He's White, Baptist, and from Georgia.
Does that make President Carter a member of the KKK?
Of course not. Anyone can recognize this as a ludicrous example of guilt by association. But what about: He's yellow, anti-communist, and from Korea.
Does that make Reverend Sun Myung Moon an agent of the Korean CIA?
No more than Carter is a member of the KKK. Yet with only that “evidence,” a congressional subcommittee is defaming Reverend Moon.
All Yellow People Suffer; Reverend Moon Hit Hardest
For several months, the “Koreagate” scandal has been in full swing, and everything Korean has become suspect. Koreans in this country are now considered KCIA agents.
All yellow people here are suffering under this, for to American eyes they all look alike. But among them, Reverend Sun Myung Moon has been hit the hardest. He has suffered the most of any innocent bystander because he is the most visible Asian in America.
Fraser Pegs Reverend Moon as KCIA Agent
For more than two years, the Subcommittee on International Organizations, chaired by Representative Donald M. Fraser (D-Minn.), has been ostensibly pursuing a probe of the KCIA.
However, as documented in many press articles, Rep. Fraser has given the impression to the world that the United States Congress is investigating the Unification Church.
For example, in the March 19, 1977, edition of The Washington Post, reporter Charles Babcock stated that the Fraser committee
"plans to examine further: Ties between the South Korean government and the Unification Church of the evangelist Sun Myung Moon."
Through Fraser's Subcommittee, the Unification Church already stands accused, judged, and condemned according to the world. Its worldwide work has been severely hurt. Rep.
Fraser's irresponsible allegations, charging that the Church is linked to the KCIA, have generated outrageous media reports damaging everyone from Reverend Moon to the newest member of our Church.
This is so even though there has been no substantial evidence presented. This subcommittee has made a mockery of the United States Constitution and President Carter's aggressive stand on human rights.
Now the Fraser Subcommittee is launching a $300,000 18-month extravaganza with 13 investigators to study the Korean situation. An April 4, 1977, subcommittee public memorandum clearly indicates, however, that Reverend Moon and his associates are his primary target. It implies that they are KCIA agents.
Ex-KCIA Chief Said “No”
On June 22, 1977, General Kim, Hyung Wook, former director of the Korean CIA, testified before the Fraser Subcommittee.
The New York Times called it “the first public evidence from an authoritative witness in this investigation.”
The testimony that General Kim gave the committee under oath was quite contrary to that of Congressman Donald Fraser, chairman of the House Subcommittee on International Organizations, regarding the allegations:
1)Kim never even knew of Reverend Moon until 1973
General Kim said that he did not even know Reverend Moon's name until he came to America in 1973. At that time, he was quite puzzled by Reverend Moon's apparent popularity and large following in the United States.
Because General Kim did not even know who Reverend Moon was, it is clearly impossible that he was working for General Kim as a KCIA agent.
2) Bo Hi Pak was not a KCIA agent.
General Kim also made several points obvious about my activities:
a) General Kim stated clearly that I was not a KCIA agent. For the first time since the allegations began, The Washington Post reported, “Bo Hi Pak, former embassy military attaché who is now head of the Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation and top aide to Korean evangelist Sun Myung Moon, was not a KCIA agent, Kim said.”
b) General Kim furthermore said that he knew nothing about the widely publicized meeting of the South Korean Presidential residence in 1969, at which President Park supposedly met with Tong Sun Park, high-ranking KCIA officials, and me to plan influence buying and lobbying operations. As chief of the KCIA, he would certainly have known about it.
c) General Kim also stated that the position of military attaché in the Korean Embassy was not under KCIA control and that, as military attaché, I would not have reported to the KCIA in Seoul.
This completely disproves the assertion that since I was once the military attaché at the Korean Embassy, I must have been a KCIA agent.
Is the Unification Church Political?
By trying to connect Reverend Moon and the Unification Church to the KCIA, Rep. Fraser is actually trying to define the Church as a political organization. There is nothing further from the truth!
The Unification Church has a far deeper spiritual origin than many want to recognize. Several Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant theologians have testified that in the Unification Church phenomenon, we are witnessing the birth of a genuine new religion.
These men of faith can readily perceive that Reverend Moon is a man of God and that the purpose of the Unification Church is the spreading of Reverend Moon's spiritual insight and revelation.
If Rep. Fraser is seeking the truth about Reverend Moon, why doesn't he invite some of these scholars to testify before his subcommittee?
Why is the Unification Church singled out?
If Rep. Fraser is concerned about religious groups with international ties, he could investigate Jewish groups for ties to Israel, Roman Catholics for ties with the Vatican, Anglicans for ties with England, Muslims for ties with Arab states, and Hindus for ties to India.
Also, the record shows that the Unification Church has been far less active politically than many other American religious organizations.
During the Civil Rights era, nearly every church became involved in the political arena.
Nicholas von Hoffman commented on this in the April 9, 1977, Chicago Tribune: During the 60s, other religious groups—Catholics, Presbyterians, Anglicans, and the like—put large amounts of money and support into the civil rights movement.
There were screams then that the churches should stay out of politics. But churches don't, even when they want to stay out and sort of believe they should stay out. The intoxication of moral conviction compels them to use politics to give their belief the force of law.
These churches were far more involved in politics than the Unification Church has ever been.
But what does Mr. Fraser say about these activities?
Human Rights Are Trampled
Reverend Moon and I are Korean.
However, the rest of the membership of the Unification Church is largely Bo Hi Pak, who testifies before the Frasier Committee in America.
What about their religious rights?
This subcommittee's irresponsible methods of investigation have trampled the constitutional rights of tens of thousands of Americans. Is it a crime to be a “Moonie”?
Is the American Constitution good for everyone except “Moonies”?
After all the damage that the Fraser Subcommittee has unjustly done to Reverend Moon, me, and the Unification Church, General Kim's testimony is timely and revealing.
If after this testimony, however, the Subcommittee insists on pursuing its investigation to try to find ties between Reverend Moon, myself and the KCIA, this will only show that the investigation is truly becoming the “witch hunt” which Congressman Edward J. Derwinski, member of Fraser's own Subcommittee has forewarned of in his letter of March 2, 1977: This unusual request for a wide-ranging, free-wheeling probe of Korean-American relations calls for our Subcommittee to depart markedly from its normal business and sponsor an inquest that gives every indication of becoming a “witch hunt” far from practical relevance to the activities of an International Relations Subcommittee.
I think no one needs reminding of what witch hunts do to human rights.
Definition of Witch Hunt
I would like to close this statement with a definition of “witch hunt,” as found in the Living Webster Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language: A public investigation ostensibly conducted to detect subversion, used as a forum for arbitrary accusations by the investigators against unpopular or powerless individuals to acquire a reputation for vigilant patriotism.
I pray to God that this will not be the case with Rep. Donald M. Fraser's Subcommittee.