University Professor of U.S. dailies early last December, "but Religion. today, without many realizing it, Amer- At one point in the earlier days of the ica is in the process of slowly killing her church Moon was arrested on a morals President again . . You belong to the charge — the date was July 4, 1955 - American family and Richard Nixon is and a group of professorial and student your brother. Will you not then love followers were expelled from Ewha your brother? You must love the Presi- Women's University in Seoul. The dent of the United States.... church was a subject of controversy and "At. this moment in history God has scandalous humors in the leading dailies chosen -Richard Nixon to be President of the Korean capital. of the United States The late Syngman Rhee, whom John That was the message of the Rev. Sun Foster Dulles once called a "good Myung Moon and it resounded loud and Christian gentleman," was Korean clear wherever he spoke. president then and, unlike Park, re- Mr. Moon himself is an enigma — the tained cordial relations with the regu- central personality in a constellation lar Christian hierarchy in his country. of related religious, financial and politi- Despite these early reverses the Uni- cal enterprises that operate on a world- fication Church is now flourishing, as is its founder. It may well merit the claim postwar Korea. made by its leaders that it is the fastest- Mr. Moon's business card lists him as growing mass religious phenomenon in chairman of the board and founder of the United States, with thriving branches five companies, which manufacture a and offshoots in Europe, Japan, and variety of products such as titanium, elsewhere. ginseng tea (a Korean blend) and air In financial solvency, institutional dis- rifles. These industries, according to cipline and top management it far sur- church officials in Seoul, are not part of passes such other rival youth cults of the church's estate. They belong to Mr. Guru Maharaj Ji followers and the Moon, although his only visible source Hare Krishna devotees. of capital has been the alms gathered Cash contributions are currently flow- in by the faithful. ing into the Unification coffers at a In the United States the ecclesiastical rate of $6 million annually, says the as well as the more secular enterprises church's acting U.S. president, Neil Al- of 'Sun Myung Moon are tightly con- bert Salonon, a 27-year-old former group trolled by a small group of trusted leader in the Dale Carnegie Institute. apostles and proconsuls, Within the past 18 months the Moon- Within the church Mr. Moon's chief les have bought two mansions in West- executive officer and American protege chester County, N.Y. — the $850,000 is Salonen, the brisk, cocky and fasts Belvedere Estate overlooking the Hud- talking Dale Carnegie alumnus who is son that belonged to the Seagram dis- both the apostle of Mr. Moon's "Divine tilling family, and the $625,000 Exqui- Principle" and also the chief pitchman site Acres estate previously inhabited by for his anti-Communist gospel. the owners of Maidenform Bra. The Ex-salesman Salonen heads both the Maidenform property, now named East church and its political-educational Garden, is the US. domicile of Mr. front, the Freedom Leadership Founda- Moon and his family, who have perman- tion. The mission of FLF, as defined 'by ent residency visas in the United States. its leaders, is to achieve "ideological vic- The church has just completed a $1.5 tory over Communism in the Unite lf., million deal to buy the Christian Broth- States." ers seminary in Barrytown, N.Y., with a It seeks to do so by promulgating MO $350,000 down payment payable, over Moon's "Unification Ideology" — ther the first three months of ownership. It unified religious-political belief system is, furthermore, a co-signer or direct of the founder — among the American lender for real estate worth an addition- young. al $800,000 purchased by 15 regional FIF publishes the conservative tall Unification Church centers