<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
        
        <p> Drawing on a variety of primary sources and numerous interviews and personal conversations with adherents from East Asia, Europe and the United States, this paper sheds light on the latest historical and doctrinal developments in the South Korean Unification Movement, following the passing of its founder and self-proclaimed Saviour, Mun Sŏn-myŏng, in September 2012. Recent personnel changes resulting in the uncontested leadership of Mun’s wife, Han Hak-cha, as well as the two key events of 2012 and 2013-Mun’s funeral and Foundation Day-will be briefly outlined. Concomitant doctrinal alterations in the interpretation of the movement’s integral millenarian vision, fleshing out as ‘Cheon Il Guk 2.0’ and entailing a revised notion of Foundation Day and the newly launched Vision 2020 scheme, will also be discussed. Ultimately, this paper shows how the Unification Movement has rendered its executive and theological base apt to preserve its systemically constitutive millenarian agenda for a post-Mun and post-Foundation Day era.</p>
      </abstract>

Drawing on a variety of primary sources and numerous interviews and personal conversations with adherents from East Asia, Europe and the United States, this paper sheds light on the latest historical and doctrinal developments in the South Korean Unification Movement, following the passing of its founder and self-proclaimed Saviour, Mun Sŏn-myŏng, in September 2012. Recent personnel changes resulting in the uncontested leadership of Mun’s wife, Han Hak-cha, as well as the two key events of 2012 and 2013-Mun’s funeral and Foundation Day-will be briefly outlined. Concomitant doctrinal alterations in the interpretation of the movement’s integral millenarian vision, fleshing out as ‘Cheon Il Guk 2.0’ and entailing a revised notion of Foundation Day and the newly launched Vision 2020 scheme, will also be discussed. Ultimately, this paper shows how the Unification Movement has rendered its executive and theological base apt to preserve its systemically constitutive millenarian agenda for a post-Mun and post-Foundation Day era.

‘The Millenarian Dream Continued’: Foundation Day, Vision 2020 and the Post-Mun Unification Movement

Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Drawing on a variety of primary sources and numerous interviews and personal conversations with adherents from East Asia, Europe and the United States, this...

‘The Millenarian Dream Continued’: Foundation Day, Vision 2020 and the Post-Mun Unification Movement

Published Online: Dec 05, 2018

Page range: 123 - 157

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/vjeas-2013-0006

Keywords
Korean Religion, Millenarianism, New Religious Movement, Unification Church

© 2018 Lukas Pokorny, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

‘The Millenarian Dream Continued’: Foundation Day, Vision 2020 and the Post-Mun Unification Movement

Published Online: Dec 05, 2018

Page range: 123 - 157

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/vjeas-2013-0006

KeywordsKorean Religion, Millenarianism, New Religious Movement, Unification Church

© 2018 Lukas Pokorny, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Korean Religion, Millenarianism, New Religious Movement, Unification Church