#un-kyong;; about

[svndrenched]

Throwing some muses into Nart-verse. Shut up.

Daigo Mayumi

She's so cute and mean. She's here to bully the founder generation. Make 'em cry or some shit. Earth Style jutsus. Scathing and casually devastating observations abound.

Ozaki Chirawan

Maybe a little bit older than Naruto. Her clan is from Takigakure. Big on genjutsu. Guess what. She still hates that she's the heir to the Saensawang clan. She travels all over with her Grandmother, learning about the workings of the world. At her best in snow.

Gakuganji Yoshinobu

Idk, y'all, he's so old. Probably teachering somewhere. Taking open-mouthed naps in public and claims he is just resting his eyes.

Un-kyong

A truly funky lesbian. Vagabond lifestyle. Need something sketchy done? She won't do it, but she must hear about it right now. Definitely not entirely human.

[michaelcosio]

North Korea - The execution of Kim Jong Un's powerful uncle

(17 Dec 2013)

STORYLINE: On December 10th 2013 Pyongyang residents reacted to the announcement that their leader's uncle, long considered the country's second in command, had been sacked.

"I was hardly able to contain my indignation about the manoeuvres of Jang Song Taek group challenging our party," said one Pyongyang resident, Ri Myong Song.

Kim Jong Un's uncle, Jang Song Thaek, fell from grace when capped by his dramatic arrest at a party meeting on Sunday, facing allegations from corruption to womanising.

"How dare he betray the man's elementary conscience, morality and faith?" added another Choe Son Ok resident.

This was far from Kim's first purge.

Several defence ministers and army chiefs have been replaced as the Workers' Party has asserted control over the military after 17 years rule under late leader Kim Jong Il. But it is the ouster of Jang, who had been considered North Korea's second-most-powerful figure that sends the strongest signal to anyone seeking to challenge Kim Jong Un.

Jang, 67, had occupied a privileged and yet precarious spot within the inner circle. He is the husband of Kim Kyong Hui, the only daughter of late President Kim Il Sung, younger sister to Kim Jong Il and aunt to Kim Jong Un.

Jang was seen as a regent figure as Kim Jong Un was being groomed to succeed his father. He rose in party and military ranks alongside his baby-faced nephew, often dressed in a trim white general's uniform and standing within arm's length of Kim on field visits and at state events.

Worries remain over whether the expulsion of such a senior figure could instead lead to less stability and open up the possibility of a power struggle.

The confirmation that Pyongyang had removed Jang and purged his group was seen by some analysts as a warning against dissent. It came about a week after South Korea's spy agency said that two of Jang's closest assistants had been executed for corruption.

North Korea on December 13th said it had executed Kim Jong Un's uncle as a traitor for trying to seize supreme power, a stunning end for the leader's former mentor, long considered the country's number two official.

In a sharp reversal of the long-held popular image of Jang Song Thaek as a kindly uncle guiding Kim Jong Un as he consolidated power, the North's official Korean Central News Agency indicated that Jang instead saw the death of Kim Jong Il in December 2011 as an opportunity to challenge his nephew and win power.

It called him a "traitor to the nation for all ages" and "worse than a dog."

[bigyack-com]

North Korean leader Kim’s aunt reemerges after 6 years of speculation about fate: Report - world news

The aunt of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made her first public appearance in about six years, state media reported Sunday, quelling rumors that she was purged or executed by her nephew. According to a Korean Central News Agency dispatch, the name of Kim Kyong Hui was included in a list of top North Korean officials who watched a performance marking Lunar New Year’s Day with Kim Jong Un at a Pyongyang theater on Saturday. North Korea’s main newspaper also released a photo showing Kim Kyong Hui sitting near Kim Jong Un and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, at the Samjiyon Theater. Kim Kyong Hui, 73, was once an influential figure in North Korea as the only sister of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the father of Kim Jong Un. She held a slew of top posts such as a four-star army general and a ruling Workers’ Party departmental director. She was also believed to have played a key role in grooming Kim Jong Un as the next leader after Kim Jong Il suffered a stroke in 2008. Kim Jong Un eventually inherited power after his father died of a heart attack in late 2011. Kim Kyong Hui’s fate had been in doubt after Kim Jong Un had her husband, Jang Song Thaek, executed for treason in December 2013. He was once considered the North’s No. 2. Days after Jang’s execution, Kim Kyong Hui’s name was mentioned in a KCNA dispatch as a member of a funeral committee for another top official. But she missed a state ceremony commemorating the second anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s death days later. Her name had since never been mentioned in North Korean state media until Sunday’s KCNA report. Some North Korea monitoring groups in Seoul and foreign media outlets had speculated Kim Jong Un had his aunt also executed or purged, or she died of health problems. Outside experts said Kim Kyong Hui had long suffered from liver and heart problems and high blood pressure. Analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at South Korea’s private Sejong Institute said Kim Kyong Hui’s reemergence suggested Kim Jong Un was attempting to strengthen a unity of his ruling family as he’s pushing to harden his position toward the United States in stalled nuclear negotiations. Cheong, however, predicted that Kim Kyong Hui won’t likely regain her political influence as she has no position in the North’s powerful Politburo, whose memberships have already been filled with new figures. (AP) IND IND Read the full article

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Former members share their experiences

                                     Updated August 4, 2020

These testimonies, articles or reports are all from former members of FFWPU (Family Federation for World Peace and Unification) / Unification Church.

KOREAN former members

‘Ashamed to be Korean’ Shock: “Ashamed to be Korean” gives a report on the Moon scam Laser on the Moon family scam

Papasan Choi aka Nishikawa Masaru aka Choi Sang-ik January 15, 1987 testimony given in Japan on why he left the FFWPU / UC  (in Japanese) 統一教会問題と私、及びその未来 – 西川 勝氏

Syn-duk Choi  崔信德 1921-2016 Choi Syn-duk (Ch’oe Sin-dok) was an Associate Professor of Sociology at Ewha Women’s University in Seoul. She received her undergraduate education in Korea at Ewha and did graduate work in social science at the University of Chicago where she received an M.A. degree in 1957. After her return she served as Advisor in the Education Division of USOM, and in 1961 accepted an assistant professorship at Tanguk University. In 1963 she joined the faculty of Ewha University. Professor Choi has written books and reports on Korean-American subjects and on the dating attitudes of Korean college students. She is now engaged in an anthropological study of Korean village life. She was once an active member of the Tong-il church [Unification Church] and was closely associated with Moon Sun-myung. She had a son named Yoo who held, or holds, a senior position in the UC / FFWPU. Choi Syn-duk: Korea’s Tong-il Movement. XLIII: pages 101-113. in the magazine Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society No. 43 (1967). This issue has other well researched articles about religions in Korea. A PDF file of Volume XLIII (No. 43) can be downloaded here: http://www.raskb.com/transactions/VOL43/KORS0749D_VOL43.pdf

Kenneth Suhr I am Kenneth Suhr and a Korean 2nd gen of the UC Forming a Local 2nd Generation Group An Open Question about the UC Second Generation – Kenneth Suhr Blame v. Responsibility in the Fall-out from the FFWPU and Sun Myung Moon

Sam Park   朴進慶 (Park Jin-kyung) Sam Park testimony 2014 Sam Park 2015 response to feedback

Annie Soon-wha Choi  催淳華 Interview with Mother Jones magazine: Meet the Love Child Rev. Sun Myung Moon Desperately Tried to Hide

