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Sun Myung Moon Closely Associated Entities This is the latest revision of a list originally created in June 1981 by the Ex-Moon Organization. The list contains the names of companies owned, operated, and/or controlled by the Moon organization or Moon followers and has been compiled by us based on the information presently available to us. We are interested in obtaining additional information, making additions, revisions and corrections as appropriate. If you have information you wish to bring to our attention, please do so by contacting us as set forth below. This list is for information purposes only so the public can make an informed decision as to whether they want to do business with companies closely associated with the Unification Movement or Sun Myung Moon followers. In the early days of the Unification Movement Moon followers lived in centers and worked in a handful of businesses controlled by the Movement hierarchy. Businesses were started as a means to support the growing movement and as a way to further Moon's goals. Within the Movement, building businesses has been referred to as "building a material foundation." As the Movement grew the centers could not hold all the members and a shift took place as members began to move from the centers into the surrounding communities. Businesses operated by members allow them to live outside the centers relieving the Movement of the burden of financially supporting members. Operating businesses is an excellent way of supporting Moon's goals. Not only do they relieve the movement of providing for members, the members who control the businesses can make tax free donations to non-profits associated with the Movement instead of making a profit and paying taxes on the profit. Businesses run by members support Sun Myung Moon's goals in ways other than making cash donations. Member businesses buy products from other entities closely associated with Moon. Member businesses sponsor and support Moon directed programs and raise money for Moon's worldwide operations. While some entities closely associated with Moon attempt to hide their affiliation with the Movement, many Moon followers view the business, religious and political organizations as one cohesive unit operating to unify the world under Moon and his organization's influence. The idea that businesses associated with Moon often act in concert to further his goals is not new. In 1977 congressional hearings were held to examine Korean-American relations. A very important subject of the investigation was the operation of the Unification Church and other organizations controlled by Reverend Sun Myung Moon. The subcommittee's 10/31/78 report, entitled Investigation of Korean-American Relations (U.S. Government Printing Office, Stock Number 052-070-04729-1), concluded that: "The Moon Organization used church and other tax-exempt components in support of its political and economic activities." (p. 388, conclusion 12). The subcommittee also found that: "Although many of the goals and activities of the Moon Organization were legitimate and lawful, there was evidence that it had systematically violated U.S. tax, immigration, banking, currency, and Foreign Agents Registration Act laws, as well as State and local laws relating to charity fraud, and that these violations were related to the organization's overall goals of gaining temporal power." (p. 388, conclusion 13). http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/eotopicf79.pdf The Subcommittee on International Organizations House Committee on International Relations report, entitled Investigation of Korean-American Relations. (U.S. Government Printing Office, Stock Number 052-070-04729-1), reads "Spokesmen for the Moon Organization have attempted to create the impression that, to the extent there is a relationship, the businesses contribute to the religious movement and not the reverse. However, the flow was in fact two ways. For example, when a commercial enterprise was beginning, funds were transferred to it from the UC directly or indirectly. After it began to prosper, it contributed to the religious or nonprofit side of the Moon Organization. The Moon Organization's economic system provided substantial advantages to its various components. The religious side provided inexpensive and ready sources of labor; access to large amounts of untaxed liquid assets; and a wide-ranging, inexpensive marketing network. The commercial side provided additional funds, power, and influence. The economic advantages of controlling a bloc of consumers were also not missed by Moon. In a speech he instructed his followers to obey his orders so that the movement could become economically powerful: 'In the future don't buy American products if Master says to buy from somewhere else. If you believe in what he says, you practice it, you will become the wealthiest people and the wealthiest nations, but not necessarily on earth. Buy from the company he designates in the future. It doesn't matter if it is a small or large item. Soon that product will be the one manufactured by us. We have to buy that one. Then the world or universal economy will come to us.'" (p. 556) One of the better examples of how an entity closely associated with Moon tries to claim independence from the Movement can be found in The Washington Times. From paperboys to editors, employees of The Washington Times have steadfastly claimed that the Times is owned by a company whose owners just happen to be Moon followers and that Moon does not own the paper. It is true that Moon's name does not appear on any corporate documents related to the companies that control and operate the Times. But there is no disputing the fact that Moon himself has always believed he controls The Washington Times. No one from the paper is brave enough to come forward and tell Moon otherwise. Speaking to followers on June 12, 1991 at East Garden, Irvington, New York, Moon said: "Father is not so deeply interested in The Washington Times. Father can withdraw at any time. All he has to do is to say, "Closed." Then Father does not have to spend tens of millions of dollars every month. Father can divert that money into Russia or anywhere else. Father is investing millions of dollars per month into the media. Do you know what millions of dollars can do in a country like Russia? In the last nine years, the Church poured eight hundred million dollars in cold cash into The Washington Times. 