NORTH KOREA, NOT IRAQ, IS THE REAL THREAT TO AMERICA Some say that Iraq should be the next target in the war on terrorism, and that President Bush would damage his credibility if he backed off an immediate attack on Saddam Hussein. But I believe the President recognizes that Communist North Korea, also identified by the State Department as a sponsor of terrorism, is a far more serious threat to the United States. The evidence shows that North Korea is more dangerous to us than Iraq or Iran. It has nuclear weapons that can hit the U.S. It has chemical and biological weapons that can obliterate our 37,000 troops in South Korea. It is a source of weapons and missiles for other Axis of Evil countries. It acts in collusion with Communist China and may even have sleeper agents in the U.S. Yet, we don't hear, see or read much in the Washington newspapers about the nature of the North Korean threat. The Washington Post has its own liberal agenda. But the Washington Times' owner and founder, cult leader Sun Myung Moon, has a business and financial relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. I believe this helps explain why the Times has focused on Iraq, not North Korea, and why the paper has gone out of its way to attack President Bush for highlighting the North Korean threat. As a veteran of more than 20 years as a media analyst in Washington, D.C., I have come to this painful conclusion about the Times after much study, investigation, interviews with Korea scholars, analysts and aid workers, and interaction with Times personnel. This bias on Korea issues by the paper is perceived here and abroad. I am not anxious to make this case against the paper, which otherwise runs some excellent stories. But the facts cannot be ignored. I only ask that you judge the evidence and consider the implications of this bias on the execution of U.S. foreign policy. North Korea, Sun Myung Moon, The Washington Times, and the Threat of Nuclear War, Blackmail and Terrorism "Our second goal is to prevent regimes that sponsor terror from threatening America or our friends and allies with weapons of mass destruction. Some of these regimes have been pretty quiet since September the 11th. But we know their true nature. North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens… "States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States. In any of these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic." President Bush, State of the Union Address Kim Jong II and Sun Myung Moon Washington Times editor Wesley Pruden claims total independence from the Moon organization: "They have never, ever, not even once, told any of us to put anything in the paper, nor have they ever asked us to take anything out. As the editor, I have complete and total independence from the owners." ". . Look, everybody knows that Reverend Moon provided the wherewithal for the Times when it started. . . . But he has kept his promise 100 percent: They have never interfered with the editorial side of the paper." "…no one can show me a single line, in any of those 7,305 editions of The Times, of promotion or propaganda for Rev. Moon and his church. If the proof is in the pudding, how much pudding do you need?" The above statements by Wesley Pruden are completely false. Some conservatives inside and outside the paper don't want to believe the truth because the paper continues to publish conservative news and views on many issues. It is flattering to get published or covered in the paper. This desire prevents others from looking at the hard facts and evidence about the direction of the paper, especially on the critical national security issue of North Korea and its threat to America and the world. The Washington Post, which has run some critical stories about the Times lately, misses the point, too. The Post, regarded by conservatives as an unofficial arm of the Democratic Party, continues to insist that the Times is "conservative" and pro-Republican. In fact, on key foreign policy issues, especially the situation on the Korean peninsula, the Times' coverage is reflecting the views of its founder, Sun Myung Moon, who has an insidious plan to unite North and South Korea and doesn't want the Bush Administration to get in the way. This is one of the most dangerous and volatile areas in the world today. President Bush fears that North Korea could launch another invasion of the south, where 37,000 U.S. troops are based, or even stage a nuclear attack on the U.S. He has called North Korea a member of the "Axis of Evil." Some fear the situation is more dangerous than President Bush suggests. The film, "Sun Myung Moon and Kim Jong Il. A Military Alliance. Armageddon and the Threat of Nuclear Terrorism," was produced to highlight a close working relationship between the Unification Church leader and the communist dictator and their alleged collaboration on military matters. One analyst associated with the film suggested that Moon's followers could follow the lead of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, which released nerve gas on the Tokyo subway in March 1995, killing 12 and injuring thousands. Using its status as a religious organization and avoiding official scrutiny on that basis, it was able to assemble an impressive arsenal of bio-chemical weapons. One of Moon's "dirty secrets," disclosed by the Washington Post on March 10, 1999, is that one of his U.S.-based companies manufacturers weapons. Moon had kept the operation a closely guarded secret for several years. The financial operations of the Moon organization continue to be shrouded in secrecy and mystery. Moon has business dealings that are far more convoluted than those of Enron. One difference is that Moon has been convicted of a crime and Enron CEO Ken Lay has not. Moon served time in federal prison on tax evasion and conspiracy. In Latin America, where Moon is buying large tracts of land that he apparently hopes to turn into a new Garden of Eden, his operations have come under investigation by Brazilian authorities seeking evidence of money laundering, immigration violations and tax evasion. "The Moonies are not the only sect to have attempted to colonize a whole area. Others have tried - some with tragic results," noted the Scotsman. It pointed to Jonestown, where 913 members of the Jim Jones cult committed mass suicide; Waco, Texas, where David Koresh and his followers engaged in an armed confrontation that left more than 80 of his followers dead; and the Japanese Aum Cult, whose members live in communes and was responsible for the 1995 lethal gas attacks on the Tokyo