“The entire movement was built on a lie” Annie Choi http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/12/reverend-moon-unification-church-washington-times-secret-son PDF of Mother Jones article The New Republic – The Fall of The House of Moon

Chong-hwa Kim  金鍾和 / 金鐘華 Sun Myung Moon lived with her during 1946 – February 22, 1948 when they were both arrested and jailed. Both were married to others at the time. Moon had one son, Sung Jin Moon, and she had three children. 1946 Moon’s ‘second wife’, Chong-hwa Kim in North Korea 1948 The tears and anger of Mrs. Chong-hwa Kim Sun Myung Moon was a repeat bigamist, in 1948 and again in 1964

Kyong-rae Kim  金景来 Was a member in the 1950s Book: 社會悪과邪教運動            Social wickedness and the cults movement (1957)

Myung-hui Kim (male)  김명희  (金明熙) Book: 문선명의 정체 (1987, 1989) The Identity of Sun Myung Moon (1) by Myung-hui Kim

Chong-hwa Pak  朴正華  1913-1997 Book: 「六マリアの悲劇 真のサタンは、文鮮明だ!!」(November 1993)             Tragedy of the Six Marys – the real Satan is Sun Myung Moon!!

Book: 野錄 統一敎會史  (세계기독교 통일신령협회사)  (March 1996)            An Unofficial History of the Unification Church (A History of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity)

The Tragedy of the Six Marys book (English) The Tragedy of the Six Marys Japanese video (English subtitles) The Tragedy of the Six Marys Japanese video transcript (Japanese) The Tragedy of the Six Marys Japanese video transcript (English) Pak interviewed by a Japanese member of parliament Did Chong-hwa Pak write the I Am A Traitor a book? (published by the UC)

創立同志が告発する統一教会文鮮明の正体

Hyo-min Eu, his sister Shin-hee Eu, Chong-hwa Pak and Deok-jin Kim on Japanese TV

Hyo-min Eu  劉孝敏 “Moon’s ‘Gigantic white lie’” Hyo-min Eu, one of the 36 couples, gives his testimony: exploited by Moon, then shunned by Moon. He was arrested, along with Sun Myung Moon, in 1955 and sent to jail

Shin-hee Eu  劉信姫 Interview

Deok-jin Kim  金徳振 Someone who actually practised Moon’s sex relay

文鮮明教祖の「血分け儀式」内容全告白 – 元側近・金徳振牧師

Park Jun-Cheol  박준철 Was a member for 30 years and wrote a book 빼앗긴 30년 잃어버린 30년 (문선명 통일교 집단의 정체를 폭로한다) (2002)

Nansook Hong  洪蘭淑  홍난숙 Book: In The Shadow Of The Moons: My Life In The Reverend Sun Myung Moon’s Family. (1998) For Korean viewers, this is the infamous 60 minutes interview with Nansook Hong (as well as Un Jin Moon and Donna Orme Collins).

Transcript of Nansook Hong on ‘60 minutes’

A review of Nansook Hong’s revealing book

Nansook Hong radio interview with Rachael Kohn

Nansook Hong – [C-Span] Book Discussion

Robert Parry reviews Nansook Hong’s book ‘In the Shadow of the Moons’

Smurfing in the Unification Church

Nansook Hong – In The Shadow Of The Moons, part 1

Nansook Hong – In The Shadow Of The Moons, part 2

Nansook Hong – In The Shadow Of The Moons, part 3

Nansook Hong – In The Shadow Of The Moons, part 4

French:

J’ai arraché mes enfants à Moon – Nansook Hong

« L’ombre de Moon » par Nansook Hong, partie 1 (French)

« L’ombre de Moon » par Nansook Hong, partie 2 (French)

« L’ombre de Moon » par Nansook Hong, partie 3 (French)

« L’ombre de Moon » par Nansook Hong, partie 4  (French)

German In the Shadow of the Moons book: Ich schaue nicht zurück – 14 Jahre Hölle: Ein Opfer der Mun-Sekte berichtet, Tiel 1

Nansook Hong – Ich schaue nicht zurück, Teil 2 (German)

Nansook Hong – Ich schaue nicht zurück, Teil 3 (German)

Nansook Hong – Ich schaue nicht zurück, Tiel 4 (German)

WBZ News and Mike Wallace interview Nansook Hong

Japanese:

Nansook Hong’s interview on ‘60 minutes’ translated into Japanese

TV番組「60分」で洪蘭淑インタビュー

わが父文鮮明の正体 – 洪蘭淑

文鮮明「聖家族」の仮面を剥ぐ – 洪蘭淑

Korean:

홍난숙은 1998년에 미국 CBS TV 60분 프로그램에 출연하기도 하였다.

JAPANESE former members

Miyuki Park   ボクミユキ Why did a Japanese UC member kill her Korean husband?

_____________

Yoshikazu Soejima   副島嘉和 The case of the assault on Mr Soejima 副島さん襲撃事件

副島嘉和   Yoshikazu Soejima and  井上博明  Hiroaki Inoue 『文藝春秋』 1984年7月号に 「これが『統一教会』の秘部だ ― 世界日報事件で『追放』された側の告発」

In the July 1984 issue of ‘Bungei Shunjū’ “This is the secret part of the ‘Unification Church’ – Accusation by the side ‘expelled’ in the Sekai Nippo ‘World Daily News’ incident”

Moon’s Japanese Profits Bolster Efforts in U.S.

_____________

Hiroko Yamasaki   山崎 浩子 Book: 愛が偽りに終わるとき            When love turns out to be not true Hiroko Yamasaki, an Olympic gymnast, joined and left the UC

Taguchi Tamiya   田口 民地 Book: 原理からの回復 (1989) Recovering from the Divine Principle

Kiyoharu Takahashi The Ungodly Gains Of The World’s Greediest Church

Children of the Moon video

Professor Lev Semenov My experience within the hierarchy of the Moon cult during its years of expansion in Russia and in the CIS

Ray and Sonya Pearson video

Teddy Hose:

VIDEO: Over the Moon – Escaping Sun Myung Moon, Hak Ja Han and their family

Talk Beliefs with Teddy about growing up in the UC / FFWPU

Teddy Hose traveled from San Francisco to protest at Sean Moon’s church blessing with AR-15 rifles

Ford Greene Ford Greene: Attorney at odds

Lydia Catina-Amaya Human trafficking in the FFWPU / Unification Church is despicable. Here is one Filipina’s story of her slavery in the US at the hands of Korean leaders.

“May” On the outside, looking in

Jolettah The Way I left the Unification Church – Girl leaves cult and arranged marriage and explores her new life

Jen Kiaba The Purity Knife

Jen Kiaba photos

Life Without Reverend Moon

http://summerofcheesecake.blogspot.com

Miss Mayhem and I decided to start this blog as a bit of a therapy project. We are sisters who grew up together, then grew apart when Miss Mayhem left the Unification Church that we had grown up in. After I left as well, we began to retrace our steps to begin our relationship as sisters and friends again. This blog is a part of that healing process.

