Sun Myung Moon was arrested for imprisoning a female student for three days. He starved her.
(Korean and English text, and an image, updated June 4, 2021)
Soon-shil Choi was the sister of Sam Park’s mother. She was trying to leave Moon’s sex cult and so he imprisoned her in 1955. Moon was able to keep her the group at that time. He planned to marry her in 1959, before he ended his 40th year (in Korean age a person is one year old at birth). Soon-shil escaped just before the wedding was to be held in the fall of 1959. Moon was beyond furious and had to marry someone else, Hak Ja Han, early in 1960. [Sam Park explains this.]
The story of Moon and the 1955 Ewha Woman’s University sex scandal was all over the newspapers in Korea, and was also reported in Japan. The Unification Church became infamous and recruiting became very difficult. The members went to rural areas where fewer people had seen the scandalous news reports. Sometimes, according to an FBI report, recruiters paid people to join. Korea was poverty stricken following the 1950-53 war, and so some did take the money and join.
Kyunghyang Shinmun Daily News – July 15, 1955, Seoul
Six arrested and indicted in the matter of Unification Church believers
통일교회 교주 문(文鮮明 = 三六) 씨 외 五명의 교회간부를 구속취조 중이던 치안국특수 정보과에서는 수사에 일단락을 짓고 피의자 전원六명을 十三일 하오 검찰청에 구속 송치하였다
Concerning Unification Church leader Mr Moon (Moon Sun Myung, 36) and the five key officers of the church, who are now in detention and are being interrogated at the Public Peace National Special Intelligence Bureau, the first stage of the criminal investigation has been completed. On the afternoon of the thirteenth [of July], all six suspects were sent to be held in detention by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
▲ 文鮮明 Moon Sun Myung (教主 church leader) = 兵役法違反 Acting against the Military Service Law and 不法監禁 Wrongful imprisonment [of a 22-year old female Yonsei University student for three days].
▲ 劉孝元 Eu Hyo-won (幹部 cadre) = 公文書偽造 Counterfeiting of official documents
▲ 劉孝敏 Eu Hyo-min (cadre) = 國家保安法違反 Acting against National Security law
▲ 劉孝永 Eu Hyo-young (cadre) = 兵役法 맟 國家保安法違反 Acting against Military Service and National Security laws
▲ 金元弼 Kim Won-pil (cadre) = 兵役法違反 Acting against Military Service law
▲ 催淳實 Choi Soon-shil = (女信徒 a female believer) 淫行媒介 being instrumental in the conduct of immoral sexual acts.
이들은 서울지검 강 (姜瑞龍) 검사의 취조를 받게되었다 한다
These people have been undergoing formal interrogation by public prosecutor Kang Seo-yong ( 姜瑞龍 ) of the Seoul District Public Prosecutor’s Office.
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The female university student who Moon imprisoned was Soon-shil Choi. At the time she was a 22-year old student at Yonsei University. Her sister, Soon-wha Choi, went to Ewha Woman’s University. According to other sources Moon dressed Soon-shil Choi in white robes and withheld food for three days. He was apparently coercing her to stay in his church. Her brother, Soon-yong Choi, alludes to the Unification Church using force: “the stark realities of the almost forceful missionary work done in the early days of the Unification Church.” LINK
▲ Soon-wha Choi is on the right. It is probably her sister, Soon-shil, sitting close to her. The women can be seen below the feet of Sun Myung Moon in the photo below which was taken on March 31, 1955 in Seoul. Soon-shil Choi was arrested 3 months later.
Diary of UC President Hyo-won Eu, who was involved in the Ewha ‘7.4 incident’. (July 4 incident) “In his position as president of our family in Korea for 15 years, he wrote almost daily in his diary, reporting to Father and making a plan for the following day.”
Excerpts from Eu’s 1955 diary. Edited by the UC.
[Note: In this diary Hyo-won Eu, or UC editors, changed some women into men.]
Translated by Rev. David Kwanil Hwang. From Tong-il Segye, July 1980
Hyo-won Eu refers to 催淳實 / 催淳実 Choi Soon-shil as Sung Sil Choi
Hyo-won Eu’s diary: “May 11, 1955. Lecturing all day to people whom Kyung Ku led to the center. Four people from Ewha University were expelled from the dormitory. I came downstairs and saw Kil-ja [Sa – later blessed to Hyo-won Eu], Mong Sa, Mee Shik [Shin – later blessed to Papasan Choi] and Myung Jin [Seo] eating. Everyone was smiling. After the evening service was over I tried to bring them to Mr. Yang’s house to stay there. I was so impressed by their determination. I wrote a petition to the professors of the school at their request.”
