Authors
Imprisonment for underground activities
From April 1941 until September 1943, True Father studied in Japan. During this period, he involved himself in the underground independence movement. He had the conviction that a person who does not love his country cannot love heaven.
True Father returned to Korea in mid-October 1943.
The following year, True Father's independence movement activity in Japan was exposed, and in October 1944, he was arrested and confined at the Gyeonggi Province Police Station. There, he underwent two months of interrogation and torture.
1. I was involved in underground activities during the Japanese occupation. During that time, I determined what path I would take. While studying in Japan, I met wealthy people and encountered temptations of all kinds.
I was good at many things, so even though people did not know who I was, they always sought me out. When I was with them, they were so comfortable with me that almost without realizing it, they would share the deepest secrets of their hearts. (154-162, 1964/06/12)
2. While studying in Japan, I worked in the underground movement directed by the provisional government in Shanghai. Recently, my name was discovered in the records of the Japanese Metropolitan Police Headquarters, and I obtained a copy of those records from Japan.
The record at the Metropolitan Police Headquarters states that I was “part of the independence movement, traveling between Korea and two other nations.” Now, I have the evidence of my involvement that no one can deny.
(600-034, 2008/10/24)
3. When it was time for me to return to Korea from Japan after finishing my studies, I prayed, “Japan, I will see you again in 21 years., I did return to Japan 21 years later.
While in Japan, I was involved with underground activities, working jointly with communists to carry out operations to liberate Korea. I carried out all kinds of covert activities, and police detectives were always following me. When I left for Korea, they notified the Japanese authorities in Korea that I was on my way to somewhere in Korea.
When I arrived at the station, some people came up to me and said, “There you are!” giving me the feeling that I was being watched. There were many such incidents. (034-288, 1970/09/13)
4. I was typical of those who carried on underground activities in Japan. I know Japan better than anyone else. Living near the Nijubashi Bridge, whenever I saw the Royal Palace, it made me so angry to think of what the Emperor was doing to my country. I studied all about Japan, beginning in the slums. I researched all aspects of Japanese life.
Once, I worked as a secretary doing paperwork in the office of a government official. At that time, I saw that the Japanese occupation would not last much longer. I engaged in underground activities as a student, but I never spoke about it, so no one knew about them. I traveled on the Bukwan Ferry from Busan to Shimonoseki to manage secret negotiations for independence.
I also traveled on the Hikari line between Busan in southern Korea, Sinuiju in northern Korea, and Dandong in China to connect various people behind the underground movement and serve as a liaison between their operatives. (465-174, 2004/08/21)
5. I experienced prison life during the period when the Korean people were suffering under 40 years of Japanese rule. I was incarcerated. I went to prison for the sake of liberating the Korean people.
The Japanese tempted me with all kinds of sweet words, saying, “If you cooperate with us, we will make you successful,” or “You will be well taken carry off, but I chose the path of suffering. God was so displeased with Japan that He would not let me take any interest in that country.
God drove me into prison as a strategy to prevent me from any kind of relationship with Japan. When I look back now, that's how I see it.
All those who supported the Japanese regime, from the top to the bottom, opposed me and pushed others to oppose me. Thus, God wanted me to take a path of suffering. (161-198, 1987/02/03)
6. Our Unification family began to pioneer the path to become those who can take responsibility on behalf of God and be recognized by Satan by making a connection to God's heart.
This path is something that no one knows; behind it are tragedies too numerous to count. During the time of Japanese rule, I was in and out of prison. Even while vomiting blood, and even when they pulled out my fingernails and blood drained from my ten fingers, I affirmed in prayer, “It is an honor to offer this blood as a sacrificial offering to represent the blood of ten tribes and the blood of ten nations.”
More than receiving my salvation, I thought about how good it would be if my one death could free the whole country from its resentment and liberate it. (049-157, 1971/10/09)
7. The universal and supreme hope of humanity is to find their original parents. It is to find the original world, the hometown that the original nature desires. This is the original goal that all people seek to achieve, whether in the past, the present, or the future.
If a nation cannot obtain it, true happiness will not dwell there. This is heaven's fundamental law, for the sake of which I abandoned everything. For that hope, I gave up all attachments, even to my parents.
I was imprisoned during the period of the Japanese occupation, but I was grateful that I could go to prison rather than betray my country. Since I was pursuing the sovereignty of heaven's nation, I would not bend to the sovereignty of the Emperor of Japan.
