For a long time I have dreamed of a unification of God and revolution; of a unification of bread and freedom, earth and heaven, prayer and action. And now I am experiencing this vision more vividly than ever.
The immediate historical problem of the Korean people is the unification of North and South. However, this is not simply a question of linking the territories back together. The authentic unification of the people themselves is the essential basis of the philosophy of unity of which I dream. It is only through unity that our people can live; it is only through unity that we can conquer oppression from within and from without the country, and arrive at a world of true fraternity. This unity can by no means be achieved by makeshift artifice or stratagems, nor by forcing things. What is called for is an entirely new philosophy, an entirely new spirit, and the emergence of a fundamentally new human being. It is for this that I am crying out like a madman in this courtroom. The ultimate objective of this philosophy of unity is the state of what Christianity calls koinonia.
The Christian philosophy of non-violence and its teaching of love must be mobilized to awaken the people’s consciousness. This must not be carried out in the realm of tactical negotiation and compromise, but must be a true unification. The resentment of the lower depths--the same people that the Bible calls “the least of these, my brethren”--and the blood of Christ must be joined into one. For those who have suffered under the immorality of starvation and tyranny, this is the way to the restoration of humanity. And I believe that this is the true form of the revolutionary religion which seeks to put the teachings of Jesus Christ into practice in the modern world.
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