Hak Ja Han
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Hak Ja Han Moon (Template:Korean; born February 10, 1943<ref name="lewis" /> January 6, 1943, lunar calendar) is a Korean religious leader.<ref name="timothymiller">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="lewis2005">Template:Cite book</ref> Her late husband Sun Myung Moon was the founder of the Unification Church. Han and Moon were married in April 1960 and have 10 living children and over 30 grandchildren.<ref name="introductiontoworldreligions" /><ref name="moontalks" /> In 1992, she established the Women's Federation for World Peace, and traveled the world speaking on its behalf.<ref name="eventworks" /><ref name="wifetospeak" /><ref name="kansas"/> Since her husband's death, she has assumed leadership of the Unification Church, whose followers call her "True Mother" and "Mother of Peace".<ref name="lewis" /><ref name="edwards" /> In 2025, she was arrested on bribery charges.<ref name=september2025arrest>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Personal life and family
Han, whose mother later became a follower of Sun Myung Moon, was born on January 6, 1943 (lunar calendar)Template:Clarify.<ref name="lewis">Template:Cite book</ref> Han attended an all-girls high school in Korea but did not go on to college. She speaks Japanese and English as well as Korean.<ref name="moon">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Clarify In April 1960, at the age of 17, Han, by then a member of the Unification Church,<ref name="Introvigne" /> married 40 year-old Moon.<ref name="cowan">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="lifeandtimes">Template:Cite news</ref> Han has 14 children, 10 of whom are still living,<ref name="killed"/> and as of 2011 has 38 grandchildren.<ref name="moontalks">Template:Cite web</ref>
In Korean culture, a married woman keeps her original family name, with the children taking their father's.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
On July 19, 2008, Han along with her husband and 14 others, including several of their children and grandchildren, were slightly injured when a Sikorsky S-92 helicopter owned by the movement crashed during an emergency landing and burst into flames in Gapyeong.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Account of crash by the Moons' youngest son Template:Webarchive</ref> Han and all 15 others were treated at the nearby Unification Church-affiliated Cheongshim Hospital.<ref>Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, 15 others injured in helicopter crash Herald Tribune, July 19, 2008</ref>
Role in the Unification Church
Some Unification Church members believe that Han and Moon's wedding established a "holy marriage" which Jesus was not able to establishTemplate:Clarify, and also consider it to be a holy day, called "True Parents Day,"<ref name="neusner">Template:Cite book</ref> as well as what members refer to as the "True Family."<ref name="cowan" /><ref name="bowie">Template:Cite book</ref> It is believed by the members to be the beginning of a new Completed Testament Age<ref name="gallagher2006">Template:Cite book</ref> and to have fulfilled the prophesied Marriage of the Lamb in the Revelation of John.<ref>Helm, S. Divine Principle and the Second Advent Template:Webarchive, Christian Century May 11, 1977</ref> According to Church Unification members, Han and Moon are together believed to be the new messiahs.<ref name="introductiontoworldreligions">Template:Cite book</ref> The Moons are regarded by members to be the "True Parents" of humanity and are addressed by its followers as the True Father and True Mother.<ref name="killed">Template:Cite book</ref> Members have also referred to Han as "the Bride of Christ"<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and the perfect woman.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She is seen within the Unification Church as the Mother of humankind, the final chosen of God.<ref name="larson">Template:Cite book</ref> Han and Moon are also seen as the exemplars of the God-centered existence by members.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In Unification Church services, members bow down in respect for Moon and Han, when they are present, and to representative pictures of them when they are not.<ref name="maass">Peter Maass, Moon At Twilight: Amid scandal, the Unification Church has a strange new mission, New Yorker Magazine, September 14, 1998.</ref>
In 1962, Moon and Han founded the Little Angels Children's Folk Ballet of Korea, a girls Korean folk ballet company meant to promote a positive perception of South Korea.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1984, Han spoke at a Unification Church sponsored academic conference in Washington, D.C. to a crowd of 240 which included professors from Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, University of Michigan and the Sorbonne in Paris.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1993, U.S. Senator Trent Lott supported the bill True Parents Day in the U.S. Senate and in 1995 U.S. President Bill Clinton signed a bill into law called Parents Day; according to this law, children are to honor their parents on this day.<ref name="parentsday" /> This showed the relationship of the Unification Church to the Republican and Democratic Parties of the United States, according to news media. In 1993, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch introduced Han to a crowd at Capitol Hill; she stated at the event that she and Moon are the first True Parents. Moon was in the audience watching her speech, along with members of the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives.<ref name="parentsday">Template:Cite news</ref>
Wedding ceremonies