subways. Not surprisingly, the Washington Times has not run any stories critical of Moon's operations. But the paper's skewed depiction of North Korea is most worthy of comment and attention. The paper ran a January 31 story by Nicholas Kralev, who attended Moon's University of Bridgeport, quoting a liberal foreign policy analyst as saying Bush's comments about the Communist regime were "wrong and dangerous." The article claimed that North Korea was getting a bad rap, that the regime "largely has observed" a 1994 agreement with the United States to halt development of its nuclear weapons program. Kralev wrote a March 29 article for the Times referring to U.S. lawmakers who believe North Korea is developing nuclear weapons as opposing "re-engagement" with the communist nation. It contained several quotations critical of the Bush Administration's policy toward North Korea. On April 26, the Times ran two wire service stories about North Korea - one about an expensive celebration of the birth of "founding leader" Kim Il Sung and the other about North Korea's "surprising entry" into the software market by sponsoring a display at a Beijing computer trade show. This was viewed as a hopeful sign that North Korea was breaking out of its isolation. By contrast, Gordon Thomas, a writer and commentator on intelligence matters, says that North Korea is a serious danger to America. He cites evidence of North Korean "sleeper agents" in such countries as America and Britain and points to the close relationship between Moon and North Korea. He also says North Korea acts for China: I think we should regard Moon and his Moonies as frontline evangelists or ambassadors for the greater plans of China. North Korea is only a puppet of China. Through North Korea, China is able to export a great deal of weapons and use North Korea as a cut-out. North Korea has provided Iraq with a huge number of weapons. North Korea is a very dangerous country. The fact that Reverend Moon has decided to throw his lot in with them is worrying. I don't quite understand how the Washington Times goes on attacking China in a sense and yet has its owner siding up to the enemies of the United States. It's a very strange situation for a newspaper to be in. The Times, of course, is careful not to expose Moon's relationship with North Korea or China. This is the critical omission that stands out like a sore thumb. On the nuclear matter, Notra Trulock, former Director of Intelligence at the Department of Energy, reports that the intelligence community now believes that North Korea has one, possibly two, nuclear weapons, and has engineered a warhead small enough for delivery on a North Korean missile. "North Korea is not going away soon," he said, predicting another crisis that will test the administration's commitment to confronting the Axis of Evil. North Korea may be more of a threat to the U.S. and the world than Iran or Iraq, the other members of the Axis of Evil, by virtue of the fact that North Korea plays the role of supplier of missile technology to other countries. The 1998 Report of the Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States, chaired by Donald Rumsfeld before he became secretary of defense in the Bush Administration, declared that: North Korea also poses a major threat to American interests, and potentially to the United States itself, because it is a major proliferator of the ballistic missile capabilities it possesses--missiles, technology, technicians, transporter-erector-launchers (TELs) and underground facility expertise--to other countries of missile proliferation concern. These countries include Iran, Pakistan and others. The Rumsfeld commission had argued that North Korea and Iran are further along than Iraq in acquiring ballistic missiles capable of inflicting "major destruction" on the United States. Senator Fred Thompson commented: The Rumsfeld Report, published in July 1998, concluded that emerging ballistic missile powers like Iran and North Korea could strike the United States within five years of deciding to acquire missile capability. Shortly after the Rumsfeld Commission issued its report, North Korea surprised our intelligence agencies by successfully launching a three-stage rocket over Japan, essentially confirming the Rumsfeld conclusions. Certainly they, along with Iraq, Syria, Libya, and others, can strike our allies and our troops stationed abroad today. In September, 1999, the national intelligence estimate of the ballistic missile threat concluded that the United States would 'most likely' face ICBM threats from Russia, China, and North Korea, and possibly from Iran and Iraq in the next 15 years, and that North Korea could deliver a light payload sufficient for a biological or chemical weapon to the United States now. It also said that some rogue states may have ICBMs much sooner than previously thought and those missiles will be more sophisticated and dangerous than previously estimated. The classified briefings are even more disconcerting. The January 2001 Department of Defense report, Proliferation: Threat and Response, declared that "North Korea is building and selling long-range missiles, has chemical and biological warfare capabilities, and may have diverted fissile material for nuclear weaponry." Not only does North Korea have chemical and biological agents, it has the capability to deliver them. It has ballistic missiles, artillery, aircraft and possibly the unconventional means to deliver them. This report said that North Korea has a ballistic missile that can reach the U.S. Michael Horowitz of the Hudson Institute has lamented "the almost complete lack of knowledge in the United States of the North Korean regime's lunatic character and why the president is precisely accurate to call it evil." Horowitz said North Korea is "worse than Sudan" in terms of the persecution of Christians. In Sudan, the regime has been accused of genocide. All of this makes Moon's close personal and financial relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il a matter of utmost concern. Moon is God Moon's bizarre religious speech at the Washington Times 20th anniversary celebration has rekindled interest in what he represents and what he wants to do. "The Washington Times is responsible to let the American people know about God," said Moon. What did this mean? America was founded by people who believed in God and this belief is reflected in our founding documents. A large majority of Americans continue to believe in God. What Moon is saying is that the Washington Times has to let people know that he, Moon, is