This was unforgivable to the followers of the Emperor and those under his sovereignty. Yet, I did not pursue worldly things. I spurned those pro-Japanese people who offered me a successful and comfortable life. Instead, I left my parents and my family behind and took the path to recover my country's independence. (020-140, 1968/05/01)
8. When I was a young man in my twenties, my head was filled with dreams. Others thought them to be fantasies, and they ridiculed and mocked me. My mother said, “My goodness! I made such a giant effort to send you to study, and yet you have come to this?”
I had the reputation of being intelligent, so although I was born as a second son, the Moon clan had great expectations for me. My mother invested all her efforts to support me. She did not have much money; still, she scraped together enough money to send me to study abroad. Yet when I came home, I ended up being taken off to prison.
When I thought of my mother shedding tears as she visited me in the prison run by the Japanese authorities, I wished I did not have to do what I was doing for my country. Nonetheless, I had to; it was my destiny. Knowing my situation, my mother could not say anything against me.
I said to her, “As your son, I have done nothing wrong. As a son of the Moon clan, I have done nothing to taint the family name. Even from the standpoint of the traditional perspective of Korea, my conscience is clean.
While I am here in prison, I do not want you to be the kind of mother who sheds tears over my hardships. I need you to be the kind of mother who will encourage and strengthen me.
I need you to be the kind of mother who will advise and encourage me to be bold and courageous for the sake of the future as I pioneer the road that can lead Asia and liberate the Korean people.
That is how I want to see you. I would rather not see you just weeping for me. After all, I consider myself to be God's Son.” (121-166, 1982/10/24)
9. By the work of my hands, I bought houses and clothes for numerous people, but I did not buy even one handkerchief for my parents. Indeed, I was not a filial son, but it was not for selfish reasons.
During the time of Japanese rule, after I came back from Japan and was taken to prison, my mother visited me and shed tears. Like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, I shouted, “Your son is not a small-minded man from the Moon clan.
What I see through my eyes is more than just you, my mother, weeping for me; it is the sorrow of God and the sorrow of the world. That is why I am here. I am taking this road for the sake of resolving that sorrow.” (121-289, 1982/10/29)
The path of loving your enemy
The Gyeonggi Province Police Department of the Japanese regime, which had jurisdiction over four police stations in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, had a notorious reputation.
During the time of Father's imprisonment, he was subjected to cruel tortures of various kinds and was beaten to the point where he vomited blood. The detectives demanded that he confess the names of his comrades in the underground independence movement, but ultimately, he did not disclose them.
Despite the agony racking his body, he kept his commitment and maintained his loyalty to his comrades.
Even on the verge of death, he did not pray, seeking sympathy from God. Even while he was beaten severely, he forgave his torturers and prayed for them to be blessed. His life in prison at the Gyeonggi Province Police Station until his release in February 1945 was a period of internal preparation, during which True Father communicated with God about future public activities.
10. I was often brought into the police station in shackles for questioning. I am well-known at the police station. On the day when I finally entered prison, word went around, “That Moon fellow is here again.”
The next day, some Japanese came to greet me, not to show respect but just to see whether the rumor that I had been imprisoned was true. Even when I was a student, it was common for me to go in and out of the police station.
I am a person who possesses a great deal of courage on the torture rack. This was my ongoing history. I was tortured severely by the Japanese police. If you seize young people and tell them that you will torture them with a scorching hot iron, they will say they did something even if they didn't. (025-163, 1969/10/03)
11. Among the tortures I received from the Japanese imperial police were men wearing combat boots kicking me in the stomach. Then, two men on the left and right grabbed my wrists while two other men trampled me.
When that was finished, what do you think happened to the skin on my stomach? How painful do you think it was to go to the restroom, to sit down, and then stand up?
However, I was not discouraged. While they were kicking me, I said, “Hey! This is great!” No one in the world talks like that, but I was enduring the pain for the sake of God. Even after that treatment, when I was released, ed I was very courteous to my torturers and spoke to them kindly as I was leaving.
After five or six hours of continuous torture, when I was about to faint and topple backward, I felt compassion for them. That was my attitude at that time. I sometimes think, “I wonder where that person who tortured me is now?” Someone who pursues only physical pleasures will never be able to understand my attitude, no matter how much I explain it. (017-298, 1967/02/15)
12. What is a patriot? A patriot is someone who sacrifices for the sake of his or her nation. The person who sacrifices the most becomes the most honored patriot. What is a filial child? Filial children dedicate themselves to the sake of their parents, even to the point of giving up their lives.
