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The Korean War
The Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950. It was the first war in which United Nations peacekeeping forces were mobilized. This war was the focus of the confrontation between democracy and communism, and the army that fought it was a global coalition.
The theism of the Judeo-Christian tradition, as the ultimate expression of the Abel-type view of life, was at war with atheistic materialism, as the final expression of the Cain-type view of life. On October 14, 1950, 112 days after the outbreak of the war, True Father was liberated from Hungnam Prison by a UN bombing attack, followed by the landing of troops.
The participation of the 16 nations of the UN in the Korean War was inspired by God to rescue the Lord at his Second Advent.
1. The Korean War was a war in which the people of 16 nations shed blood to bring victory for God. For the sake of God's providence, it was the first time in human history that 16 nations involved themselves in one country's war.
Although it seemed like a civil war, it was, in fact, a war for God's providence that brought international participation. As the war was connected to me, it was connected to God's providence for the Messiah.
Therefore, how much will the world be influenced when the significance of this war is disclosed? The world should understand that Korea is the fatherland where the Messiah was born.
Hence, Korea is, in truth, the fatherland of all people. It is for this reason that 16 nations were mobilized on God's side to protect Korea. Those nations were mobilized in the Korean War for the restoration of the fatherland. (119-218, 1982/09/13)
2. While I was in Hungnam Prison, the Korean War broke out. The North Korean Communist Party planned to send all prisoners to the 38th parallel to die on the front lines.
When the battle situation became increasingly urgent, they tried to move those who had long prison terms further north and send the remaining two-thirds of the prisoners to the front lines.
To implement the strategy of throwing waves of men into action, they dragged everyone out, whether they liked it or not. Any prisoners who did not follow orders were shot.
About 800 prisoners were forced to go to Jeongpyeong, near Hungnam. Trains had been operating between Hungnam and Wonsan, but the United Nations air forces had destroyed parts of the railroad.
Those prisoners then had to walk the 50 kilometers from Jeongpyeong to where they could board a train for Wonsan. The authorities kept about 70 prisoners at Hungnam and sent the rest away.
At that time, I was among those taken from the prison. We departed at 8:00 in the evening and walked all night until dawn, covering about 30 kilometers. We did not walk during the day because of the air attacks.
Trains could operate only at night, so we were to arrive at the place where we could board the train to Wonsan around 4:00 in the morning. We could not make it to our destination in one day; the plan was that we were to arrive there on the second night.
But the train that was sent by the central headquarters to carry us had an accident on the way, and we had to remain there for a few days. With the prisoners there and the train not ready to go, the guards faced a serious problem. There were only a few guards and a great many prisoners.
So, to avoid potential concerns, we were all brought back to the prison. Three days after we arrived in Hungnam, they again took out the prisoners, still numbering about 800. But this time, I was not included, and I remained in prison. Eventually, I was freed. (154-137, 1964/06/12)
3. When I was freed and finally left Hungnam Prison, four men followed me. Each said, “Teacher, wherever you go, I will go.” Instead of seeking their wives and children, they unconditionally followed me. They said they would not return to their hometowns. These four people followed me to Pyongyang.
Among them was a man of the Moon clan. Thus, I was able to establish a Cain-type person from the Moon family. But in the process of traveling to the South, we were separated from him after I sent him on a mission to find someone.
I thought that the reason he remained in the North was that he was Cain, while I, in the position of Abel, went to the South. When I have a chance to return to North Korea, I will find him if he is still alive. If he died, I would like to visit his grave and place a memorial stone there.
I pray for him to this day, thinking, “If your dedication continues to this day, the day will come when North Korea and South Korea will embrace each other.” Before I pray for my mother or father, I pray for him. (060-237, 1972/08/17)
4. Among the inmates who left with me and followed me when I left Hungnam Prison was a man from the Moon clan. He had been the section chief of the South Hamgyeong provincial government in Hamheung, and his name was Moon Jeong-bin.
One of his subordinates had made a mistake, and as he was accountable for it, he was sent to prison. He and I were in the same cell. Having received a message from the spirit world, he followed me.
After we were freed from prison, he accompanied me from Hungnam to Pyongyang. He had a wife and children. After we left the prison, we stopped by his home to say goodbye to his family, and he then continued with me. We planned to travel from Pyongyang to the South.
Kim Won-pil's mother was a church member; we wanted to bring her with us, but she was not at home, having gone to Sunan to sell things at the market. We had to leave within a few days, but she had not yet returned, so I sent Moon Jeong-bin to Sunan to try to find her and bring her back.
I anticipated it would take one or two days on foot, but he did not come back either. The situation at that time was becoming increasingly untenable for us due to the Chinese communist army, which was threatening to surround our area.
Unavoidably, we had to leave before Jeong-bin and Won-pil's mother returned. That is why, although Moon Jeong-bin had pledged his life to me, eventually, he was unable to come with us to the South. (130-325, 1984/02/13)
5. When I left Hungnam Prison for Pyongyang, many men wanted to follow me. They insisted they would follow me rather than return to their families in their hometowns. Although they said they would not go to their hometowns, it was the right thing for them to do.