800 million. You have no idea how much money that is..." "Remember that Father has poured one billion dollars into the Washington Times during the last fourteen years. This is a fact. All the government bureaus such as the CIA have a record of this..." Total Calculation Or Accounting Of God's Historical Providence - Sun Myung Moon, December 25, 1994, East Garden, Translator-Peter Kim http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/SunMyungMoon94/SM941226.htm "Who is the president of the Washington Times? Who is the original ancestor? When we first made the newspaper in America, who was the beginning point? It was me. If we talk about Washington Times, we cannot say anything without Reverend Moon. You should not think that the Washington Times can move apart from Father. At any time, I can disband the Washington Times and make a similar newspaper in China or Russia. It's not crucial to have it in America. I can create a greater cultural world somewhere else." Western People Are Different From Eastern People, Sun Myung Moon, September 18, 2009, East Garden http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/SunMyungMoon09/SunMyungMoon-090918.htm It is hard to understand how someone can pour one billion dollars into a business he does not own or have defacto control over. Comprehending how Moon can close a business he does not own is equally as hard. Moon followers understand that businesses closely associated with Moon share the common theme of supporting Moon's goals. Here is an excerpt from an article about the Movement's fishing operations in Alaska: "While the business isn't owned by or even formally affiliated with the UC, they do have tight connections. Moon does the bulk of the decision making for both the church and the company. And members move back and forth. Rev. Cheol Ho Bang, now the pastor at the Kodiak church, worked for a few years in the company. And Jang Kim, an executive at the plant, was once a pastor. Cooper said the company is a way Moon found to make the church and its associated movements for world peace self-sufficient. The movement estimates that 90 percent of its resources go toward various activities they sponsor to promote social justice issues. As Kim puts it, although the church and the company are separate, 'We actually go toward the same goal - to make a kind of ideal world.'" KodiakDailyMirror.com, Alaska (September 30, 2005) http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com/?pid=19&id=2083 From the Movement publication Today's World, this short author bio reveals how within the movement many members see the businesses as belonging to Sun Myung Moon and his wife. "Gary Abrahams and his wife Friedrun are the parents of 6 children and were Blessed at the 2075 Blessing at MSG. Gary is currently working for Shining Ocean, Inc., True Parents' seafood company in Seattle and serves as the Tennessee state coordinator for ACC/AFC as well as volunteering his time as a member of the STF USA Parents Advisory Board." (Experiencing the 3rd International STF Assembly by Gary Abrahams http://www.todaysworld.org/stf1.htm) Moon's own son Kook Jin Moon, who has been tasked by his father to make the businesses in Korea profitable, described the philosophy behind the operation of businesses in Korea commonly referred to within the movement as the Unification Group: "The goal for our Unification Group, our total foundation business group, we made very simple. The goal is very simple - it's to make money for the Unification Movement. It's to increase the market value of the foundation's companies and generate cash flow for the foundation activities. Our business group has no other purpose than this." (Kook Jin Moon - February 5, 2006 - Chung Pyung Lake, South Korea) To Provide Additional Information, to Request Changes, Updates or Revisions: This list contains names of companies and groups that may or may not be in existence today. We have marked organizations known to be defunct by the following symbol (#). We have marked those organizations known to be very active by this symbol (*). In the case of businesses, these have a tendency to change location or just cease doing business. Most of the organizations listed are still active. However, it is possible that some businesses may no longer be affiliated with the Unification Movement, particularly businesses created by people who were recruited into the movement and later left. If a business or person is identified with the Movement in this list and the person controlling this business or this person is no longer associated with the Movement and has denounced Moon's tenets and beliefs please contact us and provide a copy of documentation supporting such position. To report additional information, request changes, updates or revisions, please contact us at changetolist@gmail.com. Please provide your full name and address and supporting documentation for any requests for changes, updates or revisions.
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