God. This is something new indeed. He believes that Korea is God's chosen nation, Korea is the new Israel, and Korean is spoken in Heaven. In 1992, Moon set in motion a plan for the "cosmic unification" of North and South Korea. He calls this "The Unification of the Fatherland." Moon believes that Armageddon, the final battle between good and evil, will take place along the 38th parallel dividing communist North Korea from the south. In a speech about nuclear weapons in the possession of North Korea and other countries, Moon said, "America's future is greatly in question." At the same time, Moon believes he can save America and the world from Armageddon. That puts him in the convenient position of saving us from a holocaust that he or North Korea could threaten. Moon's statements may be dismissed as the ravings of a crackpot. Yet, Christian supporters of Israel have been attacked by some commentators because their support of the Jewish state is believed to stem from their biblical belief that Armageddon will take place in the Middle East and that Christ will return to save Israel from its enemies. This view is said to welcome more upheaval and bloodshed on the ground that we can't do anything about it anyway and that God's intervention is the only salvation for Israel and the world. Moon believes the same thing - except that he is the true Christ and that Korea is the battleground for the final conflict. There are reports that a Moon-connected Japanese company bought 40 Russian submarines that were going to be sent to North Korea. While Moon's statements at the anniversary dinner were bizarre and provocative, he did not go as far as he has on some previous occasions. On December 10, 2000, he said: Some people may oppose me, but they will go down the drain after a while and end up in hell…. I came with the teaching that the world and religions should become one… Soon, the American president will have to visit me to seek advice. Steve Hassan, who was Assistant Director of Moon's Unification Church at its national headquarters, says Moon's objective is to control the world and establish a global theocracy. Hassan, who says that he was asked what country he wanted to run when the mission was accomplished, defected from the organization and now runs the Freedom of Mind Resource Center to help people escape cults. Like Ted Turner and other billionaires, Moon has the money to manipulate global events. But Moon is unique in that he has been perceived as conservative or anti-communist. Most if not all of the one-third of the U.S. Senate and one-third of the U.S. House who were listed on the "Host Committee" for the Washington Times event undoubtedly thought they were honoring the paper, not Moon. The overwhelming majority were conservative Republicans. But Moon dominated the evening's festivities, getting a standing ovation. The controversy surrounding Moon prompted some Christian conservatives to declare that they were going to leave the affair before he spoke, and would not under any circumstances be photographed with him. But they didn't want to be quoted publicly to that effect because it might affect how they are treated by the Times. Payments to North Korea The controversy over Moon is a matter of national security, not just concern about his unusual religious views. A South Korean citizen who is a U.S. permanent resident alien, Moon's relationship with North Korea, which is under a U.S. trade embargo, raises potential legal issues. Intelligence documents publicized by reporter Robert Parry show alleged financial payments from the Moon organization to North Korean and South Korean leaders, including Kim Jong Il and Kim Dae Jung, since the 1980s. He reported, "The payments included a $3 million 'birthday present' to current communist leader Kim Jong Il and offshore payments amounting to 'several tens of million dollars' to the previous communist dictator, Kim Il Sung, the partially declassified documents said. Moon apparently was seeking a business foothold in North Korea." Parry explained that, "when North Korea was scrambling for the resources to develop missiles and other advanced weaponry, Moon was among a small group of outside businessmen quietly investing in North Korea. Moon's activities attracted the attention of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which is responsible for monitoring potential military threats to the United States." These 1994 DIA documents are available at: http://www.consortiumnews.com/moondocs/index.html Parry uses these documents in an effort to embarrass or discredit conservative Republicans who have associated with Moon. This is unfortunate because conservative Republicans should be leading the call for an investigation of Moon's North Korea connection. Yet many ignore these questionable activities because of the perception that Moon has a "pro-Republican" or conservative paper, the Washington Times. There is reason to believe that the Moon organization, which was linked to the Korean CIA in congressional hearings back in the 1970s, originally wanted the Washington Times to serve as an outlet for the views of the South Korean government. That is still true today although the Moon organization and the South Korean government have radically changed in their ideological orientation in the intervening years. They are no longer explicitly anti-communist. The current South Korean government has a "sunshine" policy of appeasement of the communist North. The South Korean government's harsh treatment of defectors from North Korea illustrates the problem we are dealing with - a problem recognized by President Bush himself when he criticized the "sunshine" policy. North Korean defectors are openly critical of the policy of the South Korean government toward the north. Those who work with North Korean defectors and refugees speak with contempt of how the South Korean government tries to muzzle the true story of what is happening in the north. These humanitarian workers say the South Korean government even tries to prevent defectors from traveling to the U.S. to brief the Congress and others. They are also harshly critical of the Times' coverage (or non-coverage) of the matter, saying inattention to the problem reflects the desire of the paper's parent company not to embarrass North Korea and possibly disrupt its business operations there. Moon's policy of accommodating North Korea is similar to that of the Clinton Administration. But that policy has failed. It has only bolstered the regime. The latest testimony to this effect came from a high-ranking defector from