▲ Here is ‘Mr. Yang’. Her name is Yang Yoon-yeong. She was a music professor at Ewha Woman’s University, and was also involved with music at Yonsei University. Her house was located mid way between Ewha and Yonsei Universities. Hyo-won Eu often taught the Divine Principle at her house. Myung-hee Kim lived there for a while, before going to Japan to give birth to Moon’s child, Hee-jin (born in Tokyo on August 17, 1955).
Hyo-won Eu’s diary: “July 4, 1955 (day of great persecution) Today I determined to die seven times. In the evening, the newsmen came again, scurrying around, taking pictures of Teacher. Shortly afterwards, Investigator Oh and Chief Investigator Kim came over to ask Teacher to come to the station in order to tape an interview. Young Oon [Kim] and I followed them. We went into different rooms.”
Hyo-won Eu: “July 5. We bought all the newspapers. The story in the papers was very dirty… We were interrogated for evading the draft and for illegally confining people. Sitting all day with an empty stomach, I even forgot about being tired.”
▲ Unification Church members 劉景圭 유경규 Yoo Kyoung-kyu and 黄煥菜 황환채 Hwang Hwan-chae (later Hwang was one of the 36 couples) witness at Ewha Womans University in 1955. They had both joined as students at the nearby Yonsei University in Seoul. The president of the UC at the time, Eu Hyo-won, refers to them in his diary (below). The main building of the Ewha campus is in the background. Ewha was supported by the US Methodist Church.
Hyo-won Eu: “July 11. I encouraged Kyung Kyu [Yoo], Hwan Chai [Hwang] and the students from Ewha. I asked everybody to meet at Yang’s house [she was the professor from Ewha Woman’s University], with unity and love. At 4:30 I prepared for life in jail, and went to the investigation station. I also saw Sung Sil Choi being interrogated. He also was arrested. I was arrested at the East Gate station.”
[Sung Sil Choi is Ms. Soon-shil Choi, who is a young woman and not a man. Hyo Won Eu saw Ms. Soon-shil Choi – accused of being involved in immoral sexual acts – at the police station.]
Hyo-won Eu: “July 13. I was sent by a detective to the Chong No station. Already Teacher [Moon] and Sung Sil were there. When Teacher, Attorney Choi and the detective were going to take the taxi to the local court, many family members surrounded us. Hyo Min [Eu] and Hyo Young [Eu] were with them too. Young-Sook Park [a student from Ewha] was looking at me very sympathetically. When we were almost ready to leave, one of my nephews called out, “Uncle, what happened to you?” He was crying. When the car left, he hit the window. Their faces looked at us with so much longing, so I told them there was nothing to worry about.”
▲ After their expulsion, the Ewha students managed to meet President Kim Hwal-lan on May 23, 1955. She stood by her decision. This picture was taken on campus after the meeting.
(Top from left) Seo Myung-jin, Lee Gye-soon*, Sa Gil-ja, Chi Saeng-ryeon**, Park Young-sook, Kang Jung-won and Chong Dae-hwa (who was later married to Kim Young-whi)
(Bottom from left) Choi Soon-wha (the mother of Sam Park), Yim Seung-hee***, Kim Jung-eun, Shin Mi-shik (later known as Mamasan Choi) and Park Seung-kyu.
* Lee Gye-soon entered Kyunghee University in 1957. She left the Unification Church over 50 years ago and had a successful career as a professor.
** Before Chi Saeng-ryeon joined she was known as Chi Mal-sook, and after she moved to the US in 1973 she was known as Mal-sook Lee.
*** Her name may be 朴承姫 Park Seung-hee and not 林 Yim or Lim Seung-hee.
Kim Yun-rye was also expelled but later made a pledge to give up the Unification Church, and Ewha Womans University allowed her to return to her studies.
Eight of the expelled students entered other universities in 1956.
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Hyo-won Eu: “We became so tired, waiting in the Pigeon’s Ground. Teacher’s right wrist and my left wrist were bound tightly together. We were led to the examining room. Mr. Han, Mother Oak [Se-hyun Ok], Chong Bok, Han Yong, Hwan Chai and Kyung Gu were trying to follow us. We all ate the food brought by our family. When all six, including Sung Sil [Soon-shil Choi], were being bound together, Teacher said, “They are making us eternally inseparable. We determine to fight unto death.” When I heard these words I was glad and happy. He looked at me and added, “Hyo Won, you are having a hard time, aren’t you?” I told him, “Because of our mistakes, we got you into trouble as well.” With 30 other prisoners, we were sent to the West Gate prison. Some time after midnight, we arrived at Building 6, Ward 9, Cell 380.”
Hyo-won Eu: “July 29. Again, as on the first day, five of us were bound together with Teacher and were sent before Judge Kang [姜瑞龍 Kang Seo-yong]. All family members were with us, too. I said to myself, “Bind us together forever.”