“I’m not sure where this misconception came from that a Moon-sanctioned union will be free of heart-ache, gut wrenching fights (either internal or with a spouse), and potential breakup. That should be Lesson #1 in any relationship, in any religion: there are no guarantees that it will work or be immediately fulfilling. A breakup can be a learning tool. But at least at the end of the day, outside of the Unification Church there is proper support for a struggling couple and less threat of “fire and brimstone” if things don’t work out. In fact, the breakups I’ve seen in the UC tend to be much nastier because of the religious ramifications.</rant>”

Hideo Higashibaba Growing Up Moonie podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/growing-up-moonie/id1453725149 REVIEW of Growing Up Moonie by Nic Dobija-Nootens https://podcastreview.org/review/growing-up-moonie/ What comes next podcast

David Adler Esquire magazine feature by Warren Adler: Rescuing David (my son) from the Moonies

Anon Church member never allowed herself to enjoy sex because “sex was evil”

John Coming out as a Moon cult survivor after 40 years

Diane Benscoter Book: Shoes of a Servant – my unconditional devotion to a lie (2013)

It’s been a long time in the making… but here it is! Deprogrammed the web-doc. Now take a 15 minute break from whatever you are doing and put on some earphones and enjoy!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Diane-Benscoter/114855778543949 Own Your Brain website Diane Benscoter’s videos

Meeting Robin Williams

MLP What I Really Learned in the UC:

“Never ever ever under any circumstances ever ever listen to or believe a single word any person, particularly a religious person, ever says ever. Watch only their actions.”

My advice on leaving the UC

The Incident at the New Yorker Hotel

Fun with numbers

Sloe Gin A Letter to Rev. Moon

Letter from a disenchanted student of the Divine Principle.

_______________________________

Glenn Emery Pay Day at the Washington Times! Washington Times Circulation Hoax

Why I stayed in the Unification Church for so long Vivid dreams, spiritual experiences, bizarre coincidences… all of these things played a big role in convincing me to join. I perceived them as a form of personal validation from God that I was doing the right thing. After a few of those, I would not have listened to anyone trying to tell me I had made a mistake. The Divine Principle appealed to me on an intellectual level. It made sense of all the bible stories I learned in Sunday School. The DP built on what was already familiar to me, so it did not seem exotic or strange, like Scientology or Hare Krishna or other groups at the time.

Over time, my ego and identity fused with the Unification Church. Without the UC/True Parents/Divine Principle, I had no identity. Therefore, it was absolutely necessary that I never quit or leave. Otherwise, I wouldn’t exist.

Fear was also a factor. I believed bad things happened to members who lose faith and leave. Satan would invade. I felt responsible to keep going, even when I felt nothing and was plagued by doubts, because my family and my ancestors depended on me to “get the victory.” If I left, they would accuse me of failing them. So I wasn’t just in it for myself. By the time the Blessing finally rolled around, I was bored with the UC/DP. I would have quit, but I had nowhere to go. It was easier to simply keep going rather than start over. Besides, I didn’t want to face my family and friends and hear them say, “I told you so.” So my UC ego kept be in check.

Staying in the UC creates its own inertia. The longer someone is in it, the greater the inertia. I call it the “leathery bonds of convenience.” Very tough and hard to break. Simply easier to stay together with a blessed spouse, especially after having a child, even when there’s no deep emotional connection.

I believe people stay in the UC simply because they no longer see any other alternative. They’re too old to start over. They’ve invested too much personal capital to walk away. Even if they no longer believe, they continue to cling to vague hope it will all work out somehow, someday. Peer pressure from the larger group cannot be overestimated either. Leaving the group is an act of betrayal, violation of a sacred trust. Even when it all goes to hell, the group ethos is to stick together, no matter what. It takes a lot of courage to overcome that.

Glenn Emery’s personal story – Blog

Glenn Emery challenges Takeru Kamiyama

_______________________________

Yolande Elise Brener All that Heaven Allows – My sexual re-education in the UC

Beyond Belief Interviews Yolande Brener

Book: Holy Candy: Why I Joined A Cult And Married A Stranger (2014) What is the purpose of life? Is there a spiritual world? Does true love exist? If there is a God, why does he allow innocents to suffer? The desire to find answers to these questions – passed to her on a business card – led Yolande Brener to enter a bizarre, 15-year odyssey in a cult that would climax in her participation in one of the largest mass marriages in history. In HOLY CANDY, Yolande Brener pulls back the curtain on the church’s doings – but this is far from a simple black and white exposé. It is spooky, riveting, and utterly believable…

Michael Warder Reasons for leaving

Tim Folzenlogen Hyun Jin Moon’s assault on him

Kirsti L. Nevalainen Book: Change of Blood Lineage through Ritual Sex in the Unification Church (2011)

The Fall story in Genesis 3 was an attack against Sex Rites

CARP members were paid by FBI for spying on Americans

CIA and Unification Church cooperated in Sandinista War

Sun Myung Moon Exchanged Weapons for Drugs

Karen Alleyne Taylor “Moon looked over to Steve, [my husband] who sat only a short distance away and said to him in English, “She belongs to me first”. He looked pointedly at him while Bo Hi Pak translated, “If you don’t like it you can leave the room”. Steve shook his head and said, “it’s ok, Father” or words to that effect. Over the years I wondered what that was all about, I wanted to understand the significance. Now I do understand, the reality has been unlocked for me, thanks to courageous women like Nansook Hong and Annie Choi.”

Adultery and Sam Park

The East Sun Building

Master Marine Gel Coat

The European Machine Tool Industry of the UC

Allen Tate Wood Book: Moonstruck – A Memoir of My Life in A Cult (1979) (with John Vitek) “A Modern day Pilgrim’s Progress with an extended stay among the Moonies, Wood’s self-examination charts a way through a dark night of the soul in which many are still stranded.” — Henry Marshall Ph.D. Dept. of Psychology, Texas Southern University Website: http://www.atwood7.com/ https://www.facebook.com/allen.t.wood

Sun Myung Moon and the FFWPU / UC

VIDEO: Moon’s strategies for grabbing power clearly explained Allen Tate Wood answers Walter Evans’ questions about the Unification Church (now rebranded as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification). He talks about Moon’s plans to penetrate the religious, political and economic worlds to further his own aims to grab power. Strategies for gaining the allegiance of leaders were / are very concrete. (23 minutes)

Allen Tate Wood on the Unification Church VIDEO interview with Allen Wood: author, lecturer and consultant on the cult phenomenon…. former political leader of the Moonies in the U.S.

North Texas State pt.1

North Texas State pt.2

North Texas State pt.3

North Texas State pt.4

North Texas State pt.5

“Park Chung-hee [President of South Korea 1963-1979], gave orders to create a new Christian influence that would weaken progressive Christians who fought against his dictatorship.*” Moon’s Unification Church was one of the groups – from that time politics was key to the existence of the UC and the survival of Moon himself, in both Korea and the US. LINK                * Korea Herald, November 2, 2016 by Ku Yae-rin

A brief critical examination of the Divine Principle theory of history A Pilot Study – by Jane E.M. Williams & Allen Tate Wood

Young-oon Kim said Sun Myung Moon was “a pure virgin until the age of 40”

Moon’s Ignorance – he “spoke to Buddha,” but thought he was Chinese!

My Four and a Half Years with The Lord of the Flies

Moon “must have sexual relations with 70 virgins, 70 widows and 70 men’s wives”

Inside the head of a new cult member – New Statesman June 2008

Saving your family from the Manson Family – New Statesman July 2008

The social impact of cult groups – New Statesman July 2008

Steve Hassan Book: Combating Cult Mind Control  (25th Anniversary Edition) LINK

website: https://freedomofmind.com

Frank Frivilous How I Evaluate the Influence of the Divine Principle on My Life? “It’s similar to the sensation of having built an elaborate sand sculpture and having to witness it washed away by the tide.”

