Suffering in the Pyongyang Days

*Together with the members who joined the Church in Pyongyang ( Photo taken around the end of 1995 in Seoul )

Following this, about twenty new members joined Reverend Moon, either through receiving revelations or by being guided by other members. Thus, the first pioneer church and the first house church in the providence of the Second Advent were established. In the midst of all this, Reverend Moon, not having citizenship identification papers, was arrested by the public security department on suspicion of being a spy sent by Dr. Syngman Rhee. On his release after severe torture he was on the verge of death. He barely-and miraculously-survived.

Subsequently, the meeting place was changed to the house owned by Mr. Myung-sun Chung, and church membership increased to forty people.

On February 22, 1948, as a result of the North Korean regime's policy of the elimination of all religion, Sun Myung Moon was arrested on charges of inciting civil disorder and sentenced to five years in Hungnam prison, of which he served two years and eight months.

Among those who followed Reverend Moon during the Pyongyang days were Choe-sup Rah, Sung-bok Kim, Jong-hwa Kim, Myung-sun Chung, Sang-soon Cha, Jong-yun Kim, In-ju Kim, Won-pil Kim, Se-hyun Oak, Dal-ok Chung, Seung-do Ji, In-shil Kang, Yoo-sup Rah, Soon-ok Kim, Deug-eun Chung, and Young-shil Kim.

Reverend Moon devoted himself in prison completely to overcoming the most terrible circumstances, and accordingly received a certificate for being a model prisoner each year of his term. A number of prisoners became his disciples. Representative among these were a Mr. Kim and Mr. Jung-hwa Park who were prisoners with supervisory responsibilities. During Sun Myung Moon's time in this "labor hell" of Hungnam prison, the Korean war broke out.