Way Of Unification (Part 2)

by Rev. Sun Myung Moon

If you go to North Korea, you will see that for a long time the people there have had no freedom of movement. Even if a person wants to go from one hamlet to another, he will never be allowed to go alone. The residents of a particular hamlet cannot come and go as they please. Even if someone says he wants to visit the hamlet of a relative, he won't be allowed. It doesn't matter even if it's his son. Even if a person wants to visit the hamlet where his son lives, he can't go without permission from the Party.

Horizontal contact is absolutely forbidden. They just want people to follow the orders given to them vertically, from above. A married man can't visit his parents-in-law. Parents can't visit the relatives of their son-in-law. They can't even go to see their own son or daughter. If it's summer, the authorities will spread the rumor that there is an epidemic, and so anyone wanting to go to another hamlet must first receive an immunization. Who is going to get immunized? If anyone does go to get a shot, the authorities won't just give him the shot and let them go. They will ask all sorts of questions about his purpose in going. Because of this questioning, the person will decide not to get the immunization and cancel his trip. No one will go through with the immunization and actually make the trip. Do you understand what I'm saying?

In North Korea, the authorities don't allow the conditions to exist in which people can say that they want to travel. They will demand to know every detail of a person's travel plan. If the person refuses to be dissuaded, then they will notify the party representative at his destination that so-and-so will be making a trip there, and the representative will have to give his permission before the person is allowed to leave. They make it so difficult to make a simple trip that most people just decide to spend their entire lives in the place of their birth, and never leave. Even the offspring of a wild boar can move from place to place in search of food. Are human beings inferior to a baby wild boar? Is a human being less than the offspring of a dog? Because people there have so little freedom of movement, it is very easy for the authorities there to catch any spies that are sent there from the South. People there have to carry about a dozen certificates.

A person who wants to go anywhere has to successfully negotiate all these obstacles and make certain that he receives official permission for his plans. Then, when he gets to his destination, he is subjected to more questioning. The authorities there will keep him under close watch the whole time he is there to see whether his conduct is consistent with the stated purpose of his trip. If he does anything that is outside the scope of his approved plan, there will be no mercy. That's the kind of society it is. Do you understand what I'm saying? Horizontal relations are not permitted there. (163-196)

In North Korea, even children in first grade elementary school are used as spies. Children are often given awards at school. If they report something new, then the school gives them an award. The system is set up such that children will report to school authorities about statements made at home by their mothers and fathers. When the boys and girls arrive at school in the morning, they secretly report about what their mother and father said at home. Then, there is a person on the school staff who acts as a link to the party. Sometimes, a child will be given instructions. "Go ask your mother and father whether they have ever said such-and-such." That's what they do. They phrase the question in such a way that the parents can easily answer in a way that will brand them as reactionary elements. In this way, they classify the entire population, starting with the parents of school children.

Using this kind of method, the authorities determine whether each parent is supporting the party. This way, they make it so that the parents cannot trust their children. When children sense that their parents do not trust them, they begin to place more trust in their teachers at school. So, the children become thoroughly linked to the state through the schools.

Thus, a structure is built centering on the schools, with the state in the background, and then it is elevated to the level where the children refer to Kim Il Sung as their "father." At school, the children are told: "Your parents don't trust you" and then they are made to gather even more information. They create a split between parents and children, and distrust is the natural result. They can't trust each other. That's what they say. Who do the children trust more? They place more trust in their teachers. This is the way that the authorities assimilate school children into the system and make them work for the state.

Then, if a relative should visit their home, the children are required to report everything that was said. If a relative enters the home and leaves, the children absolutely must file a report. They will be severely scolded if they don't write down in that report everything that was said during the visit. That's the way it is. So, if the mother and father start a conversation with each other at home, the young children will keep going in and out of the room so that they can hear everything that is said. The older sister will hear a part of the conversation and the younger sister will hear another part. Then, they will compare notes with each other in order to make their report.