communist North Korea who told a National Press Club conference that international aid for starving people is being diverted to prop up the dictatorship of Kim Jong Il. Yoon Seong-Soo also said that while he had no personal knowledge of North Korean development of weapons of mass destruction, he believes that the regime had nuclear weapons as early as 1986. That's when a group of Soviet scientists working in North Korea returned to the Soviet Union. He is the only defector from the National Defense Service, which handles key security functions for the regime. He said North Korean government officials are involved in counterfeiting and drug trafficking. Public executions have been a strategy of the regime to keep people under control, he said. At first, dissidents were shot in the chest. Now, in order to make the executions even more dramatic and grotesque, opponents of the regime are being shot in the head. Even so, people still risk their lives to flee the communist nation. He said refugees and defectors from have to be granted international refugee status so that they are not send back and killed. The Washington Times ignored this news conference. Vollertsen Interview Spiked Norbert Vollertsen, the German physician who spent 18 months inside North Korea and now works with refugees and defectors, says he gave the Washington Times an interview about the true state of affairs in the communist north. The interview was never published. Dr. Vollertsen was expelled from the country after going public with his revelations. He says things have improved in Pyongyang: "There's a nice casino. There's a nightclub. There are diplomatic shops for the elite and the high-ranking politicians and military." But in the countryside, where the children are starving, nothing had changed. He said, "When I came to North Korea in 1999, there were pictures of starvation. And when I left one and one-half years later, it was the same situation. Nothing has changed in the countryside. But in Pyongyang, there are more Mercedes-Benzes than in Washington or Seoul [South Korea]. They are incredibly rich in Pyongyang." He suspects the food aid is being sold to generate cash in Swiss bank accounts for the Communist elite. What is abundantly clear is that "It's not going to the people." He says humanitarian agencies are not allowed to feed people directly and "There is no real monitoring" of how the aid is distributed. "You can see the results," he says. "I went to the hospitals [in the countryside] with my patients and there was no food or medicine or nothing. There was nothing to see that was coming from WFP. " He calls the food program for North Korea a "big fake" and "a lie." The starvation in North Korea has gotten so bad that people are eating other people to survive. This is the startling revelation from Human Rights Without Frontiers, another group that interviews eyewitnesses or relatives of the victims among the refugees and defectors from the communist state. In a dispatch not intended for "tender-hearted people," the group cites the case of a man who, suffering from hallucinations caused by his starvation, killed his daughter thinking she was a dog. "He then took pieces of her body and boiled her for a meal," the report says. In another case, North Koreans heard chopping noises and smelled food cooking from a house, "although there was not anything to eat anywhere." A search turned up the head of a missing child on the floor. "His limbs has been cut into pieces and were boiling in a big cooking pot," the report said. A North Korean medical officer said that he tested a piece of meat obtained from a market and determined it was human flesh. It was traced to a gang that was killing people, stripping off their flesh, and having it boiled and sold. At the same time, China is continuing to send many North Korean defectors, who flee to China, back to the communist state. An American who was in the Chinese city of Tumen, very close to the border with North Korea, reports that he witnessed about 100 North Korean defectors being led back to their country by North Korean agents with their noses tethered to a wire. The human rights group cautions that more food aid won't necessarily solve the problem. "The foreign humanitarian aid does not reach the people in need but is diverted to the benefit of the pillars that guarantee the survival of the regime: the army, the police and the nomenklatura [communist elites]," the group stated. "Consequently, .most foreign humanitarian agencies have withdrawn from the country. The World Food Program, the U.S., the European Union and South Korean churches go on sending food to North Korea but without proper monitoring of its distribution." In a May 16, 2002, New York Times op-ed, Roberta Cohen of the Bookings Institution confirmed much of this, noting that "there is no independent monitoring of donated food" and that it is time to "set some standards" on food distribution. Yet Betsy Pisik of the Washington Times pretends there are no problems. She reported on February 25, "The North Korean famine put the WFP on the map. In 1995, the agency negotiated with Pyongyang for months to put in place a program to feed 50,000 farmers - an effort to keep local food production running in the face of an increasingly severe famine." She said the foreign-aid workers are "overseeing the distribution of mostly American rice and other grains to one-third of the population." One top Korea observer on Capitol Hill said, "It is well-known in this town that the Washington Times shies away from controversial Korea stories." Another blackout occurred on May 2, when a subcommittee of the House International Relations committee held a dramatic hearing on human rights in North Korea. Lee Soon-ok, a North Korean prison camp survivor, provided some of the most dramatic testimony, describing torture chambers and brutal treatment of political prisoners, including Christians. The Times ignored her testimony. In one prison, she was taken into a torture chamber that featured a big kettle on a small table and a low wooden table with straps. She was strapped to the table and a kettle spout was forced into her mouth. So much water was forced in that she was close to suffocation and had to breathe through her nose. Then, the water overflowed from her nose. She fainted from the pain and suffocation. "They say it is a day of great fortune if a prisoner finds a rat creeping up from the bottom of the toilet hole," she said. "The prisoners catch it with their bare hands and devour it raw, as rats are the only source of meat in the prison. They say