Korea

Yamok and Jeju Island

True Father has been interested in the marine industry since the earliest days of the church.

During the second national evangelist workshop that began on July 20, 1959, in Gyeonggi Province, at Yamok-ri, Maesong-myeon, Hwaseong-gun, near Incheon, he taught members how to catch fish and trained them in the lagoons and mud flats there.

He built a boat, and at its launch at Incheon on June 26, 1963, he christened it Cheon Seung Ho or “heaven's victory.” He and several members used to fish from that boat. This was the beginning of the ocean providence.

From its beginnings at Yamok, the ocean providence was expanded to Jeju Island, then to Yeosu and Geomundo (Port Hamilton).

True Parents selected Jeju Island as an important base for this providence, and they made substantial investments there which included building a shipyard, a fish farm, and a tangerine orchard.

Situated in a strategic location where the East Sea, the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet, Jeju Island is regarded as Korea's gateway to the ocean, and that is why they developed the marine industry from there.

Toward the end of his life, True Father purchased the small islet of Jiguido, located off the south coast of Jeju Island near Seoguipo, with plans to develop a fishing business there.

1. When the Unification Church was just getting started, I began training young people to lead the marine industry that I was contemplating for the future. There was a place called Yamok where one could find deep water excellent for fishing.

All sorts of rumors circulated about that place, such as that of a 1,000-year-old monster that lived in the water, and that no one who entered the water there survived. But in fact, the water was teeming with life.

Wherever you went, there was every sort of fish imaginable, especially snakeheads, catfish, and eels. Our early members who were trained at Yamok always discussed their methods for catching those fish. (167-135, 1987/07/11)

2. There was a particular lagoon at Yamok that was so choked with seagrass that the water snakes there did not go into the water. They just slithered back and forth across the top of the grass. No one knew how deep it was. Prickly water lilies were growing there as well.

Most people think that prickly water lilies grow only in shallow water, but simply because those lilies were growing there, it did not mean that the water was shallow. We made a giant net to catch fish in that water. It must have been 300 meters wide.

We cast it every 100 meters, and we caught practically every fish that was there. We loaded our whole catch into a truck and went into town, intending to offer free fish to the townspeople.

But the townspeople refused to eat the fish that came from that lagoon. I can never forget that experience as we dumped the whole truckload of crucian carp, common carp, snakeheads, catfish, and eels back into the lagoon. (597-035, 2008/09/02)

3. I remember a long time ago when I took off my shirt and rolled around in the water and mud at Yamok.

We had set out a giant net. When the tide came in fish were drawn into the net, and when the tide went out they were trapped in the shallows of the mud flat. We just walked out onto the mud flat and scooped up the fish loads and loads of fish.

Everyone's face was covered in black mud, making young and old look alike. We were all pitch black except for our eyes, which blinked wide open. We did not even notice that the sun was setting.

We were completely distracted by the huge number of fish we were catching. I can never forget all that we did at that time. It left an unforgettable impression in my heart. That was our life together when we spent our days thinking only of our nation and of God's Will. (122-167, 1982/11/02)

4. In 1963, we built a boat and called it Cheon Seung Ho. It means “heaven victory.” I named it that to signify my determination that God's Will be done. After building the Cheon Seung Ho, I talked about becoming a power in the oceans of the world. Many members did not like riding on the boat. They would say, “We cannot go out today. The waves are too high.” But can a true fisherman back down like that?

Until life is gone from his body, a fisherman must go out regardless. I became a true fisherman. I paid no attention to rain or snow; I fished in heavy downpours. I would fish until evening even when it rained. (294-177, 1998/06/14)

5. In 1963, I built a boat and called it Cheon Seung Ho. There is a reason behind this name: I wanted to make a condition for heaven's victory. Then, soon after I set foot in America, in 1973, I began building boats again.