That is how the organization is structured. Centering on the reports of the students, then, people who are guilty of making statements or actions of a reactionary nature are branded as impure or deviant elements. These people will then have their rations cut. Because of this, people keep their mouths shut even when they can clearly see that something is wrong. Even though they have mouths, they cannot speak. If they say something critical and are found out, they will have their rations cut. (163-165)

Kim Man Chul led 10 members of his family in an escape from North Korea by sea in 1987, and his sons have given public speeches in which they describe the situation there. It's just the way I told you. If anything, it's even worse. It's even worse. Mr. Kim's sons said that people go to work in the morning and aren't able to return until midnight. What they say in their speeches is correct. People don't leave their children at home. What do they think of the home? They say the home is a den of reactionary elements. If you read Marx's writings on communist theory, you see that he considered the family to be an idol. He also said that the family is the origin of exploitation.

This is why they make absolutely sure that people do not develop an interest in their families. The children are embraced at school and educated in this way. Children are taught that the home is not a place where they can live with their hearts at ease.

It's not a simple matter, then, for us to step forward and say we will deal with this reality in North Korea and liberate it. (163-187)

In this moment, we must not forget about our compatriots who are living under North Korean communist rule. After Korea's liberation from Japan, I went to North Korea and conducted evangelical work. For this reason, I was branded a reactionary and was placed in a concentration camp, where I lived a life that was more painful that death itself. Sol I know that our compatriots in North Korea enjoy less freedom and endure more difficulties in their lives than do the prisoners in American jails. In comparison with life in North Korea, you can say that American jails are like relaxation centers. (May 1, 1988)

In North Korea, peoples' aspiration is to have enough food to fill their belly everyday. They can't just eat something anytime they feel like it, as we do here. They are constantly trying to find a way that they can, just once, eat enough to fill their belly. They're not worried about clothing. Does a hungry person worry about what he is going to wear? They're not worried about what shoes they will wear, or about what kind of house they will live in. If only they could have enough to eat, they would be completely satisfied.

The authorities create this kind of situation, and then they turn around and devote all the country's resources toward preparing a military invasion of the South. I'm sure they have paved the roads leading up to the Military Demarcation Line near the 38th parallel very well. I saw something like this when I was coming out of Hungnam Prison in the 1950s. We have a strong interest in things like that, you know. I saw then that the North Koreans had built their bridges in such a way that the road could be expanded easily. They had built two-lane bridges on roads that had just one lane, so that the road could easily be expanded to create a highway. That's how they prepared their military transportation routes. At that time, North Korea was a large producer of cement, so they built their roads with a thick layer of concrete. I was curious, so I dug down a little. I discovered that the road had been built strong enough to withstand the weight of 30-ton tanks.

I was very impressed to see this when I was coming out of North Korea in the 50s. All the bridges had been built so that tanks weighing 30 tons could pass by without damaging the road surface. The road coming out of Hungnam went along the East Sea coastline, and this made a potentially important truck route. And they had prepared from early on to make this a military transportation route. When I saw this, I realized that this road had been a part of a plan to invade the South. Even as they were creating their governmental structure, they had made these preparations in line with the Soviet Union's Far East policy and with the support and instruction of the KGB.

For this reason, all the fertilizer that was produced in Hungnam was taken to the Soviet Union. They exchanged fertilizer for weapons. For the Soviet Union, these weapons were ten or twenty years out of date. But the North Koreans exchanged for as many as they could get. Because the weapons were cheap. Then they deployed these along the 38th parallel, and used them to train their forces for an invasion of the South. You see, they had no need for advanced military hardware. So that's why they worked to heavily arm their forces at a low cost. And fertilizer was the product that they used to acquire these arms. That's why all the fertilizer that was produced in the Hungnam fertilizer factory was shipped to the Soviet Union. Several trainloads were sent off every day. There, the fertilizer was all exchanged for weapons that were then brought back and deployed along the 38th parallel. I was aware of all this back then.