Han and Moon together presided over the mass wedding ceremonies for which the Unification Church is noted. (See: Blessing ceremony of the Unification Church.) In 1997, they donned crowns and gold-trimmed robes to lead a mass wedding and marriage rededication ceremony in Washington, D.C. for 20,000 couples, 2,500 of them Unification Church members whose marriages had been arranged by Moon.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ministers of other religions acted as "co-officiators."<ref>From the Unification Church to the Unification Movement, 1994-1999: Five Years of Dramatic Changes Massimo Introvigne, Center for Studies on New Religions "The ceremony in Washington, D.C., included six "co-officiators" from other faiths, including controversial minister Louis Farrakhan from the Nation of Islam. The Blessing ceremony in Seoul on February 7, 1999 also featured seven co-officiators including Orthodox Rabbi Virgil Kranz (Chairman of the American Jewish Assembly), controversial Catholic Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo and the General Superintendent of the Church of God in Christ (a large African American Pentecostal denomination), Rev. T.L. Barrett."</ref> In 1997, Han presided with her husband over a marriage affirmation ceremony for 28,000 couples, some married and some newly engaged, in New York City.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During the ceremony Han and Moon sprinkled holy water on the couples.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Women's Federation for World Peace
In 1992, Han established the Women's Federation for World Peace with the support of many Unification Church members,<ref name="eventworks">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="wifetospeak">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="kansas">Template:Cite news</ref> and traveled the world speaking at conventions on its behalf.<ref name="bainbridge">Template:Cite book</ref> Its purpose is to encourage women to work more actively in promoting peace in their communities and greater society,<ref name="kansas" /> and it includes 143 member countries.<ref name="wifetospeak" /> Han organized a conference in Tokyo in 1993, which was the first anniversary of the federation. The keynote speaker was former Vice President of the United States Dan Quayle's wife Marilyn Tucker Quayle, and in a speech at the event Han spoke positively of Mrs. Quayle's humanitarian work.<ref name="shupe">Template:Cite book</ref>
In 1993, Han traveled to 20 cities in the United States promoting the Women's Federation for World Peace,<ref name="bonham" /> as well as to 12 countries.<ref name="kansas" /> At a stop in Salt Lake City, Utah she told attendants: "If a family is not centered on God's ideal of love, there will be conflict among the members of that family. Without God's love as an absolute center, such a family will ultimately break down. A nation of such families will also decline."<ref name="bonham">Template:Cite news</ref> Her 1993 speeches in the United States focused on increasing violence in the U.S., and the degradation of the family unit.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1995, Han spoke at a federation event in Japan with former United States president George H. W. Bush.<ref name="sullivan">Template:Cite news</ref> Han spoke after Bush's speech and praised Bush, crediting him for the decline of communism and saying that he must save America from "the destruction of the family and moral decay."<ref name="sullivan" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Increasing influence
In 1992, Moon increased Han's position of authority within the Unification Church and announced "True Mother was elevated to True Father's level horizontally."<ref name="stymied">Template:Cite news</ref> Hak Ja Han has been Moon's successor, designated as leader of the Unification Church since 1993.<ref name="lewis" /><ref name="edwards">Template:Cite book</ref> Massimo Introvigne of the Center for Studies on New Religions writes in The Unification Church (2000):
The issue of succession is now of fundamental importance. The Reverend Moon will be eighty years old (by Korean age calculations, he turned eighty in 1999) in 2000. Mrs. Moon is fifty-seven years old. Since 1992 she has taken a more visible role, particularly in three world speaking tours in 1992, 1993, and 1999. Mrs. Moon has also spoken on Capitol Hill, at the United Nations, and in other parliaments around the world. Her relative youth and the respect with which she is held by the membership may be a point of stability for the Unification movement.<ref name="Introvigne">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
George D. Chryssides predicted, in his book Exploring New Religions (2001), that Han would lead the Unification Church and preside over Blessing ceremonies after Moon's death, since she would then be "the remaining True Parent."<ref name="Chryssides">Template:Cite book</ref>
In 2003, over 8,000 Unification Church members attended a ceremony in South Korea in which Han and Moon were remarried. This was said to be the fulfillment of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb written about in the Apocalypse of John.<ref name="lewis" /> In 2010 National Public Radio reported that Unification Church services in the United States invoked the name of Han along with Moon in their opening greetings to congregants.<ref>Unification Church Woos A Second Generation, Barbara Bradley Hagerty, National Public Radio, February 17, 2010</ref> In that same year, Forbes reported that Han was living in South Korea with her husband while their children took more responsibility for the day-to-day leadership of the Unification Church and its affiliated organizations.<ref name="fm2010">Template:Cite news</ref>
After Sun Myung Moon's death in 2012, Han became the leader of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Unification Church pres sees smaller mass weddings Template:Webarchive, Daily Monitor, December 30, 2008</ref>
Family Federation for World Peace
In 1996, Han went on a world tour, speaking on behalf of the Family Federation for World Peace.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="lattin" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Her speeches were given in cities across the United States, as well as countries including Korea, Japan, Italy, and 16 other countries in South America and Central America.<ref name="lattin">Template:Cite news</ref> In July 1996 she spoke at the Family Federation for World Peace's Inaugural World Convention at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.<ref name="fisher">Template:Cite news</ref> Han's closing address, called the "Founder's Address", was the climax of the proceedings.<ref name="billcosbyscowling">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="fisher" />