the wonderful taste of a raw rat is unforgettable. If they are caught eating a rat, however, the punishment is extended. So they have to be very careful when catching and eating a rat." Christians are singled out for special attention. In the spring of 1990, she witnessed five or six elderly Christians who were lined up and ordered to deny their Christianity and accept the ideology of the State, which holds that the masses can be endowed with life through loyalty to the dictator. The prisoners remained silent at the repeated command for conversion. They were killed by pouring molten iron on them one by one. Moon-South Korean government ties go back many years. They were highlighted on February 1, 1999, when South Korean president Kim Dae Jung met with Moon at the 10th Anniversary of the Segye Times, the Unification Church-funded daily newspaper in Korea. Moon and his wife met with North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung in December 1991. After the visit, Moon declared that he found any discussion about air attacks on North Korean nuclear facilities "to be extremely dangerous," Such an attack, he said, would "trigger all-out war." The first series of congressional hearings into the Moon organization were designed by liberal Democrats to highlight how Moon and his operatives were serving the aims of the South Korean government and manipulating U.S. groups and U.S. policy. We now need a new set of hearings to illustrate how the Moon organization is serving the needs and aims of the North Korean government, and how that effort is being reflected in the pages of the Washington Times. In order to understand how this radical transformation has taken place, it is necessary to go back in history and recall how control of the paper has shifted over time to the Moon group. At the same time, we have to examine how Wesley Pruden sanitizes this history and keeps current readers (and many conservatives) in the dark about what has taken place. James R. Whelan, the first editor in chief, publisher and CEO, resigned when promises of complete independence from the Moon organization were violated. He was offered $1 million to stay on as a figurehead. Yet the Washington Times 20th anniversary section simply declared that "Whelan, the first editor in chief, departed after two years in a dispute with corporate management." William P. Cheshire, editorial of the editorial page, departed amid allegations that then-editor Arnaud de Borchgrave allowed the Moon organization to change an editorial to support the president of South Korea. The Times anniversary section simply called these "disagreements." Both Whelan and Cheshire are well-respected conservatives who refused to buckle under to Moon and his operatives. Pruden, by contrast, said he has learned to treat Moon "with the constancy and respect of an old friend." He calls Moon "my esteemed friend." He made these comments at the paper's 15th anniversary celebration. The paper's 20th anniversary section contained serious deceptions about Moon himself. It stated that Moon is a "Korean evangelist," falsely implying that he is a Christian. The term "evangelist" is Biblical and refers to preachers of the Gospel in the early church. In a public relations move, the Children of the Gospel Choir were exploited as entertainment for the anniversary dinner in order to further the false notion that Moon and his followers are Christians. Dr. Laura Schlessinger was paid $35,000 to be a speaker at the event, even though she had denounced cults. "I'm often horrified at how people call themselves religious and are really excruciatingly ignorant…" she said on April 8, 1999. "But there are a lot of kids who think cults are religions. There are some people who think witchcraft is a religion. I put them close to the same category." Asked about her appearance at the event, she said she was honoring the paper, not Moon. However, Schlessinger's spokesman privately expressed concern that there was an attempt to get her to make a "recognition of the founder" - Moon - in her remarks. Schlessinger chose to ignore evidence that the paper serves as an outlet for Moon. On December 30, 2001, the Times printed a 24 page Advertising Supplement which quoted Jesus Christ as saying that Moon was the true Christ. Titled, "God is the Parent of Humankind: Reflections of 120 Christians who illuminated History Conveyed from a Seminar in the Spirit World," it claimed that 120 dead religious leaders were channeling their views through a Moon organization and proclaiming their support for Sun Myung Moon. Jesus Christ is even quoted as saying that Moon is His Messiah: Now I will follow the true teacher who had revealed new truth. This is none other than the Messiah at the Second Coming, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. Propaganda in the Paper Despite Pruden's denials, Moon's propaganda appears regularly in the paper. A recent example was the April 28 story in the Washington Times covering a mass marriage renewal ceremony performed by Moon. The writer of the story is a member of Moon's church. A photo with the story showed Moon sprinkling "holy water" over the participants. Another example was a January 24 Washington Times article about a pro-United Nations symposium sponsored by various Moon front groups. The story by a Unification Church member did not disclose Moon's covert backing for the event. The story said that one of the sponsors of the event was the "Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace" but not that Moon was its founder. The story said that the "University of Bridgeport" was a sponsor but neglected to mention that it is run by Moon through one of his organizations. A November 4, 2001, op-ed in the Times on how we can win the war on terrorism through an alliance with Islam proclaimed: The new, interreligious America presents a more attractive partner for engagement with Islam than a 'Christian' America, being less encumbered with the historical baggage of a religion that Islam has seen as an adversary for more than 1,000 years. The author was identified as follows: Andrew Wilson is professor of biblical studies at Unification Theological Seminary in New York. The paper did not disclose that the Unification Theological Seminary is a front of Sun Myung Moon. Washington Times Reporter Bill Gertz, a member of the Unification Church, is notorious for reporting classified information from U.S. intelligence agencies. It is believed that some of Gertz's sources are other Unification Church members who have been covertly placed in the federal bureaucracy. Although