Moon, WACL, CAUSA, the CIA, the Contras, South America, etc. part 1

Moon, WACL, CAUSA, the CIA, the Contras, South America, etc. part 2

Moon, WACL, CAUSA, the CIA, the Contras, South America, etc. part 3

Fear and Loathing at Cheongpyeong Lake

Benjamin Douglas Cognitive biases – are UC members more prone to them?

Mark Palmer I got married in a Moonie mass wedding He was a public schoolboy from a wealthy English family. So what made Mark Palmer spend seven years as a disciple of the cult?

K. Gordon Neufeld Book: Heartbreak and Rage: Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon, A Cult Survivor’s Memoir

Heartbreak and Rage: Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon

Thought Reform and the Psychology of Choo Choo Pow

Peddler of Paradise

Waning Moon

Where have all the Moonies gone?

K. Gordon Neufeld is also the author of Cult Fiction: One Writer’s Creative Journey Through an Extreme Religion.

His website is www.neufeldbooks.com.

Joseph Nikolas Erobha / Sansu the Cat The Lunacy of Rev Moon or Why I Am Not A Unificationist

An Odyssey Through the Shadow of the Moons (Part I)

An Odyssey Through the Shadow of the Moons (Part 2)

An Odyssey Through the Shadow of the Moons (Part 3)

An Odyssey Through the Shadow of the Moons (Part 4)

An Odyssey Through the Shadow of the Moons (Part 5)

An Odyssey Through the Shadow of the Moons (Part 6)

An Odyssey Through the Shadow of the Moons (Part 7)

An Odyssey Through the Shadow of the Moons (Part 8)

An Open Letter to a Skeptical Unificationist

Craig Maxim website: My life and experiences

website: Rev. Moon’s African Son?

Skeptical Pete Dear Mr Moon

Graham Lester A workable plan for an ideal world

Here is a brief essay in which I have attempted to demonstrate how the positive ideals of the Unification movement can be effectively realized without resorting to the dogma and superstitions of the Divine Principle.

Ten reasons why the atom is not a good role model for human couples

Five of the Many Ways in Which the Principle View of the Fall Is Nonsensical

Imagination Theology: The problem and the solution

Arthur Ford was a con man too

Song-do Kim, the woman who created the Divine Principle

The Failure of Prayer

Which is Worse, Orthodox UC or the Sanctuary Cult?

The Unification Church should follow the Anglican model

The Divine Principle is the core problem of the movement and the core problem of the Moon family.

It is indeed official UC teaching that Jesus had sex with Mary Magdalene

Father’s plans to impregnate Mrs. Jesus back in 1978.

Ethics without Religion

Onni Durst is a supporter of the Woo group – led by another illegitimate son of Moon

Ten things Moon didn’t do

Todd Harvey website: http://www.conversationswithtodd.org

My Experience in the Unification Church

Eight Reasons I Got Out of the Unification Church

Church and state: A personal and public tug of war

Richard Barlow Backbiting and Rumour Mongering

Breaking Silence on In Jin, Ben, Alistair Farrant

How “God’s Day” was established on January 1st 1968

Danny Harth My Life in the FFWPU / Unification Church

Natalija Velikorodina My Thoughts After Moonies

Isshi Honesty In The Unification Church

Josh Freed Book: Moonwebs (1980)   – inspired the movie Ticket to Heaven (1981)

 Ticket to Heaven – on wikipedia (it won 4 Genie awards in 1982)

 Ticket to Heaven – New York Times movie review

Barabara and Betty Underwood Book: Hostage to Heaven (1979) Who Is the Captive? Onni Durst (Lim/Im Yeon-soo) Speaks One Family meeting with Onni Durst scarred my soul A story from Bay Area Unification Church of the 1970s – part 1

A story from Bay Area Unification Church of the 1970s – part 2

A story from Bay Area Unification Church of the 1970s – part 3

Deanna Durham Book: Life among the Moonies: three years in the Unification Church (1981)

Boonville – “It was a very complex set of manipulations”

Childcare in the Unification Church of Oakland

David Sunfellow http://nhne-pulse.org/the-life-death-of-sun-myung-moon/

Susan and Anne Swatland Book: Escape from the Moonies (1982) The Dancing Doctor Onni Durst – The Dragon Lady When you holy salt a room, it is important to first open the doors and the windows so the foolish spirits can get out.

Steve Kemperman Book: Lord of the Second Advent (1981)

Chris Elkins Book: Heavenly Deception (1980)

Jacqui Williams Book: The Locust Years (1987)

Christopher Edwards Book: Crazy for God: The nightmare of cult life (1979)

Erica Heftman Book: Dark Side of the Moonies (1982)

YR Faced with the acutely disturbing reality of the Unification Movement… The Dream Is Over Liberation of ancestors by a third party? Re: Bully Reflections on the significance of lineage and of Jesus If Adam and Eve didn’t exist, then there was no fall and therefore no need for a savior. Reflections on a very Korean “messiah” Hooked on the “true lineage” rhetoric

Garry Scharff Interview with Gary Scharff in May 1978

Linda Feher

Moon’s Human Trafficking

Hyung Jin Moon’s revelation about his parents in Las Vegas

The Garden of Eden story reconsidered

The problem with the Fefferman-Panzer debate

The heart of Dr. Rev. Hak Ja Han

Dear Kate Tsubata

Collective Grief: The Five Stages of Grief in the CIG Symposium

The CIG Constitution: Isolationist Dogma

Bo Hi Pak and the Hiding of Sam Park

Hyung Jin said, “True Mother must return to her sons, the True Cain and Abel.”     What does the DP say?

Why I never attended anything by Black Heung Jin Nim, even though I

was threatened with eternal damnation if I didn’t.

Thomas W. Case Book: Moonie Buddhist Catholic: A Spiritual Odyssey (1996) Boonville in the spring of 1974 Boonville – Is this how the Family cared for its children? Suppose Mr. Moon took over the world...

mercilavix Jesus taught: “love your neighbor as yourself”

Linda Anthenin Statement to the Fraser Committee Notarized Statement of Linda Anthenien to the Fraser Committee

Diane Devine Statement submitted to the Fraser Committee

Phillip Greek Statement to the Fraser Committee

[winterolympicssports2018-blog]

N.K. leader's sister engages in peace offensive in ruling family's first trip to S. Korea

Click here for More Olympics Updates https://www.winterolympian.com/n-k-leaders-sister-engages-peace-offensive-ruling-familys-first-trip-s-korea/

N.K. leader's sister engages in peace offensive in ruling family's first trip to S. Korea

The younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made a rare visit to South Korea Friday, drawing attention to what message she would bring from her brother over inter-Korean ties.

Wearing a dark coat, Kim Yo-jong arrived at Incheon International Airport aboard a jet at 1:46 p.m. as a member of a high-level delegation led by ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam.

It marks the first time that a member of the North’s ruling family dynasty has visited the South.