Coronation ceremony
On March 23, 2004, Moon and Han were honored at an Ambassadors for Peace awards banquet held by the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace (which is sponsored by the Unification Church) in a United States federal office building in Washington, D.C. It was called a "Crown of Peace" ceremony. At the event Moon stated that he was the Messiah. Over 12 United States lawmakers were in attendance. The event was criticized by some as a possible violation of the principle of separation of church and state in the United States.<ref name="babingtoncooperman">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="polliesparade">Template:Cite news</ref>
Universal Peace Federation
In 2006, Han spoke in New Zealand on behalf of the Universal Peace Federation and called for traditional families, religious and cross-cultural tolerance, and a "peace tunnel" across the Bering Strait (Bering Strait crossing) connecting Russia and the United States.<ref name="NZH2006">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2019 she spoke at a rally in Japan and called for greater understanding and cooperation between the Pacific Rim nations.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2020 Han spoke at a UPF sponsored in-person and virtual rally for Korean unification which drew about one million attendees.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Peace Starts with Me
Hak Ja Han is the founder of the peace movement "Peace Starts with Me."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Peace Starts With Me rallies are co-sponsored by the Family Federation for World Peace and Unity (FFWPU) and the American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC). The first rally was held in 2017 in Madison Square Garden.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Rally of hope
Rally of Hope is a series of summits, real and virtual, that began in August 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic made large in-person gatherings impossible.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="journal.com.ph">Template:Cite web</ref> At each Rally of Hope, global leaders raised important topics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, poverty, environmental pollution, religious freedom, honoring Korean War veterans, and international security.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Former U.S. President Donald Trump spoke about the security situation on the Korean Peninsula at the Rally of Hope event, a conference organized by Hak Ja Han.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Fautre">Template:Cite web</ref>
Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary General of the UN, Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, President of Senegal Macky Sall, Niger Prime Minister Rafini, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and other world leaders participated in the virtual Rally of Hope 2020 entitled World Rally of Hope: Building and Renewing Our Nations in the Post-Covid-19 World: Interdependence, Mutual Prosperity and Universal Values.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Leadership and Good Governance Award
The Leadership and Good Governance Award is given to those who demonstrate excellence in leadership, along with moral and spiritual principles.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
World Summit
The 2022 World Summit was sponsored by the UPF and the Kingdom of Cambodia. The Summit brought together world leaders to discuss peace on the Korean Peninsula. Hak Ja Han, co-founder of the UPF, hosted the summit, co-chaired by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="The Seoul Times">Template:Cite web</ref> This summit was a continuation of the summit in February and the "Seoul Resolution" signed by former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, which called for the creation of a united Korea as one nation with two states.<ref name="persportaal.anp.nl">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="journal.com.ph"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Little Angels
Little Angels Children's Folk Ballet of Korea is a children's folklore ballet group of the Unification Church, founded by Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han Moon.<ref name="persportaal.anp.nl"/>
Think Tank 2022
Hak helped organize Think Tank 2022, a peace forum in which expert working groups connected with international UPF associations and led peace-building initiatives such as the UN Peace Park in the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas, the construction of the Korea-Japan undersea tunnel, helping to reunite separated Korean families and other initiatives for peace.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace
Hak Ja Han founded the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP) with the aim of gathering parliamentarians from all over the world, who, together with representatives of religious organizations and the civil sector, should work to build peace in the world and solve local, national and global problems.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Sunhak Peace Prize
The Sunhak Peace Prize was proposed by Hak Ja Han months after her husband's death. The name of the prize is derived from both their names.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2025 arrest
Template:WikinewsOn September 23, 2025, following a Seoul court hearing, Han Hak-ja was arrested on bribery charges alleging she had given two Chanel bags and a diamond necklace, together worth 80 million won ($57,900; £42,500) to former South Korea first lady Kim Keon Hee.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=september2025arrest />
See also
References
External links
- Speeches of Mrs. Hak Ja Han Moon, at www.unification.net
- Words and Speeches of Hak Ja Han Moon, at True Parents Legacy