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Government, there were continuing indications that the Moon Organization
retained significant support.
Many of the activities of the Moon Organization would not raise questions of
impropriety if carried out openly and without violations of laws. The subcommittee
does not fault the many Americans, Koreans, and others who identified
themselves with Moon Organization-sponsored activities such as the Little
Angels, or who shared the Moon Organization's expressed concerns about
communism and South Korean security.
However, the Moon Organization's ulterior motives behind even its most
benign activities tended to negate its positive contributions. For example, the
Little Angels, a highly accomplished children's dance group, undoubtedly
improved the image of Koreans around the world and in particular contributed to
Americans' understanding of Korean culture. The Korean Government's decision
to bar the Little Angels from traveling outside Korea was a loss for Korean-
American relations. The demise of the Little Angels as a touring group followed
growing public awareness of its ties to
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Moon, who--after founding and quietly backing the group--increasingly used it to
further his political and economic goals. In his own speeches to followers, Moon
made it clear that the Little Angels, the annual science conference, and other
seemingly philanthropic projects were in reality geared toward his ambitious and
carefully thought out plans for winning control and influence over political and
other secular institutions.
Moon, like Tongsun Park, showed a keen understanding of the use of
imagery in building political influence. Just as Tongsun Park used his close
relationship with a few Congressmen to attract others, Moon used the names and
pictures of prominent Americans, Japanese, Koreans, and others to create an
image of power and respectability for himself and his movement. The
multifaceted Moon Organization thereby obtained the help and cooperation of
numerous Americans who had no idea they were contributing to Moon's plan for
world theocracy.
Like Tongsun Park and others who conducted pro-ROK influence activities in
the United States, Moon and his organization acted from a mixture of motives
and objectives. Service to Korea was combined with a desire to advance
personal and organizational goals. Like Tongsun Park and others, Moon and his
organization attempted to gain influence in Seoul through activities in the United
States; to this end, the Moon Organization exaggerated its successes in the
United States to create influence in Korea and elsewhere. Thus, although the
Moon Organization often acted for the ROK Government even to the point of
accepting money for its services--control and influence over Korean political
institutions was no less a goal there than in the United States. In this respect, the
Moon Organization was not an agent of influence for the ROK Government so
much as it was a volatile factor in Korean-American relations, capable of
distorting the perceptions each country held of the other.
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