This photo taken on Feb. 9, 2018, shows Kim Yo-jong (C), the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, arriving in South Korea as a member of the North’s high-level delegation for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. (Yonhap)

Her visit comes amid a reconciliatory mood between the two Koreas surrounding the North’s participation in the PyeongChang Winter Games following the New Year’s message by the North’s ruler. Kim announced his willingness to send the North’s delegates to the event, de-escalating tensions sparked by North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests last year.

Liberal President Moon voiced hope that the Feb. 9-25 Games will help improve stalled inter-Korean relations and possibly pave the way for the resolution of North Korea’s nuclear issue and a broader dialogue between the United States and the North.

Kim Yo-jong’s high political status in the regime and close blood ties with the leader raised expectations that she would come to the South with her brother’s personal message to Moon.

“The dispatch of her indicates that Kim Jong-un has a strong will to improve ties with the South,” Koh Yu-hwan, a professor at Dongguk University in Seoul, said.

She is Kim Jong-un’s sole sibling remaining in the North’s leadership. Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong were born to the late leader Kim Jong-il and Ko Yong-hui, a Korean resident in Japan, who died in 2004.

Their elder brother, Kim Jong-chol, stepped out of the public eye after Kim Jong-un assumed power in late 2011. Kim Jong-nam, the leader’s half brother, was killed in Malaysia last year, apparently on an order from Kim Jong-un.

Kim Yo-jong, presumed to be around 30, has risen to the core of the regime’s power structure at an unprecedented pace. She is widely seen as playing an increasingly greater role, exceeding what Kim Kyong-hui, the once-powerful sister of Kim Jong-il, did in the past for the regime.

Kim’s public activity began in 2014 when she accompanied her brother to a polling station for an election to pick parliamentary delegates.

She was often seen to be accompanying Kim Jong-un during major inspections and handling protocol for key events as the first vice director of a party department presumed to be the propaganda and agitation unit.

This photo captured from footage by North Korea’s state TV broadcaster on Dec. 30, 2017, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (L) and his younger sister Kim Yo-jong (R). (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

She was named an alternate member of the Workers’ Party of Korea’s (WPK) politburo, the top decision-making body, at the party’s key meeting in October 2017. It happened only 17 months after she became a member of the WPK’s central committee at a party congress in May 2016.

Kim Yo-jong probably has been promoted to the No. 2 post in the WPK’s propaganda and agitation department in charge of idolizing Kim Jong-un and controlling the public.

Analysts also cautioned against any excessive optimism about her travel’s impacts, saying that an improvement of inter-Korean relations would be limited without progress over the resolution of North Korea’s nuclear standoff.

North Korea held a scaled-down military parade Thursday to mark the 70th anniversary of its armed forces’ foundation, on the eve of the PyeongChang Games.

But it showed off long-range missiles, including the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, in a message that it would not abandon its nuclear and missile programs.

This photo taken on Feb. 9, 2018, shows a North Korean jet carrying North Korea’s high-level delegation after arriving in South Korea.

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[svndrenched]

DIFFICULT PERSON TEST

TEMPEST

UN-KYONG

MOUNTAIN

EMPYREAN

christ almighty. what the fuck, demons?

[lehmanrl]

Unlearning Discomfort

I am finally achieving a goal I had since finding out that I was invited to be a Health Education Volunteer: Teaching sexual health. In the weeks of preparation it takes for me to prepare for teaching in Romanian, I have had one question come up repeatedly: Aren’t you embarrassed to talk about this? Aren’t you ashamed?

My honest answer is: No. On the contrary, I’m excited, I’m happy, I’m encouraged. This is one area where my previous training feels like it is finally getting used.

In class today, I mentioned my background in sexuality education. In reciting it, I felt proud and very, very grateful.

I’m grateful to my parents, who provided me with an inquisitive mind, independence, and quality resources for health information. Even though it was clearly an uncomfortable subject, they equipped me with valuable knowledge. 

I’m grateful to Dr. Hill, my psychiatrist when I was a teen, who talked me through so many important questions. Through that, I identified my values and let them guide my decisions, so that I led a healthier life.

I’m grateful to Dr. Kirsten Lupinski, who hired me (a literature major!) to be a Peer Educator at the UC Wellness Center. For years, she trained me well, she tolerated my antics, she encouraged me to be brave, and she made powerful connections for me. No matter how many times I warranted a corrective yell (REBECCA!!!), she shaped me into a well-informed, well-connected young educator.

I’m grateful to brave Editors in Chief and the countless page editors who worked with me at The News Record. These editors took risks having an unskilled writer with a sometimes controversial column. They patiently worked with me to improve my researching and writing skills. They helped me understand and track readership and syndication. They helped me develop a sex-positive voice outside of workshops.

I’m grateful to my peers at school and beyond, who educated me through involvement in student and community organizations. I’m thankful to community groups who gave the opportunity to learn while volunteering, like Stonewall Cincinnati, The Youth Summit, and PFLAG. I have so many formative memories from my time in the LGBT Alliance and Students Supporting Sexual Expression. I have fun ones, too - in fact, just today I was talking about the Masturbation Day events we used to hold.

I’m grateful to the former staff of Social Health Education, who first helped me understand the workings of holistic and comprehensive sexuality education on the ground. They helped me understand the history of the field in our city and the importance of quality resources. The Executive Director also patiently taught safety precautions around receiving hate mail - a powerful life lesson.

I’m grateful to all the professors who taught me about different aspects of sexuality from within their fields. My understanding of it, my ability to view it positively and complexly, comes from patient and well-informed researcher-educators in the fields of Psychology, History, Gender Studies, Religious Studies, Health Promotion, and Literature. The opportunity to be a Teaching Assistant in a Human Sexuality course coupled with my experience at the Wellness Center radically changed my course in life.

I’m grateful to the professors who let me veer off of the well-trodden path in the Health Promotion & Education program so that I could take a variety of classes, internships, and individual readings courses. Their flexibility allowed me to enjoy my time as a student while enriching the complexity of the work I did.

Most profoundly, I’m thankful to Melissa Meyer. She gently brought me from the ineffective-at-best work I was doing into the world of evidence-based, comprehensive sexuality education. She taught me everything I use daily about developing effective educational experiences, communicating through conflict, and the importance of play in hard work. She taught me not only content, but skill. She showed me what it truly means to take theory into practice. She encouraged me in all realms professionally: Development, implementation, evaluation, grant-writing, effective team-building, coaching, and more. She opened so many doors for me as a person and a professional.

Growing up in a culture that treated sexuality as a taboo, I of course learned fear, discomfort, and shame around it. I am deeply grateful to all these people who have helped me unlearn that.

I’ve spent the last year and a half learning Romanian and unlearning my fear of speaking incorrectly, my fear of speaking publicly in a second language. I am grateful that these two “unlearnings” are coming together.

(Because I’m cheesy, here’s a picture from the 2008 Sexies Sex-Positive Journalism Awards. I am pretty sure it was Missy and Un Kyong who convinced me to not be ashamed of coming in fourth (I got Honorable Mention in the regular column category) but instead to embrace the recognition and travel to New York City for the award.)