So once we arrived in Pyongyang, I told them all to go to their hometowns and to return on a certain date at a specific time.
However, because of the withdrawal of the United Nations forces, we were compelled to leave Pyongyang earlier than planned. As a result, some of them were unable to come with us. I think I will meet them again someday. Those who offer dedication and are loyal to heaven will never perish.
I know God loves me because when I experienced loneliness in my heart and no one in the world knew, God came to me and helped me. This occurred not just once or twice. When I look back and recall those experiences, I cannot forget heaven's grace. (158-054, 1967/02/14)
6. I was in Hungnam Prison for about two years and five months. When I left the prison, I brought with me the clothes that I had worn while I was working at the factory. All of my clothes, my work clothes, shirts, and underwear were made of cotton.
Since my workplace at the prison was an ammonium sulfate fertilizer factory, the cotton deteriorated when it came in contact with the sulfuric acid and ammonia from the fertilizer manufacturing process. Since cotton is vulnerable to acid, when the clothes were stretched even a bit, they tore.
After I had worn them a long time, they became tattered and threadbare. In my tattered work clothes, I looked like the beggar of beggars. My clothes reeked, and if you rubbed them, the spot just turned to powder. But I could not throw them away. I knew that they would be treasured as historical artifacts of the Unification Church.
Since I was unable to throw them away, I removed the cotton lining from my comforter, folded these tattered work clothes that I had worn for two and a half years, and packed them inside.
Before I went to sleep, I took them out of my blanket and spread them out to keep them from being damaged. What asset did I possess apart from those clothes that I could take with me from prison? That is why I carried them with me on the ten-day walk from Hungnam to Pyongyang.
After I arrived in Pyongyang, I could not hold on to my former belongings there. Nevertheless, I asked one member to take special care of these clothes, saying, “Even if you throw away your silk garments and your brocade blankets, you have to bring these clothes back to me without fail.”
However, I discovered later that when this woman came to the South, she brought only her belongings, having thrown away my clothes. So, I lost them. If I had those clothes now, I would not have to say even one word to explain my life in prison.
They would have been the best evidence, which could not be exchanged even for the whole world. (083-260, 1976/02/08)
7. Emerging from Hungnam Prison, I carried the tattered clothes that I wore during my incarceration. You would not make even a penny if you tried to sell them.
If you gave them to a Korean taffy seller, he would not give you even half a stick of taffy for the lot. I gave away the silk pants and jackets that my mother brought me, and for almost three years, I wore those garments, which were fit only for the dead.
Why did I need these clothes that were so deteriorated that if you touched them, the spot would disintegrate into dust?
I required them because they would become a great treasure in a decade, in a century, or several centuries, a true relic that you would not be able to purchase even with millions or billions of dollars in gold.
Imagine if there existed a shard of a utensil that Jesus had used in Jerusalem; you would not be able to buy it, even for all of England or America. Young people today may laugh at this, but since my prison clothes were more precious than any fortune, I carried them with me despite my difficult circumstances. (026-020, 1969/10/14)
40 days in Pyongyang
True Father arrived in Pyongyang ten days after he was liberated from Hungnam Prison. Even when many people were leaving and hurrying to the South, he searched for 40 days to try to find all of his scattered disciples.
Even though his hometown of Jeongju was not far away, he did not go there to meet his parents and siblings.
This was because he felt he had to go the path of restoration through indemnity, which required him to love Cain first and love him more than Abel. And so it was that, accompanied by Kim Won-pil and Pak Jeong-hwa, Father finally departed on the road to South Korea.
8. Just thinking of Pyongyang made me shudder, but when I left Hungnam Prison, I went back and visited the city. I did this because my church family members were there.
If I were just an ordinary person, I would have ignored Pyongyang and gone directly to visit my hometown. However, I knew that in that city were my church family members whose hearts had gone out to me when I entered prison. I acted as I did on heaven's motivation.
Accordingly, I went back to Pyongyang and searched for each of the family members who had been with me when I was doing ministries there.
I also looked for those who had left and had even come to oppose me. Of course, they did not leave me while I was in Pyongyang; the only reason they left me and opposed me was that I had been sent to prison.
They were people who had pledged to believe in me before I was imprisoned. Since they had not notified me that they wanted to sever their ties as their teacher, I still felt responsible for them.
Even though some of them betrayed me, they had once pledged in front of God that they would believe in me, and I felt that vow still stood.
If they were to oppose me directly after I had located them, then heaven would let them go. But since heaven had the same regard for me as before, until they denied me, I was determined to take responsibility for them as their teacher.
This was why I scoured the city for all those scattered members. When I could not go directly to meet some of them, I sent Kim Won-pil.
