Skip to content
Placeholder image for when a portrait image is not available

Moon Seon-myeong

Charismatic founder of the T'ongilgyo or Unification Church, who was born in North Korea.

Biography

Placeholder image for when a portrait image is not available
MOON SEON-MYEONG (1920-2012). Often referred to as Moon Sun-myung. Charismatic founder of the T'ongilgyo or Unification Church (popularly known as the "Moonies"), who was born in North Korea. At 16, he claimed that he had a divine mission to reform the Christian Church; he would later claim to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ. His religious activities around Pyongyang led to his imprisonment by the communists in 1945. Released by the UN forces in 1950, he fled to South Korea.

In 1954, he organized the Unification Church in the Busan area, and by 1959, he was able to send the church's first missionary overseas. Thereafter, the Unification Church's main strength was overseas, and Moon moved to the United States in the 1970s, later leaving after being charged with tax evasion during the Koreagate affair. Moon was staunchly anticommunist and provided support for South Korea under President Park Chung Hee, but even in South Korea, there has been concern over his church's recruiting methods and business practices. Later South Korean presidents have tended to keep Moon and the Unification Church at a distance, although sometimes using the church's cultural groups, such as the Little Angels dance troupe, for formal entertainment. During the 1990s, and despite his earlier anticommunism, Moon became a frequent visitor to North Korea, where the Unification Church has a number of business interests.

All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher. (Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Korea, by Andrew C. Nahm and James E. Hoare, published by RLPG Books, appears by permission of the author and publisher).

Popular Documents

No Documents Were Found for This Resource