Suppose there are two sons, both of whom are dedicated to their parents, but only one of them is willing to offer his life for them. In that case, the one who was not willing to offer his life does not qualify as a true filial son.
Likewise, between two people who serve their nation, if one of them offers his life whereas the other does not, the one who was not willing to offer his life is not regarded as a true patriot.
We should be going the way of the Will, resolved to offer our lives. I offered my life long ago for the sake of righteousness. I am not a small-minded man. While attending school under Japanese rule, I fought in the underground movement.
Had I opened my mouth after I was captured, 70 of my comrades could have lost their lives, so I did not say a word.? When I take an oath of loyalty, I am a person who fulfills it. Even when I was at the point of death from the increasingly severe torture, for which they used various methods, I preferred to die rather than open my mouth. (065-064, 1972/11/13)
13. At the time of Japanese rule, even while I was undergoing all kinds of torture, I did not confess.
However much the chief interrogator of the Gyeonggi Province Police Department tortured me, I did not confess. I said, “I will not talk,” and that was that. They could have continued torturing me for 365 days, and it would not have worked on me.
When I blacked out, they would throw a bucket of cold water on me to make me regain consciousness; then I would joke with them, “Why did you do that? Let me sleep a little more!” When they saw that, even the torturers became my friends.
When they came, I even said, “Hey, when you do it like that, it doesn't hurt me. Do it like this instead.”
When it was obvious that torture would not get them what they wanted, they forced me to sign a document. But I told them, “If you take me to court, I will speak out and tell the court you forced me to sign it against my will.”
A man of integrity acts according to his commitments. I am such a man. Because I am that kind of man, I did not perish even though I was persecuted.
(081-205, 1975/12/28)
14. Because God is with me, I am not lonely. I am not lonely at all. During the time of the Japanese occupation, I was imprisoned and subjected to many kinds of torture.
They beat me to the point where my head was gashed open, and my entire body was covered with blood. In those circumstances, God taught me a secret method of endurance.
Once, I was interrogated for 12 hours and tortured to the point that I could not even crawl or move. They tortured me to the point where I lost consciousness, and then they threw cold water on me to wake me up.
They repeated this again and again. Nevertheless, I did not open my mouth. Satan conquered the world, and after he occupied the world, he attempted to dig out heaven's secret. But I did not utter even one word about it.
Since everything hinged on my one word, even at the point of death, I refused to open my mouth. Another horrible torture utilized a square bar with sharp edges that dug into the skin; it tore up my flesh, but I did not talk.
You must know how to maintain loyalty. If you make an oath, you must keep it even if you perish.
Suppose, after undergoing that kind of torture, you gave in and talked; even though you survived, that day would remain a day of misery and regret that you would never be able to forget. (033-116, 1970/08/09)
15. My flesh was hot and sore after my beating, and I was vomiting blood. There, I prayed, “This blood is the blood of the ancestors who betrayed history.
Since the road that I will have to travel remains ahead of me, if there is a cross that I need to bear, please let me bear it further.” This is the kind of prayer that only a true man can offer. This is the path I have walked to this day.
I prayed, “Right now, I am persevering and enduring, but the day will come when I will be repaid.
Therefore, Father, please endure. If You are going to judge the Korean people or the world, please notify me first so that I can have a chance to save them before You bring the judgment.”
What a difference between someone who prays like me and someone who is only complaining about this and that and blaming others!
Why don't you become a man like me, someone who appears only once in human history? Then, after you go to the spirit world, you, too, will be someone whom the world will honor. How awesome that would be!
You have only one chance to become like this, so do not miss it. If you miss this chance, it will never come again. Therefore, you must seize this opportunity. (017-298, 1967/02/15)
16. You do not know how beneficial exercise is. When I was exhausted, I would take advantage of any chance to urinate; if I took time to do physical exercise for as little as five minutes, my urine would be clear. Because I learned this, I survived prison life. Even though I received severe torture in that place, I still did not die.
Whenever someone is tortured, blood must be shed. One of the forms of torture was to force me to drink a lot of water and then stomp on my stomach. To resist that kind of torture, I had to empty my rectum. I had to get the water out through my rectum instead of urinating. This was to open a passage to relieve pressure on the stomach.