throughout bold "Rising Tide" which now has a' the country. modest press run of 7,000, although its The church claims a worldwide mem- editors expect fully paid subscriptions bership of 500,000, with some 10,000 'soon to rise to 10,000 or more. active followers in the United States and Salonen either presides over or sits on a full-time "core membership" of 3,000 the boards of a number of interlocking who sell candles, peanuts, flowers and organizations that uniformly stress anti- "granariums" — bottled arrangements Communism as their main intellectual of dried flowers and seeds — on the stock in trade. streets. It is an economic activity, fall- As Salonen recounts it, FLF was con- ing somewhere between panhandling and sidewalk capitalism, that is pursued ceived by Mr. Moon, who chose him as with dawn-to-dusk fervor by the mem- the American instrument for carrying bers of the Family. out its purposes. FLF is the American Church spokesmen insist that this is equivalent of the International Federa- where most of the cash comes from, tion for Victory over Communism—al- along with a few church-operated cot- so Unification Church-controlled—which tage industries scattered through the has strong roots in Japanese and Kor- country. (One true believer, however, rean rightist industrial and political cir- recently turned over her legacy of $no,- cles. 000 in stocks and bonds to the church. Among those 'prominently assiciated The economic miracle of the church's with the federation is former Prime growth occurred mainly in the past Minister Kishi, leader of the hawkish, three years, when receipts soared from pro-Taiwan, anti-Peking faction of the $100,000 to the current gross of $6 mil- ruling Liberal Democratic Party. lion. "We never expected anything like The foundation conducts anti-Comu- it," Salonen acknowledged with a broad nist ideological training institutes. It smile during an interview in the operates the Rising Tide Bookstore in a church's Washington headquarters. basement shop adjoining the flag-draped The secrets of Mr. Moon's personal national headquarters of the church at finances are inscribed in separate, pri- 1635 Connecticut Ave. NW.. ate books and apparently are unknown FLF also runs a program of campus even to the highest officials of his counter-activism, carried out by a sub- church. His net -worth has been widely sidiary Committee for Responsible Dia- reported to be in the range of $15 mil- ' logue (also headed by Salonen), which lion, although he was flat broke when provides the forensic big guns of the he began proselytizing his vision in American Right to challenge radicals on the podium and the campus. Among the ~:«:. ~,. SUN MYUNG MOON CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD AND FOUNDER

THE HOLY SPIRIT ASSOCIATION FOR THE UNIFICATION OF WORLD CHRISTIANITY SEOUL • TOKYO • TAIPEI • WASHINGTON, D.C. • NEW YORK • SAN FRANCISCO LONDON • PARIS • ROME • FRANKFURT • VIENNA • AMSTERDAM • SYDNEY

THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION FOR VICTORY OVER COMMUNISM SEOUL • TOKYO •TAI PEI • WASHINGTON, D.C. • NEW YORK • SAN FRANCISCO LONDON • PARIS • ROME • FRANKFURT • VIENNA • AMSTERDAM • SYDNEY

COLLEGIATE ASSOCIATION FOR THE RESEARCH OF PRINCIPLES SEOUL • TOKYO • TAIPEI

THE LITTLE ANGELS -KOREAN FOLK BALLET • KOREA THE WEEKLY RELIGION • KOREA THE WAY OF THE WORLD . KOREA THE TONGIL SEIGEI MONTHLY . KOREA TONG IL INDUSTRY COMPANY . KOREA IL HWA PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY . KOREA• IL SHIN STONEWORKS COMPANY . KOREA FREEDOM LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION • WASHINGTON, D.C. TONG WHA TITAN'UM COMPANY • KOREA TAE HAN RUTILE COMPANY . KOREA ONE WORLD CRUSADE SEOUL • TOKYO •TAIPEI • WASHINGTON, D.C. • NEW YORK • SAN FRANCISCO LONDON • PARIS • ROME • FRANKFURT • VIENNA • AMSTERDAM PROFESSORS ACADEMY FOR WORLDPEACE • SEOUL t TOKYO

The calling card of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon lists the constellation of enterprises in which he figures.