“Son Yung Sohn touched me. I asked him to greet Teacher. Teacher told him, “Pray a lot.” When we got into the car, they didn’t let us sit next to the window. I couldn’t understand how their minds could be so hard. I saw that some investigators were envious of our passionate love and our family’s efforts. They are our strength and shelter. Kwang Yul’s [Kwang-Yol Yoo] brother-in-law came to visit us. I couldn’t forget the impression of a lady waving her hands beside Kae Sun. Why couldn’t I remember her name? This is my shortcoming. Mr. Choi came over, but I couldn’t see him. Chung Su Choi came from Wan Ju, greeting me with tears. They were our family who wanted to share our persecution.”
“So finally 22 days passed since our arrest, and we were brought to trial. The first trial was at 10:00 at the local courtroom in Seoul, courtroom 4. The judge was Hak-No Yoon 尹學老. He was actually the chief judge. In the afternoon session, Judge Seo-Yong Kang 姜瑞龍 gave the following sentence: ‘Teacher, 2 years; Hyo Won, 2 years; the other members, 1 year each.’”
[The others were each sentenced to 18 months, not 12 months.]
http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Talks/Eu/Eu-550000.htm
▲ From the left, Won-pil Kim, Hyo-yeong Eu, Hyo-min Eu and Sun Myung Moon standing before the judge in mid 1955. The court room was full of church members. (For those who doubt the veracity of this photo, it can be found in several copies of Today’s World magazine and in other official UC publications.)
Gil Ja Sa Eu (the wife of Hyo-won Eu)
When numerous students and several outstanding professors became Unification Church members, they were given an ultimatum: Leave the Unification Church or leave Ewha University.
… fourteen of us were called to the office of the dean of students. The dean told us, ‘The Unification Church is heresy, and they dance around in the nude. You mustn’t go there.’ We answered, ‘We haven’t even danced fully clothed, much less nude. If we wanted to dance, we would go to a dance hall. Why should we go to church to dance?’ But she said, ‘That’s not true. You don’t know because you’re not in very deeply yet. If you keep going, they will make you take your clothes off and dance.’ (from ‘My Testimony’ by Gil Ja Sa Eu, page 27 – an essay in the Unification Theological Seminary Library, Barrytown, New York.)
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Chung-hwa Pak said this about Moon’s 1955 trial:
“Thanks to the members in Seoul, Korea, who out of desperation committed perjury and destroyed evidence, [Moon] was said to be acquitted. But the facts had roots. He would otherwise have had a long prison sentence.”
ソウルでは食口たちの偽証や、私たちが必死で動いた証拠隠滅のおかげで、無罪になったとはいえ、事実有根。本来なら長期刑になるところだった。
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The focus of the police investigation into the Unification Church was group sex. Unless the police had evidence or witnesses they could only bring the lesser charges listed in the Kyunghyang Shinmun Daily News.
Dong-a Ilbo, July 6th 1955.
A leading Seoul newspaper reported that, “According to the investigative reports, he [Moon] did not follow military conscription procedure and also overstated his age at 43 rather than 36. [The reports said] it was found that he illegally imprisoned [a 22-year-old female student] for three days and forced her to adopt the new religion.” Investigation of Korean-American Relations, Report of the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Committee on International Relations, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, October 31, 1978, 447 pages. Page 353 (Moon’s arrest by South Korean Police)
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Jong-ok Kim 金貞玉
(She was Dean of Students at Ewha Woman’s University in 1955.)
週刊ポスト Shūkan Post, October 15th 1993. Pages 212 to 215
“Moon was arrested on July 4th on suspicion of violation of military law, adultery and illegal detention of a Yonsei University 22-year-old female student for three days.”
LINK
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Robert B Boettcher from his book “Gifts of Deceit” page 35:
“Rumors reached the American Embassy [in Seoul] that Moon was a ritual womanizer. Reportedly, young girls underwent sexual initiation into his cult; he would thus purge them of the Satanic spirits that inhabited Eve and lead them to the Divine Principle. He was jailed for three months in 1955 by South Korean authorities on charges reported by newspapers and government agencies as draft evasion, forgery, “pseudo-religion,” and false imprisonment of a university coed compelled to adopt his religion.” ref: Investigation of Korean-American Relations, October 31, 1978, Page 353 (Moon’s arrest by South Korean Police)
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Dong-a Ilbo, July 7, 1955
「하느님」아들行勢
弄絡當한婦女수두룩
注目끄는統 一 敎會 「文敎主」行狀
He posed as the son of God.
There are many women who have been sexually abused. The behavior of Moon, the leader of the Unification Church, attracts attention.