I have been using these boats ever since. In Alaska, I would stay on my boat day and night. I would go out on my boat with single-minded devotion.
(294-055, 1998/06/10)

6. In the 1960s I climbed all the well-known mountains in Korea. I climbed them while hunting birds and game, but my purpose was to scope out all the land. Thereafter, I went to the sea to fish. During the flood judgment, it was the land that faced the judgment.

Fish in the waters were not judged. That is why I can use fish to pay all the indemnity for the land. Fish are in the original form and state in which God created them. Therefore, we have to love them.

Until this year, 2000, I have spent more than 27 years going out on boats on the sea, loving the fish.

Everywhere I lived, I sought the water and places to fish. I made my first boat in Korea in 1963. That was 37 years ago. I am trying to connect all of that to our maritime businesses. If you read my sermons from back then, you will understand.

I named my boat Cheon SeungHo to signify that I would make God victorious. Boats are needed to connect the sea to the land.

To claim ownership over the ocean, I started with one boat, Cheon Seung Ho, and expanded our presence into maritime businesses, and then into the shipbuilding industry. (325-079, 2000/06/30)

7. Whenever I had time to spare, I would always go to Jeju Island to offer devotions. Historically, Jeju Island was the place where Korea's loyal government officials were exiled when they fell out of favor.

We cannot deny this fact in our history. Thus, I thought I must go to Jeju Island before I go on with my path.

The word jeju has different meanings in Korean, depending on which Chinese characters we use. It can mean “chief priest” Jeju, who conducts an offering to spirits in the other world. It can also mean “the world that is crossed,” Jeju, which signifies the restored world.

The syllable ju in Jeju uses the Chinese character meaning “village,” but I interpret it as another character for ju, which means “lord.”

Since an island symbolizes a woman, Jeju means “the Lord who passes over into another world to find Eve.” To make this connection, as God's representative, I often left the mainland, visited the island, and then returned to the mainland. That is why I have been pouring my devotion into Jeju Island throughout my life.
(292-061, 1998/03/28)

8. To me, Jeju Island signifies a place where the chief priests who conduct religious rituals live. Jeju Island is a sacred island because these chief priests, Jeju, have gathered to live there.

The people of Jeju Island worship the ocean god, and they also worship the mountain god on Halla Mountain. When people who worship a god prepare for a ritual, they offer special acts of devotion.

The chief priest of the ritual is in the position of the owner. When making an offering during the ritual, you must adhere to his instructions. You must not listen to anyone else.

Why do you think I have been so interested in Jeju Island? Jeju Island is the southernmost part of Korea.

If the mainland represents man, then Jeju Island represents woman. That is why island people are always yearning for the mainland, and they are lonely. Where can such lonely people find comfort?

They can find comfort on the path where their love for God's Will connects them to freedom. Therefore, they want to be connected to the mainland, where people can travel freely. (141-127, 1986/02/20)

9. Near Jeju Island there is a tiny islet called Jiguido. The Chinese characters for Jiguido mean “the island for returning to the earth.” When I saw Jiguido, I thought, “Ah! Restoration can start right here.”

So I bought that islet. It is now ours. If you go out from the shore only 100 meters, you will find that the ocean is very deep. I thought, “If I take all the living things from Cheonji heaven's ground, at the top of Baekdu Mountain, and plant them in the soil of Jiguido, they will act like new seeds to bring the universe back to life.

The universe will be liberated.” That is why I have the idea of making Jeju Island into the finest theme park and resort area in the world. (352-060, 2001/08/29)

10. Some people already know that Jiguido can become a premiere fishing spot. We can attract many people to Jiguido, take them on our boats, and show them where they can catch different kinds of fish.

We would tell them, “You can catch bass and snapper here.” Then, fishermen would like to catch other kinds of fish as well. Expert fishermen have their favorites.

Jiguido has every kind of fish, and the guides on our boats will know where to catch them. Many visitors will use our boats, and after coming back they will stay in the hotel that we will build.

We have to develop this area, or none of this can happen. The best way to develop Jiguido is to make it into a fishing destination. (126-287, 1983/04/28)

11. Jeju Island is the gateway to Korea. It is fast becoming a critical passageway into and out of Asia. Because it is located where the East Sea, the East China Sea, and the Pacific Ocean meet, from a strategic perspective, it is a most critical location as a military fortress.

