For Koreans, October 3 marks “Gaecheon Jeol,” the founding day of the Korean nation nearly 5,000 years ago. As part of the commemorations of Foundation Day in 2023, the Global Peace Foundation hosted an International Forum on One Korea on October 2, 2023, in Seoul, Korea. This was followed by a Korea United Festa at Yeouido Park in Seoul, Korea on October 3.

The program is part of a three-year campaign to build a Korean-led, internationally supported civil society movement to fulfill the Korean Dream of building a peaceful and free unified Korean nation that can “be of benefit to all humanity.” The campaign will culminate on August 15, 2025, in a 10 million people March across the peninsula. 

The Korean Times covered events from October 2-3 in a special two-page spread including an interview with the Chairman and Co-founder of the Global Peace Foundation, Dr. Hyun Jin Preston Moon. You can read the interview by Nam Hyun-woo of the Korea Times below or find the original here.

By Nam Hyun-woo

With inter-Korean confrontation expanding into a “New Cold War” narrative involving the United States, Japan, China and Russia, the outlook is getting gloomier for a unified Korea.

A recent poll by Seoul National University’s Institute for Peace and Unification Studies showed that 43.8 percent of 1,200 respondents said they believe unification is necessary, marking the lowest number since the annual survey began in 2007. This means that a growing number of people are taking the two Koreas’ division for granted at least in South Korea.

In the North, the Kim Jong-un regime has started referring to the South as “the Republic of Korea” instead of its usual term “South Chosun.” This change, in comparison to its self-designated name of “North Chosun,” signals the North’s repositioning of the South as a distinct nation.

However, Hyun Jin Preston Moon, the founder and chairman of the Global Peace Foundation (GPF), a Washington D.C.-based non-governmental organization, says this is not a desirable progression, given the benefits and advantages that unification could bring.

“You have all the world leaders now realizing that the peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula is the only and the best way to deal with the nuclear proliferation issue, as well as the destabilization in Northeast Asia, the most dynamic and significant region in the world,” Moon said during a joint interview with news outlets on the sidelines of the International Forum on One Korea in Seoul, Monday.

Moon cited the recent trilateral summit between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the U.S. presidential retreat of Camp David in August as a case in point illustrating the proven importance of unification.

During the Camp David summit, the leaders elevated the three countries’ ties to a level of quasi-alliance in fields spanning from security to economy and social exchange.

While the stronger three-way cooperation was widely recognized for its function as a countermeasure to the North’s escalating nuclear and missile threats, Moon underscored the fact that the leaders stated their support for the peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula in their joint statement, titled the Spirit of Camp David.

“What is one of the clear outcomes of Camp David? It was that the trilateral alliance would support the peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula. It is not just to strengthen the trilateral alliance,” Moon said.

“The key element of the Camp David accord is not just the strengthening of the tripartite alliance, it is actually, the commitment of these nations to the peaceful unification of Korean Peninsula.”

Moon, who founded the GPF in 2009, has been championing the benefits and necessity of unification through international forums and a belief that the unification must be driven by a civil movement of Koreans, in the South and the diaspora, with broad international support.

He underscored that the unification should be driven by grassroots movements because inter-governmental talks have achieved nothing to date except to help create a more powerful nuclear-armed North Korea.

For Koreans, October 3 marks “Gaecheon Jeol,” the founding day of the Korean nation nearly 5,000 years ago. As part of commemorations of Foundation Day in 2023, the Global Peace Foundation hosted an International Forum on One Korea on October 2, 2023 in Seoul, Korea. This was followed by a Korea United Festa at Yeouido Park in Seoul, Korea on October 3.

The program is part of a three-year campaign to build a Korean-led, internationally supported civil society movement to fulfill the Korean Dream of building a peaceful and free unified Korean nation that can “be of benefit to all humanity.” The campaign will culminate on August 15, 2025, in a 10 million people March across the peninsula. 

You can read the The Korea Times coverage of the Korean Dream 10 Million Campaign below or find the original here.