You must understand that God is the king of wisdom. To survive, there has to be a way for blood to get out. When you are exhausted, your nose bleeds, doesn't it? If it did not, you could suffer from a cerebral hemorrhage.
To prevent that from happening, your nose must bleed. A nosebleed happens because your body is aware that your blood pressure is rising.
Likewise, during torture, to relieve the pressure, you must bleed. If you are not bleeding from the torture, you need to bite your lips or tongue and make a hole so that you will bleed. I saved many people by teaching them this.
The path that people like us are walking is not an easy or comfortable one. I faced death many times, but I overcame every challenge because I knew this secret. (206-310, 1990/10/14)
17. Toward the end of Japanese rule in Korea, I was tortured numerous times by police detectives. A person who does not love his country cannot love God. Therefore, I participated in underground resistance activities in Japan.
Since I had been involved in that struggle while in Japan, when I returned to Korea, the Japanese police knew that I had returned, and they followed me around like ghosts.
When the police finally arrested me and interrogated me, during the interrogation, I vomited blood and was on the verge of death several times. Despite this, I risked my life to remain loyal and maintain my responsibility to my comrades with whom I had worked by telling the police that I had fought alone.
Even when threatened with death, I did not talk. When I am determined not to talk, I do not talk.
After Korea was liberated from Japan at the end of World War II, I could have retaliated against the people working at the Gyeonggi Province Police Station. But because they were defeated and in tears, I just let them go back to Japan as they were. (023-135, 1969/05/18)
18. If you do not plant, you cannot harvest. I saved my enemies by helping them escape at night, and now the young people of Japan are repaying me for that favor. The country of Japan has to repay it. This is why I am grateful to God for the experience of prison life in my twenties.
By going into a Japanese prison, I could understand the misery of the Korean people who had faced 40
years of this mistreatment. It was all part of my education. After prison, I could understand how evil Japan was. I had heard about the suffering of the Korean people at the hands of the Japanese from the testimonies of my fellow patriots, and I had also read about it in books.
But I did not feel how terrible it was until I had the experience myself. I did not fully believe what was written in the books because sometimes stories are told from the standpoint of the writer's imagination.
I finally came to understand the tragedy of Korea for the first time when I went to prison and was tortured and shed blood alongside other prisoners who were enduring the same kind of torture.
My experience in prison awakened my sense of duty that I must liberate these suffering people. The prison served as a great teacher. There, I laid foundation stones that, in the course of the providence of restoration, no one can touch.
(211-150, 1990/12/30)
19. I know that the Japanese slaughtered many of our people during the Japanese occupation of Korea.
Because of that, just thinking about the Japanese people makes me tremble with rage. However, in Asia, one cannot ignore Japan.
Although Japan was defeated in World War II, its participation was essential to create the three-nation alliance in Asia of Korea, Japan, and China.
In terms of their national character, the power of the Japanese to unite could be greater than that of the Germans.
Therefore, we do not take revenge against them. If you start with revenge, you end in revenge, and ultimately all will perish. Therefore, to make a new world based on Unification teachings, we are leading a new movement for unity to save Japan and its people first. (023-135, 1969/05/18)
20. No matter how much this world opposes me, I will not perish. Even though I may be imprisoned, my mind and my teachings cannot be imprisoned. While the Japanese were torturing me, I thought, “Go ahead and strike me!
If you do, the path that I have been walking in front of God and the path that God has been laying for Japan will be connected. So go ahead and strike me! See whether I hate you or not. You can check how strong my love for my enemy is.”
Even while being beaten and vomiting blood, I said, “Ah! It was good for me to be beaten. I was struck on behalf of all humankind and all the resentment in history.
You beat me, but I will completely forget it; I will not remember it. Dear God, please forgive them.”
We must all be willing to be hit and to forgive. To achieve this, we must stand in the position of denying our lives. Then, all problems will be simple to resolve.
When Korea was under Japanese rule, there was a time when I was tortured for 12 hours straight, and I vomited blood. I was also subjected to torture so unusual that I can never forget a torture that drives people insane. Miraculously, I survived. Nevertheless, I did not treat my torturers as enemies.
I felt responsible for praying for them to receive blessings. I studied each of them and pondered deeply to find something good in them as a condition for me to give them my blessing.
Every human being has a conscience. One of the prison guards who tortured me one day came to me the next morning after everyone else had left the room and apologized to me.
Thinking of this, I realized that all human beings are the same. No one can deceive their conscience. (027-074, 1969/11/23)
Sun Myung Moon