[teeky185]

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea is still sending letters and gifts to foreign leaders and domestic workers in the name of its leader, Kim Jong Un. Its news media brims, as usual, with panegyrical propaganda extolling Kim's leadership. South Korea reiterates that it has detected "nothing unusual" in the North. President Donald Trump has called "incorrect" and "fake" a report that Kim was "in grave danger" after surgery.All this has done little to stop the rumor mill churning about Kim's health and the fate of the nuclear state -- for the simple reason that North Korea has not reported a public appearance by its leader for two weeks. Nor has it responded to lurid claims about his health.The lack of real information from the hermetic country is giving rise to rampant rumor mongering, leaving North Korean experts, foreign officials and intelligence agencies to parse through it all for signs of the truth.Depending on the news outlet or social media post, Kim, believed to be 36, is recuperating after a minor health issue like a sprained ankle, or he is "in grave danger" after a heart surgery. Or he has become "brain dead" or is in a "vegetative state" after a heart-valve surgery gone wrong at the hands of a nervous North Korean surgeon or one of the doctors China dispatched to treat him. Or Kim is grounded with COVID-19. Where did he get it? From one of those Chinese doctors.One rumor circulating in South Korean messaging apps claims that after French doctors could not wake Kim from his "coma," Kim Pyong Il, a half brother of Kim's late father, seized power with the help of pro-Chinese elites in Pyongyang, the North's capital. It goes on to say that Kim's powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, has been detained while Beijing is secretly bargaining with Washington over the future of North Korea and its nuclear weapons.Seoul has questioned the accuracy of the unconfirmed reports, while the South Korean news media appears to dismiss most of them as rumors spreading through Chinese social media and beyond. But they cannot be completely ignored, since North Korea is so secretive that the world's most powerful intelligence agencies have been unable to penetrate Kim's inner circles.Kim last appeared publicly April 11, when he presided over a Politburo meeting. Speculations about his health began swirling after Kim missed state celebrations for his country's biggest holiday, the April 15 birthday of his grandfather and founder of North Korea, Kim Il Sung.Rumors went into overdrive after Daily NK, a Seoul-based website relying on anonymous sources inside the North, reported last Monday that Kim was recovering from heart surgery performed April 12. The next day, CNN added to the frenzy, reporting that Washington was monitoring intelligence that Kim was "in grave danger." On Saturday, TMZ, a celebrity-news website in the United States, blared: "N. Korea dictator Kim Jong-un reportedly dead after botched heart surgery."More than once, Trump has wished Kim well if he indeed were ill."North Korea's secrecy and our lack of reliable information create a breeding ground for rumors," said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. "But his continued absence would be destabilizing as more people in and outside the country wonder if he is incapacitated or dead."In recent days, the South Koreans and their allies in Washington have scoured North Korea with the help of spy satellites and other resources for signs of Kim and preparations for missile launches.Their efforts led them to Wonsan, an east coast town where Kim's family has a seaside compound complete with yachts, Jet Skis, a horse track and a private train station.A train "probably belonging to" Kim has been parked there since at least Tuesday, 38 North, a Washington-based website specializing in North Korea, reported Saturday, citing commercial satellite imagery.Wonsan is one of Kim's favorite sites for missile tests. A South Korean news report said Saturday that the United States had detected preparations for a missile test in Sondeok, farther up the east coast, where North Korea launched missiles in August last year and again in March in Kim's presence.South Korean officials privately say that Kim's presence at a missile test could be a strategic way to quiet the speculation. But North Korea has also used such preparations to keep its external foes guessing.There is a deep geopolitical fascination with North Korea, the world's most isolated police state.The country has detonated six nuclear bombs in underground tests and claims to have built missiles powerful enough to deliver them to the continental United States. It is also run by a man who was dismissed as a figurehead when he took power in 2011 in his 20s.Kim has since established firm control, proving brutal enough to execute his own uncle, a potential threat to his power, and once calling Trump a "mentally deranged U.S. dotard."Kim's sudden demise could create a power vacuum with far-reaching implications.Over the decades, U.S. and South Korean officials have discussed top-secret contingency plans, including how to prevent the North's nuclear weapons from falling into wrong hands and what to do if Beijing sends troops into the North to stabilize its neighbor, which has long served as a buffer between China and U.S. forces based in South Korea.In this secretive society, any likely successor to Kim amounts to a guessing game, even for outside analysts who have spent their academic careers parsing the North.Will it be his only sister, Kim Yo Jong, who has recently expanded her role in his government? What about Kim Pyong Il, who returned home last year after serving for decades as North Korea's low-key ambassador to Eastern European countries?Some predict a collective leadership to be led by Choe Ryong Hae, the No. 2 in the government hierarchy. What if a yet-unknown but ambitious general engineered a putsch? How would North Koreans who have been trained to worship the Kim family respond?"While North Korea's neighbors are mired in domestic politics during a global pandemic, U.S.-China relations are tense, and international organizations are strained, the world isn't well prepared for the death of Kim Jong Un," Easley said.This is not the first time Kim has disappeared from public view for weeks at a stretch or faced speculation about his health. But the strange personality cult surrounding Kim -- his bombast, obesity and even hairdo -- ensure rumors can take hold.Officials are careful not to quash the rumors on Kim's health outright, in part because their past predictions on the North have sometimes proved wrong. Reporting on North Korea, too, has been strewn with blunders.Top officials reported to have been executed have often resurfaced. Some of the defectors, who feed information to the news media, have been accused of, or admitted to, embellishing their accounts.In 1986, a South Korean newspaper reported a "world scoop" claiming that Kim's grandfather, then-President Kim Il Sung, died in an armed attack. A smiling Kim Il Sung resurfaced two days later.In 2014, Kim Jong Un disappeared for more than a month, prompting rumors that he might have been deposed in a coup. North Korean media later showed him walking with a cane after what South Korean intelligence called an ankle surgery.In 2015, a North Korean defector claimed that Kim ordered his own aunt to be killed with poison. But the aunt, Kim Kyong Hui, re-emerged in Pyongyang in January.The rumors can also turn out to be true.In 2008, Kim's father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, was absent from view for months. South Korean analysts and the news media speculated, correctly, that he had had a stroke. He died three years later.Some of the biggest skeptics of the latest rumors are North Korean defectors themselves.Thae Yong Ho, a former North Korean diplomat who defected to South Korea, said it was hard to believe that any reliable information about Kim's health was leaked from his most trusted aides. Thae said that no one in his office in the North Korean Foreign Ministry knew of Kim Jong Il's death in 2011 until they were gathered at an auditorium for an "important announcement" and saw a female announcer appearing on the TV screen, clad in funeral black.Joo Sung Ha, a North Korean defector-turned-journalist for the South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo, said in a Facebook post that it was reasonable to believe that Kim had health problems. But he had zero trust in news reports detailing whether and why the North Korean leader faced a grave medical emergency.Such details about "the health of the Kim family is the secret among secrets," he said, calling the people who claim to know "novelists."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company

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[fullspectrum-cbd-oil]

Factbox: Questions Hang Over North Korea Succession Amid Reports on Kim Health

North Korea has never publicised who would follow leader Kim Jong Un in the event he is incapacitated, and with no details known about his young children, analysts say his sister and loyalists could form a regency until a successor is old enough to take over.

South Korean and Chinese officials on Tuesday cast doubt on reports that Kim was gravely ill following a cardiovascular procedure, after his absence from a key state anniversary event triggered speculation about his health.

But the media reports sparked questions about who would be in place to take over if the 36-year-old Kim, a third-generation hereditary leader, fell seriously ill or died. He became leader when his father Kim Jong Il died in 2011 from a heart attack.

Each change of leadership in North Korea has raised the prospect of a leadership vacuum or collapse of the Kim dynasty, which has ruled the country since its founding in 1948.