he appears to be exposing threats posed by China and other countries, he refuses to expose Moon's dealings with communist countries. Gertz, who has lectured at the FBI Academy and National Defense University, has written two important books, Betrayal and The China Threat. Nevertheless, as a member of the church, he recognizes Moon as his "true parent." According to former church high-ranking member Steve Hassan, core members of Moon's church are required to bow down before Moon or his picture. Gertz has traveled with Moon and at least one of his books was reviewed by Moon's operatives before publication. Moon's North Korean Car Plant The Times has utterly failed to report that the North Korean communists have a financial relationship with a company associated with Moon's church. The automotive arm of South Korea's Unification Church, Pyeongwha Motors Corp., has opened a $55 million car assembly plant in North Korea, whose government has pledged to buy 1,000 cars each year. Pyeongwha, which means "peace" in Korean, is a joint venture with North Korea's Ryonbong company. Reuters news service said the assembly plant in the port city of Nampo will be capable of producing 20,000 cars annually. Moon also tried to open a car plant in China, known as Panda Motors, but it went under. Washington Times columnist John McCaslin, who substitutes for Rush Limbaugh on the radio, applauded Moon's car deal with North Korea, saying that "capitalism like this is what brings down dictatorships." However, if this is such a good thing, he did not explain why the paper has failed to report on the opening of the North Korean car plant. The Los Angeles Times reported, "The North Koreans also allowed Moon's followers to develop Jongju, the northwestern town where Moon was born, into a pilgrimage site-another coup for the Unification Church because the communist nation bans all practice of religion. In addition to the car assembly plant, Pyonghwa wants to open a department store, gas stations, automobile showrooms and what the company described as a 'World Peace Center' in Pyongyang to promote cultural and educational exchanges." The president of Moon's company said, "We are bound to succeed. There are no unions, low labor costs. The workers are very clever, very quick to learn, and they are harshly controlled by their superiors." In other words, it amounts to a slave labor operation. Reuters reported that the company president, Park, "painted a picture of life in the North Korean capital far different from the horrific images of outer regions described by aid workers. 'There's a nine-hole golf course in the city, as well as a driving range,' built by ethnic Koreans in Japan, Park said." In an indication of the close relationship between Moon and the North Korean dictator, the Korea Herald of February 9, 2000, reported that "North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has sent a birthday gift to the Unification Church's Rev. Moon Sun-Myung, who is also president of the Federation of World Peace." Nothing about this appeared in the Times. But when Moon put on an October 20, 2001, event in New York featuring Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam, who condemned the U.S. war on terrorism, the Times covered it. Moon backed Farrakhan's "Million Family March" on Washington and the Times covered it in a sympathetic manner. Communist Connections Once known as an anti-communist and opponent of the Soviet empire, Moon met with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and provided financial resources to his wife. In her blockbuster expose, In the Shadow of the Moons, Moon's former daughter-in-law Nansook Hong notes that while Moon was once a staunch anti-communist, in 1990 he "hoped to find recruits among the ranks of his old enemies" and began a relationship with the Soviet Union. She wrote that: Sun Myung Moon met in the Kremlin with President Mikhail Gorbachev and also invited a select group of Soviet journalists to his home in Seoul for his first interview in ten years. That same year, Bo Hi Pak, one of Moon's top aides, led a delegation of businessmen from Korea, Japan and the United States to explore investment opportunities. Before leaving, Bo Hi Pak wrote a one hundred thousand dollar check to one of Raisa Gorbachev's favorite cultural foundations. The 11th Moon-sponsored World Media Conference, held from April 9 to 13, 1990, in Moscow, featured more than one thousand participants, including Moon and his wife, forty former heads of state, and more than three hundred "important world media experts." Some participants were invited to the Kremlin by Gorbachev. One report said Moon and Gorbachev "discussed 'world peace' and 'Korean re-unification' issues." Since the demise of the old Soviet Union, Gorbachev has become a leading proponent of global government. It's clear he has not really changed his basic communist philosophy. During a Washington, D.C. appearance, for example, he did not disavow his communist background. "Though he now considers himself a democrat and not a communist," reported USA Today, "he refuses to dismiss Russia's communist past." The paper quoted Gorbachev as saying, "There were certain guarantees of protection for the masses of people" under communism. "The socialist tradition...goes back to Jesus Christ, not (Karl) Marx," he added. The conservative National Review, in an April 15, 1991, article by Sol Sanders, said Moon's new relationship with Moscow represented "a dramatic ideological shift." Sanders noted Moon's "new found friendship" with Moscow and Communist China. He pointed out hat Moon's rapprochement with Moscow "was paralleled by, and connected with, a similar rapprochement on the part of the South Korean government." Concerned about Moon's deals with communist regimes, Ted Sampley of the publication U.S. Veteran Dispatch said it appears that "Moon went through his dramatic ideological metamorphosis from staunch anti-communist to his new conviction of love the communists for God and profit…" None of this is covered, of course, by the Washington Times. The emcee of the Washington Times 15th anniversary celebration was then-Times managing editor Josette Shiner, a Unification Church member who said, "The Washington Times has been successful not in spite of Rev. Moon, but because of Rev. Moon." Another example of how the paper compliments Moon's global agenda can be seen in the fact that after Moon met with North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung in 1991, Shiner and a group from the Washington Times were given a rare interview with the "Great Leader" in March of 1992. Shiner recounted: "At one point I said, 'You're eighty years old and you look so young, how have you done that?' Then he gave this wonderful thing which I printed in the paper about how he has this philosophy in life that if the whole sky falls on the world there is a little hole in it for Kim Il Sung and that it will fall all around him but he will stay unharmed. He has this optimism and belief that he won't be touched by any bad things that befall him." But the Times also has a soft spot for those who curry favor with Castro. While conservatives are criticizing Jimmy Carter for being soft on Castro, the Washington Times gave a major honor to one of Castro's biggest boosters. Cesar Gaviria, a notorious crony of Fidel Castro, received the "International Courage in Leadership Award" at the Washington Times 20th anniversary event on May 21. But the paper lied about his service on behalf of the Communist dictator. A January 6, 1997, Miami Herald story noted, "Of all Latin American politicos who have rubbed elbows with Fidel Castro of late, perhaps none has spent as much time with him as Cesar Gaviria, secretary general of the Organization of American States. 'Yes, I'm a friend of Fidel Castro,''' Gaviria told CBS-Telenoticias talk show host Jaime Bayly last month." The story quoted Gaviria as saying Castro "has done a supremely important job on social issues" and that "I admire the way in which he fought to topple the dictatorship of [Fulgencio] Batista, and the effort he has made to keep the revolution alive.'' The Latin American News Syndicate reported that Gaviria assumed the presidency of Colombia in 1990 and renewed relations with the Castro dictatorship in 1993. Relations had been broken on March 23, 1981, after Colombia had proven that Castro's regime had been training and furnishing arms to the Colombian terrorists. Bogotá's La Prensa headlined its description of this with "Boca a Boca con Fidel" [Mouth to Mouth With Fidel] while El Nuevo Siglo described Gaviria as "trying to save the Castro dictatorship." A September 26, 1996 Miami Herald story noted that House lawmakers had "clashed fiercely over Cuba" with Gaviria and "accused him of weak leadership in promoting democracy…" Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said Gaviria's request for help from Cuban President Fidel Castro to win the release of his brother, who had been kidnapped by pro-Castro Colombian terrorists, "had undermined his credibility" as OAS leader. By contrast, the Washington Times story about the anniversary event described Gaviria as "a conflict mediator, democracy advocate, staunch supporter of regional integration and defender of human rights." James Morrison, author of the "Embassy Row" column in the paper, quoted Douglas D.M. Joo, president of The Washington Times Corp., as saying to Gaviria, "you have truly exhibited courage in leadership over your distinguished career in public service." Morrison said Gaviria "has negotiated with guerrillas, tracked down drug lords and promoted democracy throughout Latin America." The award to Gaviria comes at a time when Times founder Moon is expanding his business activities in Latin America. However, as noted, Moon's Brazil operations are currently under investigation for alleged money laundering, immigration violations, and tax evasion. Gaviria may be viewed as someone who can facilitate Moon's activities or somehow "fix" his potential legal problems. The influence of Moon's operatives is the only explanation for this curious "award" unless of course the "conservatives" at the paper are not really conservatives and love Castro. Either way, it doesn't look good. Sanitizing Coverage of the Anniversary Other clear examples of Moon's influence came in other stories about the anniversary event and an associated conference. The differences between the Times and Washington Post stories about it are striking. The Post noted: "The party was to honor the success of the scrappy conservative daily; instead, it was dominated by Moon's address, titled "The Life of Jesus as Seen From God's Will, and God's Warning to the Present Age, the Period of the Last Days." Even the most charitable souls might have come away thinking that the newspaper -- founded by the Unification Church leader -- is a conduit for Moon's religious message, something its editors have repeatedly denied." The Post noted that Moon's sermon was an hour long. By contrast, the Times reported: "Rev. Moon, in his remarks, spoke of his vision for the newspaper. 'The memory is still fresh in my mind of how, in May 1982, I made the final decision to publish the newspaper.' He challenged the guests to embody the qualities of defending freedom, promoting family values and strengthening your faith in God." The Post reported Moon as saying: "I hope that the Washington Times, UPI and other major media will accept this lofty command from Heaven and take up the task of educating humankind, taking a stance beyond religion and ideology." The Times said nothing about this. The Post said many Times were "embarrassed," some "humiliated," by Moon's speech, and that others described it as "painful to watch." A May 22 Times story about a "conference on the future of Northeast Asia" held in conjunction with the paper's anniversary said it was sponsored by The Washington Times Foundation, the National Federation for Women Legislators and the Women's Federation for World Peace. It also said Moon had spoken to it. The paper failed to note that the Women's Federation for World Peace is run by Moon's wife. The conference featured Rep. Curt Weldon and Carl W. Ford Jr., assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research. The tone of Weldon's remarks was in favor of accommodating North Korea - the same view taken by Moon. The Times said, "While President Bush has raised legitimate fears about North Korea's missile program and security policy, 'it is time to stop the belligerent rhetoric, time to reach out and find common ground,' said Mr. Weldon…" Weldon offered "proposals to link U.S. educational institutions and think tanks with their North Korean counterparts…" Pruden, who continues to insist that Moon has no influence over the paper at all (despite the presence of Moon church members at the paper itself), was quoted in the Post as saying about me: "He's angry with us because we had an editorial that was mildly approving of something the U.N. and Kofi Annan had done, and he wrote a letter to the editor that we didn't want to run." In fact, the Times endorsed Kofi Annan for a second term as