conservative neams astea among r Lt's evangelical dramatics which comple- stable of speakers are Fulton Lewis III, ments Moon's own frothing delivery. Phillip Abbott Luce, National Review Pak presides over a Washington-based publisher William Rusher and Salonen organization called the Korean Cultural himself. Freedom Foundation which raised near- On the question of presidential im- ly $1.2 million through direct mail ap- peachment, in which the church has so peals and private donations to finance prominently injected itself, Salonen a varied array of good works: fostering maintains that Mr. Moon "received a Korean-American goodwill, broadcasting direct revelation from God that we to "the suffering millions in Asia behind ought to forgive this man. There is no the Bamboo Curtain," and providing evidence at the present time that would sound trucks carrying free medical ad- justify impeachment." vice to Vietnamese villagers. It is not, in Saionen's view, a political issue. The church, he insists, "does not The colonel was converted to the wish to be involved in partisan politics. Divine Principle in Korea in 1957 when, Mr. Moon met with President Nixon "as by his own account, he fell under the God's representative, not as a man," religious spell of Mr. Moon. He was sta- Salonen explained. tioned in Washington as an assistant Salonen is the preeminent American military attache here from 1961 to 1964. expeditor of the Divine Principle in the Creation of a private foundation to United States. Lt. Col. Bo Hi Pak, 14- strengthen ties between Washington and year veteran of the Korean army, is Mr. Seoul was being discussed in the Korean Moon's closest and most influential Kor- embassy while he was still serving there, ean associate in the United States. Pak recalled. Finally, former Korean Col. Pak is Mr. Moon's translator and Ambassador You Yang (who bears the constant travelling companion during ambiguous title of ambasador-at-large) the tours of the United States. He is wrote the then Korean Minister of De- tall ,well-groomed and has a flair for fense Seung Un Kim that Pak would be of greater service to his country by re- turning to Washington as a civilian and assuming the management of the foun- Grace and Park Corp. which, according dation. to Virginia' corporate records, consists "Ambassador Yang wrote that there of himself, his wife and his sister-in- were many colonels in Korea who could law, an officer of KCFF. The reason lead a battalion but not too many colon- for this arrangement, he said, was to els who could promote good will and be able to negotiate loans in behalf of friendship" with the United States, Pak the foundation. Incorporation is also related during an interview. often used to screen individuals from "My life goal was to become a gen- financial liability. eral," he said. "Then suddenly there was a suggestion that I could serve my Pak maintains that KCFF has no in- purpose better to the country in this terconnections with the Unification Church, although roughly half of the way ...". • Korean emigres here say that Pak has board that passes on the foundation's nonetheless maintained his connections programs is made up of prominent in military intelligence circles in Seoul. church members, including acting pres- The foundation started from scratch ident Salonen. "Not a in 1965 with little more than a roster of penny crosses between us," prestigious names on its letterhead: said Pak. "Organizationally there are no Dwight D. Eisenhower, Harry S. Tru- ties. Spiritually, however, Rev. Moon man, Adm. Arleigh Burke and scores of was the inspiration — through me." congressmen and "distinguished Ameri- Overall direction of KCFF's programs has been delegated to its executive di- cans." • KCFF's showcase exhibit is the Kor- rector, Donald L. Miller, who with a ean "Little Angels" children's dance business partner, Arthur Ulin, has a troupe, which has performed through- management contract with the founda- out the world as the officially endoresed tion through their public relations firm, goodwill emissary of the Park govern- Associated Public Relatins Cunselrs, Inc. ment. Everyone loves children, Pak ob- Miller and Ulin were registered as served, and even Sen. J. William Ful- foreign agents for the Korean govern- bright (D-Ark.) came to see them per- ment in 1968 in connection with a visit form in Washington a second time. by Korea's former Deputy Premier Park But the objective of "broadcasting the Choong Hoon. For a two-year period truth" behind the Bamboo Curtain was afterward Miller occasionally turned out also a primary goal of the foundation speeches for the former Ambassador Kim Dong Jo. from the days of its birth. This was the beginning of a KCFF "His English wasn't very good and he project called "Radio Free Asia," which wanted words in his speeches that he currently, according to its sponsors, is could pronounce," Miller explained.. broadcasting in Vietnam and Laos for "When I checked with the Justice information on Americans missing in Department and told them what I action. In its fund-raising letters the wanted to do they said there was no foundation stressed the importance of need to register." the POW broadcasts. These claims have But in 1971 the fundation found