LINK to the full newspaper report with Korean text and translation.
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July 14, 1955 동아일보 Dong-a Ilbo (East Asia Daily News)
Six people arrested and arraigned, including Moon the religious leader of the ‘Unification Church’
Following Earlier Report = The investigation of the so-called ‘Incident of the Holy Spirit Association of the Unification of World Christianity,’ which had been under police investigation, has concluded with the six persons involved being arrested and arraigned yesterday, the 13th, by the Seoul District Public Prosecutor’s Office under one case file.
The persons involved in this incident are currently being questioned on charges which include violating the Military Service Act, counterfeiting official documents, and violating the National Security Act. Also, according to one investigating official, there is evidence for seven counts of adultery between sect leader Moon and his female followers. It is expected that there will be a new investigation as an adultery case, but the investigation cannot proceed because so far there have been no complaints from the husbands of the female followers who committed adultery (adultery is an offense subject to complaint, so [a case] needs a victim’s complaint for indictment).
Furthermore, establishing the adultery case will provide the standard for deciding whether the religion is or is not a cult, so the development of the prosecution’s investigation is being watched with keen interest.
♢ List of those involved (arrested and arraigned)
▲ Moon Sun Myung (Sect leader) = charges of wrongful imprisonment and of violating the Military Service Act
▲ Kim Won-pil = charges of violating the National Security Act, and violating the Military Service Act
▲ Eu Hyo-min = charges of violating the Military Service Act
▲ Eu Hyo-yeong = charges of violating the Military Service Act
▲ Eu Hyo won = charges of counterfeiting official documents
▲ Choi Soon-shil = (woman) charges of being instrumental in the conduct of fornication.
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Eileen Barker The Making of a Moonie: Brainwashing or Choice? (1984) pages 42 and 265
“But the following year Moon was imprisoned again. The Unificationists say that this was on a trumped-up charge of draft evasion, but it has also been reported that he was charged with ‘injuring public morals’, or, according to another account, that ‘his indictment was initially draft dodging but was later changed to adultery and promiscuity.’ Similar rumors (which persist to this day in Korea)31 alleged that he was engaging in ritual sexual practices. … The Unification Church, however, persists in its assertion that Moon was never arrested on sexual charges.
Note 31 In conversations with scores of non-Unificationist Koreans the first information I have been given about the Unification Church has, in almost every instance, been that Moon engages (or has engaged) in immoral sexual practices with his followers.”
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James Huntley Grayson: Korea – A Religious History (New York: Routledge Curzon, 1989, revised 2002)
page 210: “In July 1955, Mun was imprisoned for gross immorality, but was subsequently released.”
page 211: “As one of the most important functions of the Lord of the Second Advent is the physical restoration of mankind, Mun selects suitable marital partners for the faithful and conducts sacred ceremonies of marriage in large groups. It should be noted with regard to the purging of physical sin that Mun has been accused of acts of gross immorality which are denied by church authorities.”
Professor Emeritus James H. Grayson BA (Rutgers), MA (Columbia), MDiv (Duke), PhD (Edinburgh)
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Robert Parry
“The South Korean government arrested Moon in 1955 for allegedly conducting more sexual “purification” rites, according to several U.S. intelligence reports which are now public. Moon was freed three months later because none of the young women would testify for fear of public humiliation, according to an undated FBI summary, released under a Freedom of Information Act request.
“During the next two years in the national news media of South Korea, Rev. Moon was the butt of scandalist humor,” the FBI report said.”
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/122706.html
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Choi Soon-shil, who confessed to group sex activities, was released because of her father’s efforts. His name was Choi Seong-mo and he was a very successful businessman. He was the grandfather of Sam Park who was born in Washington, DC. in January 1966.
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Sun Myung Moon used a ‘Honey Trap’ – Choi Soon-yeong explains
Pikareum sex emerged at Ewha Womans University in 1955
Sun Myung Moon’s “Gigantic lie” by Eu Hyo-min (36 couple)
Moon’s first wife, Choi Seon-gil, and Kim Deok-jin interviewed
Ewha Womans University sex scandal as told in the 1955 newspapers
KOREAN: 統一教會 事件 = Unification Church Ewha incident [of 1955]
Moon talks about the 1955 Ewha Womans University sex scandal
The testimony of Professor Kim from Ewha Womans University
Gil-ja Sa Eu on the 1955 Ewha Womans University sex scandal
Sun Myung Moon found guilty in 1955; started two year jail sentence
Pak Chung-hwa interviewed about Moon’s “SEX relays”
Moon’s theology for his pikareum sex rituals with all the 36 wives
“… the Unification Church became a pariah group in the eyes of the very population which it was trying to convert”