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In 1945, he was married to Sang Il Choi, a strong Christian woman from a well-known Presbyterian family. Korea at this time was filled with fervent Christians. In this climate, Rev. Moon’s initial intention was not to establish a new denomination but to collaborate with fellow Christians to advance God's kingdom on earth. He diligently sought to share his fresh revelations with existing Korean Christian congregations, but his novel teachings faced rejection. Despite his persistent efforts to engage established churches, they rebuffed his ideas.
In 1946, while purchasing rice for his family, God instructed Rev. Moon to leave without informing them and traveled to communist North Korea to preach.
Journeying by foot over 100 miles to Pyeongyang (dubbed the "Jerusalem of the East” due to its vibrant Christianity), he took nothing with him but his Bible. Many churches in Pyeongyang held strong messianic hopes, with some receiving divine revelations that the Messiah would be born in Korea, prompting them to prepare for his arrival.
Rev. Moon began preaching openly, despite the risks posed by the communist regime. As a humble preacher with unconventional biblical interpretations, he was more vulnerable than leaders of established churches and was among the first religious figures imprisoned by the communists. Accused of disrupting social order in November 1946, the young minister was jailed and severely tortured. The police, believing him dead, discarded his body onto the prison yard. His followers discovered him and nursed his battered body back to health. Remarkably, Rev. Moon recovered and resumed public preaching undeterred.
In April 1948, he was arrested again and sentenced to five years of grueling labor in Hungnam prison, a Soviet-style North Korean gulag designed to exterminate inmates through brutal work. Most prisoners survived mere months, yet Rev. Moon endured nearly three years. Though he never taught the Divine Principle, twelve of his fellow prisoners looked to him for spiritual strength and became his disciples.
On June 25, 1950, North Korea’s army invaded the South, aiming to forcibly unify the peninsula. UN and American forces, led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, liberated the South. A month after seizing Seoul, UN troops reached Hungnam prison. With UN forces approaching, communist authorities began executing inmates. The camp was freed just hours before Rev. Moon’s scheduled execution.
Despite his harrowing prison ordeal, Rev. Moon did not immediately escape to the South. Instead, he returned to Pyeongyang, spending 40 days searching for his scattered followers. He located a few and traveled south on foot with two of them. One follower, hampered by a broken leg, feared he’d delay the group. Rev. Moon insisted on including him, pushing him on a bicycle or carrying him on his back throughout the arduous journey.
