Dong Moon Joo is a

Korean American Korean Americans are Americans of Korean ancestry (mostly from South Korea). In 2015, the Korean-American community constituted about 0.56% of the United States population, or about 1.82 million people, and was the fifth-largest Asian Americans ...

businessman. A member of the

Unification Church The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or "Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Spi ...

, he is best known as the president of the church-affiliated newspaper ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...

''.The Bush Administration’s Secret Link to North Korea
Aram Roston, ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'', February 7, 2012 In 2009 Joo was let go from the ''Times'' by its then owner,

Hyun Jin Moon Hyun Jin Preston Moon (born 25 May 1969) is a South Korean social entrepreneur, founder and chairman of the Global Peace Foundation, and later the Family Peace Association. His father, Sun Myung Moon, was the founder of the Unification movem ...

.Rev. Sun Myung Moon said to be considering buying back Washington Times
Ian Shapira, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', August 25, 2010 In 2011 he was again serving as president of the ''Times'' and visited

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

, along with Unification Church president

Hyung Jin Moon Hyung Jin Moon (born September 26, 1979), also known as Sean Moon, is an American pastor and co-founder, alongside his wife, Yeon Ah Lee Moon, of the Pennsylvania-based World Peace and Unification Sanctuary Church, also known as Rod of Iron Min ...

and

Pyeonghwa Motors Pyeonghwa Motors (Hangul : 평화자동차) ( Hancha : 平和自動車), a Korean language word for "peace", also spelled Pyonghwa, is one of the two car manufacturers and dealers in the North Korean automotive industry, alongside Sungri Motor ...

president Sang Kwon Park, to offer condolences on the death of North Korean leader

Kim Jong-il Kim Jong-il (; ; ; born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;, 16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim ...

. Joo was born in North Korea and is now a citizen of the United States.Unification Church president on condolence visit to N. Korea
''

Yonhap News Yonhap News Agency is a major South Korean news agency. It is based in Seoul, South Korea. Yonhap provides news articles, pictures and other information to newspapers, TV networks and other media in South Korea. History Yonhap (, , translit. ' ...

'', December 26, 2011 During the presidency of

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

, Joo had undertaken unofficial diplomatic missions to North Korea in an effort to improve its relationship with the United States.

References

See also