By Sah Dong-seok

Established in 2009 and led by Chairman Hyun Jin Preston Moon, the Global Peace Foundation (GPF) is a nonprofit organization aimed at realizing world peace and seeking concrete action plans based on universal principles and values.

As an organization with special consultative status accreditation from the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and affiliated with the U.N. Department of Public Information (DPI), GPF, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is active in 23 countries around the world.

The GPF’s main focus is the “interfaith movement.” Its goal is to help each religious leader break away from the framework of religion and become a true leader who fulfills the objective of global peace. In the “National Faith Leaders Summit” held in Washington in 2011, religious leaders were urged to resolve conflicts and strengthen cooperation to realize a nation based on the founding spirit of the United States.

The Global Peace Leadership Conference (GPLC) was held in Nigeria in 2013 seeking to “resolve religious and tribal conflicts with leadership based on moral principles and universal values” in the presence of Christian and Muslim leaders.

Domestically, Moon presented the “Korean Dream” as a vision for a unified Korean Peninsula, driven by a grassroots movement.

In August 2012, Action for Korea United (AKU) was launched in conjunction with 370 civic groups and announced the “Unification Declaration.”

Last year, the 10 million Korean Dream campaign organizing committee was inaugurated through “2022 Action for Korea United Festival” in the presence of unification experts, universities and citizens. During the festival, the Citizens’ Organizing Committee for the Action for Korea United March was launched to carry out a step-by-step unification movement through 2025.

‘Korean Dream 10 Million’ campaign

Amid today’s circumstances on the Korean Peninsula where nobody knows what may happen tomorrow owing to global division and conflict, the only solution that can bring peace and prosperity to the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia is a reunified Korea. Now, unification is no longer a matter of choice but a top priority on which the survival of all Koreans are dependent.

The March 1 Independence Movement in 1919 was not a mere anti-Japanese movement, but a movement designed to build a new nation. Koreans dreamed of a new nation where the ideology of “Hongik Ingan” was realized through a nationwide civil revolution called the March 1 Movement, but the dream remains as an unfinished task. Eight civic organizations will join hands to lead the unified Korea through this campaign.

To realize the dream of building a new nation, ensure world peace and create a new civilization by inheriting the March 1st Movement, the biggest civil revolution of the Korean people, 2 million people participated in a drive to launch the second March 1 Movement, focusing on the “Korean Dream 10 Million campaign.”

The Korean Dream 10 Million campaign, a grassroots unification movement to create an environment for the peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula, envisions a plan to hold a large-scale unification movement rally in 2025.

The campaign aims to generate decisive momentum by 2025 to build a united nation where the Korean Dream is realized based on the ideology of Hongik Ingan, which seeks to broadly benefit the world, with the participation of the Parliamentarian’s Society of the Republic of Korea, the Korean National Police Veterans Association, the Federation of Artistic and Cultural Organizations of Korea and the Leaders’ Alliance for Korea Unification.

The goal is to hold the largest unification movement rally of 10 million citizens in 2025, and as part of this effort, other programs are planned around the world.

1. Campaigns have been continuously underway to that effect since 2022 on a four-year schedule, and in 2022, a 20,000-member citizen organizing committee was launched. Also, there will be a rally of 100,000 citizens this year to boost domestic support and a rally of 1 million citizens in 2024 to organize a global boom.

For Koreans, October 3 marks “Gaecheon Jeol,” the founding day of the Korean nation nearly 5,000 years ago. As part of commemorations of Foundation Day in 2023, the Global Peace Foundation hosted an International Forum on One Korea on October 2, 2023 in Seoul, Korea. This was followed by a Korea United Festa at Yeouido Park in Seoul, Korea on October 3.

The program is part of a three-year campaign to build a Korean-led, internationally supported civil society movement to fulfill the Korean Dream of building a peaceful and free unified Korean nation that can “be of benefit to all humanity.” The campaign will culminate on August 15, 2025, in a 10 million people March across the peninsula. 

You can read below the The Korea Times article on the Korean Dream Festival held in Yeouido Park in Seoul, Korea, on October 3, 2023, or find the original article here.

