Chung Hwan Kwak
Hangul
곽정환　
Hanja
Revised RomanizationGwak Jeong-hwan
McCune–ReischauerKwak Chŏnghwan
Chung Hwan Kwak
Born (1936-01-22) January 22, 1936
Occupationreligious leader

Chung Hwan Kwak, (born January 22, 1936) is a South Korean religious leader. He was a leader in the Unification Church (UC), and was appointed to many leadhip positions in organizations related to the Unification Church by its founder Sun Myung Moon. Since 2002, he was the chairman and president of News World Communications, which owns United Press International, and other publications, including the Middle East Times, and Tiempos del Mundo, a Spanish-language newspaper published in 16 countries throughout the Americas.[1][2][3] He was also the president of the Family Party for the Universal Peace and Unity, a South Korean political party founded by UC members, one of whose main goals is the reunification of Korea.[4] He was also the chairman of the ″Social Responsibility Committee″ for the Asian Football Confederation.[5]

Kwak wanted The Washington Times to "support international organizations such as the United Nations and to campaign for world peace and interfaith understanding." This created difficulties for editor Wesley Pruden and some of the Times' columnists. Issues of contention included the Unification movement's reconciliatory attitude towards North Korea, which at the time included joint business ventures, and Kwak's advocacy for greater understanding between the U.S. and the Islamic world. David Ignatius, reporting for The Washington Post, predicted that conservatives in Congress and the George W. Bush administration would support Pruden's position over Kwak's.[6]

Kwak's daughter, Jun Sook Kwak, is married to Moon's son, Hyun Jin Preston Moon.[7][8] Kwak left the UC in 2009 after internal strife and is now the Honorary President of the Global Peace Foundation, Preston Moon's controversial sect that has battled other UC offshoots led by his brother and mother for control of church assets.[9][10]

After the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by the son of a Unification Church member, Kwak held a press conference in which he apologized and blamed other UC leaders.[11][12]

Speeches and writings

References

  1. ↑ Dr. Chung Hwan Kwak, American City Business Journals, Accessed August 26, 2008
  2. ↑ "News World Communications". The Columbia Journalism Review. 2003-11-24. Archived from the original on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
  3. ↑ Leadership Team United Press International
  4. ↑ Sun Myung Moon forms new political party to merge divided Koreas, Church and State, May 2003
  5. ↑ "United Nations Sport for Development and Peace – FAO". Un.org. 2011-07-29. Retrieved 2012-05-23.
  6. ↑ Ignatius, David (June 18, 2004). "Tension of the Times". The Washington Post. p. A29. Archived from the original on November 6, 2012. Insiders say the church's new line is that with the end of the Cold War, it's important to support international organizations such as the United Nations and to campaign for world peace and interfaith understanding. That stance would be awkward for The Washington Times's hard-line editor in chief, Wesley Pruden, and its stable of neoconservative columnists.
  7. ↑ From the Unification Church to the Unification Movement, 1994-1999: Five Years of Dramatic Changes Center for Studies on New Religions "Hyun Jin Moon's blessing to Rev. Chung Hwan Kwak's (the Reverend Moon's assistant and former president of the FFWPUI) daughter, Jun Sook Kwak, was also a significant point of continuity."
  8. ↑ Tension of the Times The Washington Post June 18, 2004, "Sources say that the dominant church official overseeing the publications is now the Rev. Chung Hwan Kwak, a close adviser to the church's founder, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon."
  9. ↑ "Unification Church's founder 'was close' to Shinzo Abe's grandfather". 20 July 2022.
  10. ↑ "Dr. Chung Hwan Kwak | Global Peace Foundation".
  11. ↑ “아베 사망, 통일교 무리한 헌금 탓” 전 통일교 2인자 곽정환 주장 [“Abe died due to excessive donations to the Unification Church,” asserts Kwak Jeong-hwan, former second leader of the Unification Church] (in Korean). The Hankyoreh. 20 July 2022. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022.
  12. ↑ 旧統一教会“元No.2”が謝罪「安倍元総理の死に責任」…献金も痛烈批判「教団は堕落」 [Former Unification Church "former No. 2" apologizes "responsible for the death of former Prime Minister Abe" ... Donations are also severely criticized "the cult is corrupt"] (in Japanese). TV Asahi. 20 July 2022. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022.
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