Chapter 1 The Life of the Founder

 School Days

TIt was not until the age of eighteen that Reverend Moon, having attended a traditional Confucian school as well as receiving a general education, left his hometown to enroll in the electrical studies department of Kyungsung commercial school in Seoul. While earning a living and cooking for himself, he kept a faithful religious life as a Sunday school teacher at the Myung Su Dae Church of Jesus. In 1941, at the age of twenty-one, he graduated from Kyungsung commercial school and went to Japan to further his studies. On leaving for Japan he prayed to God with determination that although he would now go to Tokyo to study, on his return he would reclaim and re-establish his nation.

Sun Myung Moon enrolled in the department of electrical engineering at the industrial college affiliated with Waseda University. While continuing his studies he participated in the movement opposing the Japanese annexation of Korea, in communication with those working for the provisional Korean government in Shanghai. He further set up a secret society with his friends to foster solidarity among his compatriots.

His whereabouts and activities were continually monitored and he had to be constantly alert. Sometimes he would be arrested and taken to the police station. Reverend Moon was among those who instigated a Korean students' demonstration against the Japanese policy of conscripting them into their army.