Also on the island, next to Moseulpo, there is a port. My understanding is that it has the potential to become a world-class military port because the water there is deep enough. Considering all these conditions, Jeju Island may one day even become like Hong Kong and function as a free international city.

To build such a foundation, we need to begin with a business that can develop Jeju Island and Jiguido into fishing destinations. (126-312, 1983/04/30)

12. Jeju Island must become a tourist destination that surpasses any tourist hot spot in America or Europe.

Halla Mountain is a great providential asset. Symbolizing womanhood, Halla Mountain is like a mother's body, and therefore it needs to have many children clinging to it, like sons and daughters gaining life from their mother's breast. We must not spare anything in making Jeju Island into a top-class tourist destination.

Once we do, we can create the best tourist attraction in Asia. Then Japan, China, and Russia will begin to take notice. Jeju Island can become our base from which to accomplish that.

Jeju Island will become a tourist spot and a fishing destination. Fishing will not be limited only to the area immediately adjacent to the island. Tourists will be able to ride speedboats to go fishing for tilefish or any other fish. They will be able to fish in the waters near the Japanese coastline.

Imagine what would happen if we had speedboats taking tourists to fish even near the Chinese coastline! You would not be able to stop the flood of people flocking to visit Jeju Island. Jeju Island is such an enchanting place that it can attract tourists from Japan, China, and even Russia. (291-247, 1998/03/15)

Yeosu and Geomundo

True Parents selected Yeosu and Sun-cheon as the center for their maritime projects. This is because they saw the expanse of the ocean between Busan and Mokpo as an ideal location in the world for a future resort area with activities on both sea and land.

With the vision of transforming this area into a key tourist attraction in Asia, they made plans to raise funds in Korea, Japan, China, and the United States to develop a maritime park on the Korea Strait, near Yeosu.

For this purpose, they built the Cheong Hae (Blue Sea) Garden Training Center in the Hwayang district at the edge of Yeosu and the Ocean Resort and Hotel in Soho-dong, Yeosu. These projects show promise for helping Korea develop into a nation with an advanced marine leisure industry.

They will make Yeosu the center for events that promote cooperation throughout the Pacific Rim region, and thereby contribute to the reunification of the Korean peninsula and the realization of world peace.

True Parents built the first Cheon Jeong Gung Palace in Cheongpyeong, and they have plans to build a second Cheon Jeong Gung Palace in Switzerland as a center for the unity of all religions.

To represent their vision for the maritime realm, they built the Ocean Cheon Jeong Gung Palace on Geomundo. True Parents dedicated Geomundo as a holy ground on November 15, 2006. They likened Geomundo to the Holy Place and even the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem.

They said that Geomundo was like a refuge and that any visitor who prayed and offered devotion there would find forgiveness. True Parents also carried out a fishing providence at Geomundo where they formulated plans for the joint development of Jeju Island, Chujado, Geomundo, Chodo, and Yeosu.

13. The coastal area between Busan and Mokpo, Korea is the only place on earth where the ocean and the land are so perfectly harmonized. The scenery there is breathtaking.

There is something special about the geography of the area near Yeosu and Suncheon. Originally, the land there was a flat plain, but due to pressure from the surrounding mountains, over time the middle part of the land sank. This geography is the reason this area can become an internationally known fishing location.

This island-studded coastline is the best place for ocean fish to feed. If you want to catch big fish, you have to fish near a coast where many small fish are living. The coastal water is linked to the depths of the ocean, and the deep-water fish come to feed on the schools of small fish.

Near Yeosu and Suncheon, you can find small fish living in the shallow waters and big fish living in the deep waters. They are world-class fishing locations because there are so many varieties of fish living there, and the size of the fish increases the farther out you go. (483-059, 2005/01/16)

14. Yeosu in Korean means “crystal clear water.” Because the water surrounding Yeosu is clear, and the fish grow well, Yeosu has become the center of marine fish farming in Korea. You can find many kinds of clams and fish.