itself been given a chilly reception by the the target of converging investigations State Department. by the State Department and FBI. At "We have taken the position," said a issue was whether KCFF and its oper- State Department spokesman, "in re- ating officials were in violation of the sponse to public and congressional in- foreign agent registration act by fail- quiries that that Radio of Free Asia has ing to register in behalf of the Park had no known influence on the POW government. question and that it has no official At prior hearing of the Senate Foreign sanction or sponsorship from the U.S. Relatins Committee there was testimony government." by witnesses from State that the Park Nonetheless the money rolls in and government had given free time on its Pak, whose salary was listed as $31,500 national network. to Radio of Free Asia in KCFF's last Internal Revenue Serv- for the Washington-produced broad- ice filing, enjoys a lifestyle at sharp casts. variance from the ascetic communita- During the hearings Fulbright asked rian standards followed by the great former U.S. Ambassador to Korea Wil- majority of Mr. Moon's disciples. He liam J. Porter: "If they use the facili- lives in a 12-room house in McLean, ties free of charge it would. certainly Va., which Fairfax County tax records be considered partially a government indicate is worth about $115,000. operation, would it not?" Fulbright Pak explains that the big house is never got an answer. needed to serve as a "logistics center" In October, 1970, a letter bearing for the Little Angels troupe during the President Park's signature went out to several weeks each year they are in some 60,000 contributors to Radio of Washington. Free Asia declaring that "from the in- In 1970 Pak sold his house to the ception of Radio Free Asia in 1966 I have given my hearty support to this project. The Korean government was then, as it is.today, privileged to lease our broadcast facilities to Radio of Free Asia..." Park acknowledged that the dispen- who have received the sanction of the satton of air time by the Korean gov- church. ernment to a foreign private founda- Among the American-born members tion was "very rare." only 19 couples have received permission By 1971 "the Justice Department was to be married. very close to making a serious move The strict standard of celibacy that against thehi," a source who was author- now prevails for the vast majority of itatively informed on the course of the Unification Church members stands in investigation. Inquiries had been under- sharp contrast to the reputation of the way by the FBI, Internal Revenue, and Moon religion in Korea during the mid- U.S. postal authorities. 1950s. The fdundation turned to the Wash- The controversy culminating in ington law firm of Thomas (Tommy the Moon's arrest and the Ewha Women's Cork) Corcoran for help. The attorney University expulsions in 1955 centered chosen to wage KCFF's battle with the on widespread rumors — given promin- upper bureaucracy at State and Justice ent attention in the Korean press — of was Robert Amory Jr. former deputy bizarre sexual initiation rites into the director for plans (operations) of the church. The initiatory ritual was re- Central Intelligence Agency. portedly designed to purge impurities Amory, a skilled Washington advocate of blood that all men and women in- (who has since left the Corcoran law herited from Adam and Eve—at least firm) with excellent connections to the according to the doctrine. governmental Old Boy establishment, (Moon was released after three eventually won the day for KCFF. months. His supporters maintain that They weren't able to pin anything on he was found innocent' of the morals us," Miller recalled. "The State Depart- charges placed against him. Other ment was telling a lie when they said Korean sources said he was freed be- we were getting free radio time on the cause of illness. The record II not Korean network. We had a contract. clear.) Someone in State was out to get us." The Rev. Young Oon Kim, who has Nonetheless KCFF terminated its been a follower of Mr. Moon in Korea broadcasts on the government-controlled since 1954, blamed the scandal and re- network in Seoul and switched to pri- ports of sexual excesses on the evangel- vate stations in Saigon and into modest- ist's first wife and whet ab celled his scale medical and relief activities in the "unfortunate first marriage.° Saigon environs as the basis for its fund- Mr. Moon was married at least once raising activities here. High-priced Washington lawyers, and by some accounts three times before the final "Marriage of the Lamb" in round-the-world and cross-country cul- 1960 which united him to his present tural and evkngelieal jet tours are re- wife, Hak Ja Han, known in the Unifica- mote from the lifestyle of the majority tion Church as the Mother of the Uni- of Moonies, who live the austere, de- verse. He was 40 and she was an 18-year- votional life decreed by the founder old high school graduate. of the Unification religion. Since then the union and the church The use of alcohol, tobacco and other and the earthly domain of Sun Myung drugs is forbidden. Sex is out, except Moon has been blessed beyond all ex- for the handful of married couples pectation.