They did all this already back in the 50s. I remember when I was going from Hungnam to Pyongyang, I saw that, because they didn't have asphalt, they had used concrete instead to build the bridges. And they built them so that the roads could be expanded on short notice. (163-186)

North Korea produced a lot of cement, and they used this to prepare their military roads. So, it goes without saying that they've done extensive preparations now between Pyongyang and Sineuiju on the border with China. How many years has it been now since the armistice? There's nothing that they could not have accomplished by now. They even dug those tunnels. We don't even know how many tunnels there are, do we? (163-189)

When North Korea was fighting against the United States before the armistice, we would attack them from here with aircraft. North Korea, though, didn't have any aircraft. So, how could they transport artillery shells to the front line? They couldn't just load them onto trucks and transport them down the highway in broad daylight. Trucks were useless, because they would be attacked from the air. So, they transported their supplies during the night. How did they do this at night? All the people along the transport route were organized into teams. Each team was responsible for hauling supplies from one particular point to another. This way, supplies were transported from hamlet to hamlet. Every night, as soon as the sun went down, they would start carrying shells and bullets. They each had their assigned load, a certain standard that they had to meet. When night fell, they would pick up the supplies and start moving them in the direction of the front line.

The South kept looking for the North to run short on artillery shells, but that never happened. For them, there was no difference between people in the rear and those near the front. They were all treated just like soldiers. North Korea had the concept that they would defeat the enemy not just with the power of their military but with the power of the entire country. For them, it was total war. That's the kind of strategy they have today. Just before the armistice was declared, North Korea fired off an incredible number of shells. They fired so many that at night the flames from their artillery made you think the whole world was being reduced to rubble. The Americans fired an incredible number of shells into the North. But no matter, the North continued to resist and refused to be defeated. How did they get all those shells to the front line? They didn't just automatically arrive from the point of production. They were all transported through the team system.

Under this social and political system, they are solidly united around the goal to "liberate" the South. The one problem that they face is the fact that the United States maintains a presence here in the South. We can be like this here today, because the United States has troops stationed here. If not, we would have been "liberated" a long time ago. Without the U.S. presence, the armistice would never have lasted this long. Within three years, they would have tried again, and then again, and as many times as necessary. That's the game they're playing. (163-191)

After being liberated, I came to the South in 1950, so they staged their invasion just three years after creating a government. You have to realize this. They established a government in 1948. Then, they needed less than three years to prepare their invasion of the South that began on June 25, 1950. Do you understand what that means? That means that it took them less than three years to finish the job of developing highly mobile military units. They organized their forces and then pushed the South all the way back almost to Pusan. In order to accomplish this, they trained themselves centering not only on strategic training but also centering on their deployment infrastructure.

Let's look at North Korea's military preparations. How many do they have in their active duty force? [800,000]And how many in the Worker-Farmer Red Guard Brigade? [2.5 million] And then, how many in the University Students Brigade? And after that there are the middle and high school students who form the young peoples' defense force. That is, the "Personal Guard." How many are they? [They come to millions] You have to know that they are in the millions. Groups like the Worker-Farmer Red Guard Brigade are always training in their collective farms. You must not underestimate what would happen if these people were to change into a different set of clothes and start marching toward South Korea. Never underestimate them. (January 21, 1988)

This is what I'm grateful for. The purpose for my going to prison in North Korea was so that I could learn all this. Those rascals! When I was a student, I used to have arguments over ideology with friends who had studied communist ideology. I fight now, because I know we don't stand a chance the way we are now. I know about communism in great detail. The most onerous of all the systems organized by the communist party are the ones they have in their jails. (163-197)

The goal of the communist party in North Korea is nothing other than the "liberation" of the South. It's unification through communization. This is what communist China encouraged them to do, and the Soviet Union did the same. What would happen if the South were to be "liberated"? They would be able to control Japan. Their analysis is that if they can control Japan, then they will become the leading country in the Pacific age. If Kim Il Sung has his way, then he will propose that the Japan Communist Party and the communist parties of other Asian countries form a new united party that would not be subject to the Soviet Union. The proposal would be for the weaker countries that do not want to be subject to either China or the Soviet Union to band together within the communist bloc to form a new structure bringing together the weaker nations. The aim would be to put the breaks on the Soviet Union and to put the breaks on America. That's what they are preparing for.