So far, each of the three Kims to rule North Korea has defied expectations, holding on to power with an iron grip. But under Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s arsenal of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles has grown substantially, raising concerns over who would control those weapons.

The following are key figures in the North Korean leadership circle and what role they may play in any future transition.

KIM YO JONG

Kim’s younger sister has been the most visible presence around the leader in the past two years, while serving formally as a vice director of the ruling Workers’ Party’s powerful Central Committee but unofficially as her brother’s chief of staff.

She was named an alternate member of the ruling Workers’ Party’s powerful Central Committee Politburo earlier this month, continuing her climb through the leadership hierarchy.

Kim, who is believed to be 31, has a firm control of key party functions, setting herself to be the main source of power behind a collective leadership.

“Kim Yo Jong will be for the time being the main power base with control of the organisation and guidance department, the judiciary and public security,” Cho Han-bum of the Korea Institute for National Unification said.

THE PARTY ELDERS

Choe Ryong Hae rose to be the North’s nominal head of state last year becoming the president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly.

It capped decades of service with the party for the ruling Kim family, previously serving as the influential political head of the North’s military under the young leader.

He and Pak Pong Ju, a fellow politburo member and former state premier who oversaw the North’s push to introduce more free market functions to revive its economy, are likely to be the figureheads leading a collective leadership.

Kim Yong Chol, a party vice chairman and former top nuclear envoy, and Foreign Minister Ri Son Gwon could be tasked with handling diplomatic issues including stalled denuclearisation talks with North Korea as they played a key role in summits with U.S. President Donald Trump.

ESTRANGED BROTHERS, AUNT

Kim Jong Chol is the leader’s older brother but has not been part of the North’s leadership, instead leading a quiet life playing music, according to Thae Yong Ho, North Korea’s former deputy ambassador in London who defected to the South.

He is believed to be disinterested in public life and is unlikely to emerge as a major presence, though some analysts say he maintains ties with siblings and could play a more public role in a contingency.

Kim Kyong Hui was once a powerful figure in the leadership circle when her brother Kim Jong Il ruled the country. She had not been seen since her husband, Jang Song Thaek, once regarded as the second most powerful man in the country, was executed in 2013 by Kim Jong Un. She has long been ill but briefly appeared early this year at a gala performance alongside her nephew.

FOURTH GENERATION

Kim Jong Un is believed to have three children with Ri Sol Ju, the youngest born in 2017, according to the South’s National Intelligence Service.

The oldest is a 10-year-old son, meaning any of the three would need the assistance of their relatives or political guardians if they were to become a fourth-generation hereditary leader.

Kim Jong Il had been groomed for 20 years to lead the country, while Kim Jong Un only had just over a year due to his father’s sudden death from a stroke.

“Kim Yo Jong is unlikely to take over the helm but could help build a caretaker regime as a power broker until the kids grow up, and Kim Jong Chol might return to help for a while,” said Go Myong-hyun, a research fellow at the Asian Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.

(Additional reporting by Hyonhee Shin, Writing by Jack Kim and Josh Smith; Editing by Michael Perry)

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[lovehardenemycollector]

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's aunt made her first public appearance in about six years, state media reported Sunday, quelling years of rumors that she was purged or executed by her nephew after helping him inherit power from his father. According to a Korean Central News Agency dispatch, the name of Kim Kyong Hui was included in a list of top North Korean officials who watched a performance marking Lunar New Year's Day with Kim Jong Un at a Pyongyang theater on Saturday. North Korea’s main newspaper also released a photo showing Kim Kyong Hui sitting near Kim Jong Un and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, at the Samjiyon Theater.

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[supertrendingnewsarticles]

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's aunt made her first public appearance in about six years, state media reported Sunday, quelling years of rumors that she was purged or executed by her nephew after helping him inherit power from his father. According to a Korean Central News Agency dispatch, the name of Kim Kyong Hui was included in a list of top North Korean officials who watched a performance marking Lunar New Year's Day with Kim Jong Un at a Pyongyang theater on Saturday. North Korea’s main newspaper also released a photo showing Kim Kyong Hui sitting near Kim Jong Un and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, at the Samjiyon Theater.

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[svndrenched]

3-5 THINGS YOUR MUSE CAN EASILY BE IDENTIFIED BY

COLORS:

black

white

taupe

SCENTS:

byredo mojave ghost

myrrh

blood

hemp lotion

sulfur

FASHION:

monotone black

blocky boots

form fitting tops

loose fitting bottoms

wallet chain

OBJECTS:

water bottle

vape

tiny sunglasses

lip balm

a sleek, black feather

BODY LANGUAGE:

picking at the dry skin around her nails

dangerous, cheeky grins, barely concealing sharp teeth

smoking when uncomfortable

AESTHETICS:

black on black on black streetwear

kissing a strange, dangerous woman in the restroom of a bar

blood dripping down her forearms

sharing a night and never hearing from her again

a thinly veiled warning sign

tagged by: @solarfreckled

tagging: you, sweet pea. tag me in it, i wanna see!

[justsimplylovely]

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's aunt made her first public appearance in about six years, state media reported Sunday, quelling years of rumors that she was purged or executed by her nephew after helping him inherit power from his father. According to a Korean Central News Agency dispatch, the name of Kim Kyong Hui was included in a list of top North Korean officials who watched a performance marking Lunar New Year's Day with Kim Jong Un at a Pyongyang theater on Saturday. North Korea’s main newspaper also released a photo showing Kim Kyong Hui sitting near Kim Jong Un and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, at the Samjiyon Theater.

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[technibba]

Kim Jong Un's aunt reemerges after years of speculation about fate

Kim Jong Un’s aunt reemerges after years of speculation about fate

SEOUL: The aunt of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made her first public appearance in about six years, state media reported Sunday, quelling rumors that she was purged or executed by her nephew.

According to a Korean Central News Agency dispatch, the name of Kim Kyong Hui was included in a list of top North Korean officials who watched a performance marking Lunar New Year‘s Day with Kim Jong Un…

[todaynewsstories]

‘Cuddled in Kim Jong Un’s arms’: North Koreans envisage unification ahead of summit

PYONGYANG (Reuters) – Sixteen-year-old Ri Jin Ryong, a member of North Korea’s paramilitary Worker-Peasant Red Guards militia, says he has one message for South Koreans if the two countries ever reunite.

Participants form a map of Korean peninsula at Mass Games in May Day stadium marking the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s foundation in Pyongyang, North Korea, September 9, 2018. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

“I will spread the word about how wonderful it is to be in our dear Marshal Kim Jong Un’s arms,” he told Reuters at Pyongyang’s zoo, where he and other soldiers were given a day of recreation after participating in a gruelling military parade before the North Korean leader on September 9.

Ahead of this week’s summit between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Pyongyang, North Korea is once again highlighting the idea of reuniting the two countries divided since the 1940s, through state media and major events.

In South Korea, however, the concept of unification has become increasingly convoluted and viewed as unrealistic amid an ever-widening gulf between the two nations.

“North Korea’s rhetoric gravitates around unification not because they really believe in an immediate unification but it’s a powerful slogan that gives justification for them to improve inter-Korean relations,” said Lim Eul-chul, professor of North Korean studies at Kyungnam University in Seoul.

“To South Koreans, the idea of unification is not as appealing because it immediately reminds them of the burden of unification costs.”