U.N. Secretary-General. Its editorial page editor Helle Dale supports U.N. criminal tribunals targeting foreign leaders, its U.N. reporter Betsy Pisik wrote a puff piece about the world body for a U.N. publication, and its State Department reporter Ben Barber was caught briefing the U.N. Association about how to obtain more funding for the U.N. on Capitol Hill. None of this may have been orchestrated by Moon or his agents, but those developments compliment Moon's new pro-U.N. agenda. The letter Pruden admits they censored was an attempt to set the record straight about one example of Moon's influence at the paper, and his covert role in the pro-U.N. conference covered by the paper on January 24. Here is the letter the Times suppressed: January 25, 2002 Letter to the Editor The Washington Times 3600 New York Avenue NE Washington, D.C. Readers have been under the impression that the views of Sun Myung Moon, founder of The Washington Times, do not determine your news coverage. But Cheryl Wetzstein's January 24 article, "U.S.-U.N. relations discussed at parley," proves that Moon and/or his agents are pulling the strings. What's more, it demonstrates that Moon has fully embraced the United Nations. According to the Times, which uncritically highlighted Moon's remarks in a previous January 28, 2001, story, Moon has called the U.N. "a temple of peace." Moon has called for a U.N.-based religious body and has declared, "As long as America sticks with its nationalistic pride it will never be able to embrace the world." My "nationalist" or patriotic group, America's Survival, has held several conferences concerned with U.N. issues, but they have not been covered by the Times or your U.N. reporter, Betsy Pisik, who is quick to tell us what is in the latest U.N. press release. But Moon holds a conference promoting the U.N. - and presto - the event is covered. But your January 24 story never mentioned the Moon connection to this event. We were told in the story, however, that one of the speakers was Mokhtar Lamani of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Readers weren't told that it includes Iraq, Libya and Iran and is committed to the "liberation" of Palestine. The reason for the omissions in the January 24 story was to spare some of the other speakers, such as Senator Richard Lugar, Rep. Ben Gilman, Patrick Fagan of the Heritage Foundation, and a Bush State Department official, any embarrassment over possible controversy caused by the Moon connection. Moon denies the divinity of Christ and claims to be the true Messiah. He has been at war with the Catholic Church. His Unification Church teaches that, "All of humanity will become one people and use one language, thus establishing one global nation under God." A call to Lugar's office revealed that his staff had not been informed about Moon's backing of some of the various sponsoring groups. First, we were told that one of the sponsors of the event is the "Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace." But it is NOT mentioned that Moon was its founder. Second, we were told that the "University of Bridgeport" was a sponsor. This sounds like a respectable academic institution. But you neglect to mention that it is run by Moon through one of his organizations. It is known by residents of the area as "Moon University." Third, we were told that the Washington Times Foundation was a sponsor. Of course, the Washington Times Foundation, like the paper, is backed by Moon as well. But readers weren't reminded of that fact. Finally, we were told that Noel Brown of the "Friends of the United Nations" was a sponsor. This is a group that acts as an official consultant to the U.N. Department of Public Information. Brown, former head of the U.N. Environmental Program, used to sign his letters, "In the service of the earth." He was also associated with the Climate Institute, a group that gave Enron CEO Ken Lay and Ted Turner awards for their sensitivity to environmental concerns. He has affirmed the "rights of the earth" and has called for an "Environmental Security Council" at the U.N. to manage the affairs of the planet. The article talked about a conference theme - strong families - when Moon has divided and hurt families by conducting impersonal mass weddings of followers who are ordered to get married and don't have anything - nationality, culture or language - in common. The article also claimed that the U.N. has a "largely successful record in providing humanitarian aid…" Tell that to the people of Cambodia, thousands of whom got AIDS because AIDS-infected U.N. personnel raped or had sex with local women and fathered and left behind untold numbers of children, who are bullied and ostracized for being of mixed race before some of them die of a deadly disease. Strong families indeed. Yours Truly, S/Cliff Kincaid, President, America's Survival, Inc. Moon's U.N. Ties The holding of this pro-U.N. event demonstrates Moon's changing ideological orientation. Moon has received a "Universal Peace Award" at the U.N., has called for a U.N.-based religious body, and has declared, "As long as America sticks with its nationalistic pride it will never be able to embrace the world." Moon even conducted one of his mass weddings at the United Nations itself on January 27, 2001. The event was covered by Larry Witham, religion correspondent of the Times and identified member of the Unification Church, in a story the next day. This is when Moon called the U.N. a "temple of peace." Moon wants a day set aside in honor of the world body's military forces. He said there should be …a Day of the UN Army. They sacrifice for world peace. To create that peace zone, we need military power. The UN needs a peacekeeping army. This is the point of the Day of the UN Army. This will liberate the world. These are hardly the views of an "anti-communist," as Moon has been portrayed. His advocacy of "family values" at the 20th anniversary event was also laughable. He became a household name when he started using mind control techniques to lure young people into his cult. Thousands of families were torn apart as children cut ties with their families and declared Moon and his wife their "True Parents." He performs impersonal mass weddings. Moon has reportedly been married 4 times, his son committed suicide, and his former daughter-in-law's book, In the Shadow of the Moons, describes how another Moon son, a drug addict and alcohol abuser, physically abused her. Not surprisingly, the Washington Times ignored the book. (30)              Printer-friendly version Click here to be added to our mailing list.