The ocean gets deep rapidly. All kinds of tiny crustaceans and insects live around the islands where there are big spaces among the boulders. There small fish gather to feast on them, and big fish gather to eat the little fish.

That is why all the varieties of fish that live in the Pacific Ocean and near Jeju Island, whether in the shallows or deep waters, are concentrated in this area. Therefore, this patch of ocean is naturally an ideal place for fishing.
(434-197, 2004/01/30)

15. We must build a shipyard and an ocean resort in Yeosu. There are some 3,000 islands in Korea. In the Korea Strait, many islands have no owner. It is within a triangular zone between Korea, Japan, and China. If we create a park here, many Japanese and Chinese will come to visit.

Already the Japanese and Chinese have voted Jeju Island a great tourist destination, so we need to move quickly. We need to build golf courses, hotels, and all the infrastructure needed for fishing.

We need to hurry because the government will soon designate this area as a tourist destination, and they will build an airport and a heliport. I am planning to inaugurate a World Cup fishing tournament here in Yeosu.

For this, we will need to build facilities and train ourselves to use them. We have to hurry because this can even become an event where fishermen from all six continents will compete. (403-291, 2003/01/24)

16. I recently held a groundbreaking ceremony to lay the cornerstone for what will become a center of the marine leisure industry in the Hwayang district near Yeosu. A large group of dignitaries attended.

I am investing several billion won in this project, which will open a new horizon for the Korean marine leisure industry. I believe this will greatly contribute to the Republic of Korea and help the nation grow into a major player in this industry.

This project that we are beginning here in Yeosu will bear fruit for the Pacific Rim providence and will expand into the Asian continent. It will contribute in a major way to realizing the unification of the Korean Peninsula and the peace of the world, enhancing the happiness of all humankind.

I am continuing to invest my efforts in the well-being and peace of all human beings. These efforts have many dimensions. Currently, I am developing the Abel United Nations, which will open a new chapter of reconciliation and peace for all the people of the world.

This is to fulfill God's mandate to establish the ideal world of peace where all will live by the principles of interdependence, mutual prosperity, and universally shared values.

The Bering Strait Project is another of my efforts, as is the development of the Hwayang Free Economic Zone near Gwangyang Bay. I do not doubt that these will play pivotal roles in establishing peace in the Pacific Rim. (586-203, 2008/02/12)

17. I moved my efforts to train people from Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean to facilities in the Yeosu-Suncheon area. All races of people are living around the Pacific Rim, so I want to bring them to Yeosu-Suncheon and educate them. Yeosu will become famous.

What we need to do is create a town where Japanese, American, and Koreans live together. That is why I am planning to build a shopping mall, one that combines the best features of malls in Japan, Korea, and the United States.

What would it take to build a giant mall surpassing any mall in the world? I think that we will need to build a unique mall, different from any existing mall.
(431-335, 2004/01/20)

18. Yeosu and Suncheon are great locations. Here in the area of Yeosu and Suncheon, I am spearheading the era of the coastline.

I have become the leader in developing these cities, but more than that, I am connecting them with God. I want these cities to surpass any nearby cities, either in South Korea or in the nations that border Korea.

We will make them model cities with excellent condominium complexes, fit to host an ocean exposition in the future. (608-142, 2009/02/23)

19. I sanctified Geomundo as a holy place on November 15, 2006, after I finished delivering a peace message. You also have to go to Geomundo and offer your conditions of devotion.

From now on, everyone without exception has to visit Geomundo. It is the place where you can settle accounts with God for all you did in your life, asking forgiveness. There you can leave your final words before departing to the next world. (549-226, 2006/12/26)

20. I am going to build a palace in Geomundo. That is why I visit Geomundo whenever I come to Korea.

Looking at the name Geomundo, I consider the Chinese characters for geo-mun, as “the great Moon,” but I do not literally interpret do as “island,” but as “the way.” This place is the way in the ocean, the way of the great Moon.