Days before hosting Moon for their third summit of the year, Kim Jong Un said: “We should tear down this wall of conflict to meet the Korean people’s constant ideals and demands to open a grand path for unification,” state newspaper Rodong Sinmun reported on Sunday.

Graphic: A land divided tmsnrt.rs/2KdXMcS

“ONE COUNTRY, TWO SYSTEMS”

International sanctions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons restrict many cooperative projects and trade, a major obstacle to warming ties between the two Koreas, let alone reunification.

But North Korean defectors are much more likely to support the idea than their Southern neighbours, according to past surveys.

More than 95 percent of North Korean defectors who responded said unification is needed, compared to about 53 percent for South Korean respondents, one 2017 survey by the Seoul National University Institute for Peace and Unification Studies showed.

For decades, North Koreans have pushed the concept of “one country, two systems,” under which the country would maintain different systems of government in the North and South, at least until the two could be peacefully reconciled.

Participants perform around a globe highlighting Korean peninsula at Mass Games in May Day stadium marking the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s foundation in Pyongyang, North Korea, September 9, 2018. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

“We understood that we should acknowledge differences between the North and the South on ideology, religion, faith alike, and cooperate with each other,” one North Korean who defected to the South in 2013 spoke on condition of anonymity.

“I also remember learning that unification would also help resolve our economic difficulties.”

North Korea’s per capita Gross National Income of 1.46 million won ($1,283.52) is only about 4.4 percent that of South Korea, according to estimates by the South’s central bank. While projections of the cost of reunification have ranged widely, running as high as $5 trillion, most believe the cost would fall almost entirely on South Korea.

After the first meeting between leaders of the two Koreas in 2000, both sides agreed to consider the idea of “one country, two systems”, at least as an interim step to unification.

But on its website, the Institute for Unification Education, the education arm of South Korea’s Unification Ministry, said the North’s idea of a federation consisting of two regional governments with different ideologies and systems “has little possibility of becoming reality given no historical precedents.”

“North Korea’s rhetoric concentrates on the unification between one people … but what it really means is that they think unification between the Koreas justifies disregarding international relations and sanctions,” said Shin Beom-chul, senior fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.

“In a situation where there are U.N. and U.S. sanctions, it’s hard to go along with that rhetoric for the South.”

Sanctions banning almost all trade with the isolated country have hindered even basic bilateral exchanges between the neighbours. South and North Korea opened a liaison office on Friday after weeks of delay, as Seoul sought to address Washington’s concerns about a potential breach of sanctions.

“ONE BLOOD”

On the streets of Pyongyang, North Koreans interviewed by Reuters uniformly supported the idea of unification, and just as uniformly, said Kim Jong Un is making it more likely than ever.

“Under the dear leader’s superior leadership, I believe the nation’s unification could certainly become reality if the North and the South cooperate from now on,” said cashier Ri Hae Kyong, 53.

Like all the North Koreans interviewed by Reuters in Pyongyang, Ri was speaking in front of the government minders who accompany media everywhere, making it difficult to truly assess North Korean views on unification.

Cosmetics clerk Yang Su Jong, 27, also said she believes “it’s not long” before unification happens, in part because Kim had made North Korea a “strong nuclear power.”

And North Koreans said they see their Southern neighbours as family.

“North and South are one blood,” Pyongyang waitress Song Jin A told Reuters. “As a new generation, we want to live with our compatriots in the South as one, (we) want to all live together cuddled in our leader Kim Jong Un’s arms.”

Additional reporting by Cong Sun in Pyongyang, Hyonhee Shin, Jeongmin Kim, Joori Roh and Heekyong Yang in Seoul. Editing by Soyoung Kim and Lincoln Feast.

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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The post ‘Cuddled in Kim Jong Un’s arms’: North Koreans envisage unification ahead of summit appeared first on Today News Stories.

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[investmart007]

SEOUL, South Korea | Tears, farewell hugs end 1st round of Korean reunions

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/VsiByQ

SEOUL, South Korea | Tears, farewell hugs end 1st round of Korean reunions

SEOUL, South Korea  — As her two North Korean daughters, both in their 70s, wailed outside her bus, 99-year-old Han Shin-ja pounded the windows from inside in despair, moving her lips to say “don’t cry” and “farewell.”

As her bus left for South Korea on Wednesday, Han’s daughters chased the moving vehicle before being stopped by a North Korean official, a predictable but no less heart-wrenching departure that’s likely to be the last time they saw their mother before the die.

Han’s family was among hundreds of elderly Koreans who tearfully said their final goodbyes at the end of the first round of rare reunions between relatives separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

About 200 South Koreans returned home after the end of three days of meetings with North Korean relatives at the North’s Diamond Mountain resort. Another 337 South Koreans will participate in a second round of reunions from Friday to Sunday.

The first set of meetings created heart-wrenching images of relatives weeping, embracing and caressing each other in a rush of emotions. Many of the South Korean participants were war refugees who reunited with the siblings or infant children they left behind, many of whom are now into their 70s.

At their final lunch meeting on Wednesday, 91-year-old Lee Ki-soon seemed lost for words as he quietly drank a glass of “soju,” a vodka-like alcohol loved in both Koreas, with his 75-year-old North Korean son, according to pool reports.

An Jong Sun, a 70-year-old North Korean, carefully fed her 100-year-old South Korean father food.

Nearby, Ri Chol, a 61-year-old North Korean, quietly wept as he grasped the hands of a 93-year-old South Korean grandmother he was only just getting to know.

“Don’t cry, Chol,” Kwon Seok, also in tears, told her grandson. Han told her two North Korean daughters to eat a lot of “chap-ssal,” or sticky rice, for health. The daughters quietly sobbed as Han told them she would always pray for their happiness and also for the future of her North Korean great-grandchildren she never got to see.

After organizers aired an announcement that the reunions were officially over, Han and her daughters broke down, weeping, embracing each other and temporarily refusing to leave their lunch table. Two North Korean officials politely separated Han from one of her daughters, 71-year-old Kim Kyong Yong, who kept holding on to one of Han’s arm.

Some relatives exchanged their phone numbers and home addresses, although the Koreas since the end of the war have banned ordinary citizens from visiting relatives on the other side of the border or contacting them without permission.

Shin Jae-cheon, a 92-year-old from the South Korean town of Gimpo, not far from the border, lamented that his 70-year-old North Korean sister lived about an hour’s drive away all these years. “It will take 40 minutes for me to drive there,” Shin told his sister, Sin Kum Sun, who lives in the North Korean border town of Kaesong. “The bus that goes to my home is No. 8. No. 8. The No. 8 bus,” Shin added, expressing a wish for his sister to come visit one day.

Nearly 20,000 people have participated in 20 rounds of face-to-face reunions held between the countries since 2000. No one has had a second chance to see their relatives.

The latest reunions come after a three-year hiatus during which North Korea conducted three nuclear tests and multiple missile launches that demonstrated a potential capability to strike the U.S. mainland. Analysts say the North still has some work to do before those missiles are perfected, however. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has shifted toward diplomacy in 2018 and has met South Korean President Moon Jae-in twice and also held a summit with President Donald Trump.

While Seoul has long pushed for more reunions, analysts say North Korea is reluctant because of fears that increasing their frequency will loosen its authoritarian control and relinquish a coveted bargaining chip.

By KIM TONG-HYUNG ,  Associated Press