By Lee Hyo-Jin

‘2025 Korean Dream 10 million campaign’ underway

On Tuesday afternoon, Yeouido Park in Seoul was filled with crowds rallying for the unification of the two Koreas, in a major event held to raise public awareness about the “Korean Dream 10 Million” initiative launched by eight civic organizations.

Around 20,000 people from different age groups participated in the ceremony hosted by eight local civic groups promoting Korean unification, including Korea Senior Citizens Association, the Korea Freedom Foundation, the Korea National Police Veterans Association, as well as Action for Korea United (AKU), according to event organizers.

Established in 2012, the AKU is a coalition of more than 800 civic, religious, humanitarian and non-profit organizations that focuses on North Korean issues and support the peaceful unification of the two Koreas.

The rally followed the “International Forum on One Korea” held the previous day, also in Yeouido, western Seoul.

Among the guests of the event were Kim Yong-in, head of the Korea National Police Veterans Association, Ahn Chan-il, co-chairman of AKU and Yoo Ja-hyo, head of the Society of Korean Poets.

“Through the Korean Dream, we will be able to achieve a glorious day not only for the Korean Peninsula but also for Northeast Asia and beyond, ultimately realizing world peace,” Kim said in his opening speech.

“Many North Korean defectors are here at today’s gathering, and our North Korean defectors are working towards the freedom of North Korean residents. I firmly believe that we will be able to put an end to the North Korean regime in two years and hold a unification ceremony in Pyongyang,” Ahn said in his speech. Ahn, who also heads the World Institute for North Korea Studies, is a vocal proponent of North Korean human rights.

Yoo said that the division that has lasted for some eight decades cannot separate the Korean people.

“We were originally from the same roots, so the unification of the two Koreas is a natural course of events,” he said.

In his keynote speech, Hyun Jin Preston Moon, the founder and chairman of the Global Peace Foundation (GPF), stressed the significance of the rally being held on National Foundation Day, which falls on Oct. 3.

“Foundation Day represents the opening of heaven, a timing in which humanity can realize the very principles and values. This day has tremendously special meaning for the Korean people,” he said.

“The most important thing for unification is ownership over identity. National Foundation Day is a holiday also celebrated in North Korea. It is the identity that will bring the Korean people together.”

Moon underscored that the unification movement is a campaign led not only by government officials or politicians but by the general public. He added that the campaign will gather the voices of not only South Koreans but also those of the Korean diaspora overseas and also the people of North Korea.

He has been campaigning for Korean unification based on the founding ideal of Korea “Hongik Ingan,” which is about living for the greater benefit of all humanity.

As a part of his activities, he introduced the “Korean Dream” framework which aims to achieve the unification of the two Koreas and create a common national identity. The initiative is based on the notion that feasible progress on unification will be made by grassroots movements of ordinary people, rather than top-down decisions by policymakers.

Against this backdrop, the Korean Dream 10 million campaign organizing committee was launched with the goal of gathering 10 million people in Korea and overseas promoting unification by 2025. That year will mark the 80th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule that ended in 1945.

And the “10 million Korean Dream campaign organizing committee” was inaugurated through the “2022 Action for Korea United Festival” last year.

The civic groups now plan to hold various events promoting its vision not only in South Korea, but also in other countries in six continents to engage global support for a unified Korea.

Boosting the Korean Dream by empowering the young generation

To realize the Korean Dream project, securing support from the broader population ― especially the young generation ― is critical for campaign organizers. So they are seeking to garner support from young people through the medium of pop culture.

Tuesday’s event featured performances by singers including trot singer Song Ga-in, who rose to stardom through the singing competition show “Miss Trot” in 2019. Also on the stage were singers Jo Myung-seop, An Sung-joon, Kim Da-hyun and Kim Soo-chan.

The Rainbow Choir, made up of children from multicultural backgrounds, also performed the song, “Beautiful Country.”

Before the main event, a K-pop dance contest for teenagers took place, highlighting the foundation’s efforts to encourage the unification movement by empowering young people. A Taekwondo demonstration performance involving some 1,000 teenagers from across the nation was also held during the event, while a photo exhibition raising awareness about human rights issues in North Korea was set up at the venue.