The palace on Geomundo will become a place where all the people of the world will come by boat to rest, pray, and offer devotion. The palace that I am going to build on Geomundo will be like the Holy Place or even the Holy of Holies.

It will become a place of rest and prayer where all of you and your brothers and sisters around the world can come at any time. Those who visit and pray at Geomundo will leave having received forgiveness. It will be a place of refuge, a place to get away from the world. (580-257, 2007/11/13)

21. The bases of Yeosu tourism are the islands of Baekdo, Chodo, and Geomundo. Since I interpret the name “Geomundo” to mean “the way of the great Moon,” we need to establish ourselves there. There we can catch many fish that live in deep water, including bass and yellowtail.

These islands are the collapsed remains of what were once tall mountains, providing an ideal environment for many fish to live in the waters between them. There are even cliffs from which you can fish. To secure yourself on the cliff, you can tie a rope to a pine tree growing on a nearby ledge, snap the rope to your safety belt, and find a firm foothold.

There is no place to sit comfortably and fish, but these safety measures will keep you from falling into the ocean if you doze off while fishing. When I fished this way, I broke the record for catching the most flathead mullet.
(537-207, 2006/09/01)

22. Geomundo is where we should build our new base on the southern end of Korea. Originally, I thought of building Cheon Seung Ho boats there and then fishing off the coast of Chujado Island.

You can catch many Japanese and Spanish mackerel there. In Korea, the only place where you can fish for Japanese Spanish mackerel all year round is off the coasts of the islands of Chujado and Geomundo.

Yellowtail, bass, and gray mullet also live in those waters. You can catch them not only in summer but also in winter. Thus, it occurred to me that we have to farm these fish because they are hardy fish that can withstand the seasons.

We need to find a way to propagate them all over the world.

We will need to build a coastal museum, a training center, and an aquaculture college. The best place for these activities is Geomundo. Its port is excellent, and geographically, it is so well-sheltered that you could fish even amid a typhoon. Geomundo is situated like Hawaii where, on the north and south sides of the Big Island near the coffee plantations, people can fish in all four seasons.

At Geomundo, likewise, you can fish throughout the year. There you can find every kind of fish you ever wanted to catch. We will build educational facilities where we can teach people all the skills required for catching fish and what makes for the best bait. We can even teach them how to build boats.

We can disseminate all the knowledge and skills in the marine field. For this, we can make a full course of education in which students train on all these islands – Jeju, Chujado, Geomundo, Chodo – and then at Yeosu. (544-113, 2006/11/08)

23. We must buy land on Geomundo. There we will build a palace for the south of the country, an ocean palace. When I went to South America, I dedicated a holy ground that I named the Original Holy Ground, Root Holy Ground, and Victory Holy Ground.

Based on that foundation, I had intended to build an underwater palace there in the middle of the water. Now I have moved this plan to Geomundo. On Geomundo, which is surrounded by crystal clear water and many islands, I want to start building God's nation. (546-181, 2006/11/27)

24. The Cheon Jeong Gung Palace is the model on earth of God's palace in heaven. The first Cheon Jeong Gung Palace is located at Cheongpyeong.

The second Cheon Jeong Gung Palace must be a place that can unite all religions, so I have talked about building it in Switzerland. Next, we will need a Cheon Jeong Gung Palace that represents the ocean. We need to build an ocean base for God, an ocean palace. Geomundo is a suitable place for this.

It was on Geomundo (Port Hamilton) that the British set up a naval base to defend Korea against Russia during the latter half of the 19th century. In this way, the United Kingdom fulfilled its responsibility to the Eve nation to defend Korea.

We will now build the Ocean Cheon Jeong Gung Palace on Geomundo, based on the foundation of the British ambassadors who came to Korea and fulfilled Eve's responsibility within the world providence.

This is the historical foundation upon which the Ocean Palace will be built. This palace will represent the marine world. (565-228, 2007/06/12)