OPINION:
There is a very real possibility that President Trump and his team have saved the life of Dr. Hak Ja Han. As a religious leader known as Mother Moon or as the Mother of Peace, this 82-year-old activist faith leader represents hope for millions of people around the world.
With her husband, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, she founded the Unification Church in 1954. In 1992, she founded the Women’s Federation for Peace. Today, it has members in more than 150 countries. In 1994, the church evolved into the Family Federation for World Peace. The Universal Peace Federation, a nongovernmental organization recognized by the United Nations, was founded in 2005. It routinely hosts conferences with leaders from more than 160 countries coming together to discuss ending conflict, defending religious liberty, and fostering a broad sense of fellowship to overcome conflict.
It was shocking when the new Lee government arrested Dr. Hak Ja Han and kept her in isolation. Here she is now at 82, sleeping on the floor, being kept in a detention cell and being interrogated repeatedly for up to 10 hours.
There was no way to save her within the new Lee government. Then President Trump and his team took up the cause of religious liberty in Korea, inspired in part by Charlie Kirk’s call from Korea to Secretary of State Marco Rubio just days before he was assassinated.
Mr. Trump’s impact is so widespread that it is extraordinary. He travels to the Middle East to orchestrate a historic breakthrough in which 25 nations come together to advance peace and prosperity.
Then he meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and increases the pressure on Vladimir Putin to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
After a brief period in Washington, dealing with the government shutdown and attending the presidential ballroom, the president has traveled to Asia for a series of meetings.
In passing, he and brilliant Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent looked south and helped Argentine President Javier Milei win an enormous, almost shocking off-year election.
Now he is in Asia, and he has an opportunity in South Korea to make an enormous historic difference once again.
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has been moving South Korea toward an anti-religious dictatorial attitude, with his administration locking up a growing number of religious leaders.
The anti-religious persecution in South Korea was getting so bad that Kirk’s last act there, just a few days before he was assassinated, was to call Mr. Rubio to warn him of a crisis in South Korea. At Charlie Kirk’s memorial, Secretary Rubio said, “One of the last messages I received from him was just a few days before his passing, when he wrote to me from overseas: ’I’m in South Korea. I have many concerns I want to share with you when I get back.”
Mr. Trump and his administration have been more transparent and clearer about how unacceptable this persecution of religious leaders is to the United States. Because American forces have been in Korea defending the democracy since 1950 and are still vital to keeping the North Korean dictatorship from attacking, Mr. Lee decided to take Mr. Trump and his team’s admonitions seriously.
After months of the government’s prosecution of religious leaders, Mr. Lee spoke up at a Cabinet meeting with shocking admissions of injustice. He addressed Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho, charging that “Prosecutors indict baseless cases, receive acquittals, and then appeal to avoid accountability. They appeal again, causing public suffering. Why is this allowed? Why is the state so cruel to its people?”
To everyone’s surprise, the president acknowledged, “The basic principle is that even if 10 criminals escape, one innocent person should not be wronged. When in doubt, the benefit of the doubt should go to the defendant. If a case could be innocent or without suspicion, it should not be indicted.” In response, Mr. Jung said, “The prosecution has operated contrary to this principle until now” (according to The Chosun Ilbo).
Mr. Lee continued, “If prosecutors dislike someone, they indict to inflict pain, and if the person is on their side, they overlook clear crimes. Standards have collapsed. Even if someone is wrongfully indicted, suffers through years of trials, and is acquitted, prosecutors appeal without reason. After spending vast sums of money and enduring hardship to secure an acquittal, they appeal again. By the time the Supreme Court rules, the family is ruined. This is still happening today.”
In effect, Mr. Lee was admitting the injustices inflicted on Dr. Hak Ja Han, Rev. Son Hyun-bo of Segero Presbyterian Church, and their fellow religious leaders by raiding Rev. Lee Younghoon, senior pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church, and Rev. Jang Hwan “Billy” Kim (translator for Rev. Billy Graham), chairman of the Far East Broadcasting Co.
Now that Mr. Lee has outlined the new principles for greater caution and fairness, the time has come to release Dr. Hak Ja Han and others who have been unjustly held. It is time for words to be followed by deeds.
Hopefully, Dr. Hak Ja Han will be released promptly so she can greet Mr. Trump when he arrives.
That would be amazing and very Trump-like, as his impact continues to grow.
• For more commentary from Newt Gingrich, visit Gingrich360.com. Also, subscribe to the “Newt’s World” podcast.
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