Because of all this, I was unable to go to my hometown. Still, there was one person I was unable to find, even though I went around searching for her for a week. (158-054, 1967/02/14)
9. When I left Hungnam Prison, four people came along with me as my followers. Jesus died alone, but when I emerged from prison, four people joined me. We walked from South Hamgyeong Province to North Pyeongan Province through the most difficult mountainous terrain in Korea.
From the coast of the East Sea, we walked over Geumgang Mountain and Seorak Mountain in the Taebaek Range in Gangwon Province and then through the mountainous area of North Pyeongan Province.
At that time, the North Korean People's Army was retreating in disarray through the Taebaek Mountains.
We went through a territory crawling with soldiers. Our problem was that we were traveling south while the soldiers were escaping north. Why did we take such a path?
If we had gone around the soldiers, we would have lost four or five days. On the other hand, it was a situation in which they were retreating and shooting the prisoners they had with them.
So, as we passed through this dangerous zone, I said to my followers, “What could be dangerous for people who have just left prison? We should be able to go anywhere.” So, we deliberately chose that route and finally arrived in Pyongyang.
While living the life of a refugee, I searched for the original group that had gathered around me when I ministered in Pyongyang.
I could not forget those who had shed tears for me when I was sent to prison, and because I had promised that I would find them, I kept on searching. At that time, I heard that the Communist Chinese army would soon enter the city, but I still went searching for an elderly lady I had so far been unable to meet. After I learned that the lady had died, we evacuated. (520-186, 2006/03/13)
10. In North Korea, the Communist Party persecuted all the churches and tried to get rid of them, but we remained to the end. In those days, I did not call our group the Unification Church. It was just a group I was teaching. But even after I left the prison, I had to continue my ministry. Therefore, when I arrived in
In Pyongyang, I first tried to meet all the family members who had been with me there.
I was in prison for almost three years, and because of the communist persecution during that time, church members could not openly practice their religious life. Indeed, they had gradually gone underground.
So, even though I was freed from prison, I could not continue my ministry as I used to. Still, before traveling to South Korea, I managed to meet almost all the family members who had been with me in the past.
I can vividly recall the moment when those members shed sorrowful tears as I was led away to prison in shackles. I had been sentenced to five years, and when I said to them, “Take them, and let's meet again five years from now,” they wept. Even now, the memory is vivid.
After I came out of prison, I searched for everyone I could think of, the old and the young, for the sake of gathering again the family members with whom I had made a relationship based on the Will. (170-015, 1987/11/01)
11. After I left Hungnam Prison and went to Pyongyang, I sent a messenger on three separate occasions to a man who had been a member of my group. The first time, the man turned away my messenger at the door. He visited a second and third time, but the man snubbed him each time.
The principle I adhere to is that I must invest myself with the highest devotion until God instructs me to stop. Until then, I just cannot give up. While everyone else was escaping to the South, I continued to try to contact this man, sending for him until the evening of December 2. Therefore, I completely fulfilled my responsibility toward him.
Wherever I go under the sun, I have nothing to be ashamed of. I have been upholding the teachings based on heart. In Pyongyang, my heart was pierced and wounded many times.
So, I would rather not leave until I had removed all those wounds. After doing this, I had the conviction that I was ready to connect new people in the South with God.
That is why I left Pyongyang that very night. Leaders must carry out their responsibilities diligently like this.
Even in a life-or-death situation, unless a leader completes the portion of responsibility that God entrusted him with, his path will be blocked. You have to bring a clear resolution and tie up every relationship you make with people.
You see, whether I am in this world or the next, I must stand in a position where the ancestors of that person can sympathize with me and, at the same time, the descendants of that person will be able to sympathize with me.
Because I thought like this, I searched for that particular former member.
(157-336, 1967/10/16)
12. I left behind all eight of my siblings. Even when I was in prison in North Korea, I could foresee the future political situation. Accordingly, after I came out of prison, I went to Pyongyang and stayed there for 40 days.
My hometown was only about 110 kilometers from there, so two days would have been enough time for me to travel home. But during those 40 days, instead of visiting my parents and siblings, I searched for every person I had formerly worked with for the Will.
I went here and there, seeking those people who had once pledged their lives to me before heaven. I gave no priority to caring for my parents and relatives in my hometown but instead looked after each family member at the risk of my life. (038-325, 1971/01/08)
13. When I was in Pyongyang, I could have taken the two-day journey to meet my older brother and brought him with me.
However, I knew that if I did not make the condition of loving my country more than I loved my older brother, I would not have a clear heart to bring him with me. I knew that if I did not make the condition to love my country more than I loved my parents, I would not have a clear heart to bring my parents with me.
This is the requirement of perfect restoration through indemnity. To become Abel, one must love Cain. Then, to attend True Parents, one must first attend the parents of Satan's world.
That is why I did these things. That is why when I came out of prison, I attended elderly women. The fundamental Principle of Restoration is like that. I left the prison and joined my grandmothers to form a trinity.
I set up three children from Satan's world who were able to carry out mother-son cooperation. You also need to act in this way according to this principle.
(029-226, 1970/02)
Sun Myung Moon