Sun Myung Moon
March 13, 2006
Chambumo Gyeong - Book 7. True Parents' Course of Suffering and Victory, Chapter 1.
Suffering and Victory during the Japanese Occupation and in Communist North Korea,
Section 5. Gathering Lost Family Members, 40 days in Pyongyang
Photo date and location unknown
9. When I left Hungnam Prison, there were four people who 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 in search of 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 of 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 Pyongyang, I first tried to meet all the family members who had been with me there.
I was in prison 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 care and let's meet together 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)