321 Unification Movement Chapter 18 Unification Movement Lukas Pokorny Introduction The Unification Movement (UM) is a cluster of organisations, businesses, initi- atives, and campaigns centring on and navigating in the millenarian trajectory of a religious core organisation, the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU; Segye P’yŏnghwa T’ongil Kajŏng Yŏnhap 세계평화통일가 정연합/世界平和統一家庭聯合), formerly known as the Holy Spirit Associa- tion for the Unification of World Christianity (HSAUWC; Segye Kidokkyo T’ongil Sillyŏng Hyŏphoe 세계기독교통신령협회/世界基督敎統一神靈協 會).1 The latter was formally established in Seoul in 1954. International expan- sion commenced in earnest in 1958 (Japan), extending to the United States (US) in 1959 and to Europe in 1963 (Germany). For early 1964, the UM reported some 32,500 followers in South Korea (Choi 1967: 169), a number that is held to have increased to 300,000 (FFWPU members only), or one million (count- ing all those involved in related NGO activities) by mid-2015. Between 2010 and 2015 a mean annual domestic growth of six per cent is noted (Chŏng 2015). Nationwide, 231 churches (kyohoe 교회/敎會) are divided into twenty-two par- ishes (kyogu 교구/敎區). The UM’s main religious site is the Ch’ŏnjŏnggung 천 정궁/天正宮 (Palace of Heavenly Righteousness) in Songsan 송산/松山, fifty kilometres east of Seoul in Kap’yŏng 가평/加平 county, the home of many other major UM facilities, including the international headquarters and the Ch’ŏngsim Peace World Centre (Ch’ŏngsim p’yŏnghwa wŏltŭ sent’ŏ 청심[淸心 平和]평화드센터), a stadium used for large-scale gatherings. The adminis- trative headquarters of the FFWPU’s Korea branch is based in Seoul’s Yongsan 용산/龍山 district. At present, the UM claims to be active in 194 countries across all continents with an overall membership of three million followers (a figure occasionally meant to comprise the overseas adherents only). A more 1 Informally, the main religious body is labelled Unification Church (T’ongil Kyohoe 통일교회/ 統一敎會), often abbreviated in Korean as T’ongilgyo 통일교/統一敎. Between July 2009 and January 2013, the FFWPU was officially renamed T’ongilgyo, or, internationally, Unification Church. Internally, members often use the shortened form Kajŏngyŏnhap 가정연합/家庭聯 合 (Family Federation). © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2018 | doi 10.1163/9789004362970_019