(Photo: Pastor Greg Locke visiting the Korean Demilitarized Zone while on a fact-finding trip regarding alleged religious persecution. Source: @pastorlocke)
Greg Locke, the incendiary pastor of Global Vision Bible Church in Lebanon, Tennessee, and Mark Burns, pastor of Harvest Praise & Worship Center in Easley, South Carolina, recently traveled to South Korea, meeting with church leaders and politicians to defend Unification Church cult leader Hak Ja Han and other religious leaders they contend are being persecuted. Burns and Locke refers to these meetings as “spiritual diplomacy.”
Hak Ja Han, better known in the United States as Mrs. Moon, is on trial for allegedly bribing Kim Keon Hee, the former First Lady of South Korea.
According to a Reuters news report, prosecutors informed the court that Han attempted to bribe Hee with a diamond necklace, wild ginseng and two Chanel bags.
On December 15, 2025, South Korean police raided Cheon Jeong Gung, Han’s elaborate residence. After visiting the building, oriental scholar Cho Yong-hyeon, wrote, “I believe it might be the most luxurious building in the country.”
The Korea Herald reports that in addition to the residence, police raided nine more Unification properties.
According to the How Well Do You Know Your Moon blog, Han’s residence is classified as a museum to circumvent government restrictions and reduce property taxes. “Korean regulations state the construction of a private residence exceeding 10,000 square meters is prohibited.”
Han’s residence is part of a cluster of extravagant church properties, including Cheongshim Graduate School of Theology and Cheon Won Gung. The large site also includes ornate gardens which Han said, “… will be the heaven on earth in front of mankind, the garden of Eden that God has dreamed of.”
(Screenshot: Satellite view from Google)
Political Ambitions
Han assumed control of the Unification Church, now rebranded as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, following the death of her husband Sun Myung Moon. The church’s political goals include reuniting North and South Korea.
(Screenshot: Televangelist Paula White bows to Hak Ja Han. Source: Prophetic News TV Susan Puzio)
The political objectives of the Unification Church are embodied in a constitution drafted by Sun Myung Moon’s son Hyung Jin Moon (who uses the nickname Sean Moon) that leads the breakaway sect Sanctuary Church in Pennsylvania.
If enacted, the constitution would make Hyung king of a new nation, with the authority to appoint the nation’s Supreme Court.
To further this mission, the Unification Church created newspapers such as The Washington Times and a network of non-profit organizations, including the Universal Peace Foundation and World Christian Leadership Conference to expand its influence. These organizations are recruiting American pastors and politicians to speak at conferences on the topic of religious persecution.
In 2021, Donald Trump received $500,000 for speaking at a Universal Peace Foundation event in Bedminster, New Jersey. The following year the Universal Peace Foundation paid Trump $2 million for speaking at two events and former Vice President Mike Pence received $550,000 for a speech.
The Mainichi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, documented the size of the payments to Trump and Pence by submitting a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.
Trinity Foundation inquired if Greg Locke received compensation for his trip to South Korea. Locke responded, “I paid my own way and received no compensation for the trip.” Locke also added, “I obviously have deep theological differences with the Unification Church, but I was not there on a theological mission. I was there to help prove that Korea is violating its people’s religious liberties. I was also visiting with evangelical pastors that have been put in prison. This trip was not about doctrine. It was about principle.”
Other speakers at Unification church events include televangelist Paula White, former CIA director Mike Pompeo and former Congressman Newt Gingrich.
The IRS expects American recipients of large speaking honorariums to report the money as income for tax purposes, presumably paid by these speakers. Televangelist Todd Coontz was convicted of tax evasion for not reporting all of his speaking honorariums as income.
It would be wise for churches and other religious non-profit organizations to avoid paying speaking honorariums to politicians. These actions may result in conflicts of interest, moral compromises and allegations of influence peddling. Also, the Bible advises Christians, “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:22 KJV
Unification Church Replaces Israel with Korea as Chosen Nation
By adopting biblical terminology and labeling itself as Christian, the Unification Church gives the appearance of being Christian, but its teachings are very different because they elevate the Moons above Jesus and replace Israel with Korea in biblical prophecy.
These differences are found in sermons, church literature and reports from affiliated organizations.
Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han taught they reached the status of “True Parent,” a status higher than Jesus because he never had biological children.
In 1985, Sun Myung Moon preached, “God has sent the Messiah, but had there ever been a Messiah who reached the level of True Parents and completed the heavenly four-position foundation? (No.)”
On another occasion, Sun Myung Moon taught on the subject of marriage and pro-creation, “However, Jesus was unable to do this. This is the most important responsibility for a man, but Jesus failed to fulfill it.” (emphasis added)
In his book Exposition of the Divine Principle, co-author Sun Myung Moon wrote about the second coming of Jesus, “Korea, then, is the nation in the East where Christ will return.”
This form of replacement theology is also found in World Christian Leadership Conference Form 990s submitted to the IRS disclosing the organization’s purpose and summarizing its accomplishments:
“We, the Christian Clergy, are fully aware that God’s new providential era lies in the World Christian Leadership Conference and pledge to spread the era of the Heavenly Pacific Civilization with Christian clergy around the world by uniting as one, determined to fulfill the great responsibility of helping the chosen nation of Korea become a Heavenly Unified Korea.” (emphasis added)
But one of the most troubling aspects of Unification Church history is that church founder Sun Myung Moon reportedly engaged in P’ikareum, a form of ritualistic sex.
Mother Jones magazine reported Annie Choi, a former Unification Church member, claimed that Sun Myung Moon required virgins to sacrifice their virginity to him: “Choi’s account is consistent with those of other early followers, who claim that Moon’s church began as an erotic cult, with Moon ‘purifying’ female followers through sexual rites.”
* Special thanks to Susan Puzio for her assistance on this article.
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