In that sense, North Korea, in addition to their constant effort to strengthen their domestic foundation, has been much more active than the South in the area of international propaganda. They have established embassies throughout the world, and through these they are working to educate the leadership of each country, including cabinet ministers and department directors within each government ministry. Magazines about Kim Il Sung are being delivered to the living rooms of all these people. How many years since the country was liberated from Japan? They've been playing this game now for 39 years. In North Korea, anything can be accomplished if the order is given. (163-189)

They were calling for the "liberation" of the South even at the time they were first establishing their government. They've been calling for this now for forty years. They have not retreated even one step on this. The claims being made by the North Korean establishment today are exactly the same as when I was there. They just keep on going according to their established program. When they first began to preach their doctrine, there were many people who expressed opposition. They would shake their heads from side to side. Gradually, though, they strengthened their hold on the country, until now no one would even think of shaking their head. They are at the point now where no one can speak even one word in opposition. (163-185)

Soon, the problem of communism in the United States will be closely tied with Korea's problem. The Soviet Union believes that it can defeat the United States and be victorious throughout the world only if it removes the foundation of the United States centering on the 38th parallel. To support this, North Korea calls for the withdrawal of all U.S. forces in Korea on the one hand and conducts a peace offensive on the other. The Soviet Union, too, carries out a peaceful offensive, saying: "Let's do this" and "Let's do that." If North Korea is ultimately successful in its peaceful offensive of "Let's become one," then eventually the Soviet Union will project itself onto the Korean Peninsula. If that happens, it will just help itself to South Korea. (January 21, 1986)

The Communist bloc has been able to create a single, uniform system. There can be no pluralism. Then, unwavering support is given to this system by the powerful strength of individuals and clans, the nation and the state. We have nothing that is capable of matching this strength. We don't have the military; we don't have the state; we don't have anything. just think how strong a system we would have to build. Everyone would have to have his head cut off before we reached the point of judgment.

No matter how much they say the Communist system has changed, it is not possible for them to completely rid themselves of this system.

They say that they will pursue the kind of socialist establishment that develops naturally in each country, but they do not trust the free world. That is why they will be left with nowhere to stand. (162-155)

Systemic changes in the Communist bloc are impossible. There is no way for them to retreat, unless they suffer a total collapse. That's the way it is. This is the most difficult problem facing Communist China. They have developed their system under their current ideological structure. My idea, then, is that if we develop a content that is superior to the Communist system and then transpose that on to their structure, then we will be able to exercise influence over the whole thing. We have a good opportunity now to do that. Communist China may be in retreat now, but it would cause tremendous problems if we were to allow that country to fall apart. The issue would become very complicated. China would enter a period of confusion similar to the Warring States Period. (163-206)

China today faces the difficult problem of how to bring about change in their established structure. They have to effect changes in the structure that currently link everyone from the highest position to the very lowest, but this is going to be extremely difficult. If they set about to change their political structure, for example, it may be possible to change certain portions of it, but it will be difficult to bring about comprehensive change. There is the possibility many negative consequences may come about as a result of opposition from young people who have been indoctrinated in the current ideology and from those who played leading roles in establishing the foundation for the current structure. That is why it will be very difficult to bring about change in the Communist establishment unless there is a new ideology that can be used to graft their current establishment on to a new establishment that is superior to Communism. (163,193)