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The Unification Church has had a complex relationship with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). The North Korean government imprisoned and exiled Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, along with other religious figures. The church opposed the North's alliance with communism, but later promoted economic cooperation between North and South.〔(Sun Myung Moon's Groundbreaking Campaign to Open North Korea ), ''The Atlantic'', Armin Rosen, September 6, 2012〕 ==Background== Sun Myung Moon, the founder and leader of the Unification Church, was born on 25 February 1920, in modern-day North P'yŏng'an Province, North Korea during the time when Korea was under Japanese rule. Hak Ja Han, Moon's widow and present leader of the church, was also born in North Korea. In the 1940s Moon cooperated with Communist Party members in the Korean independence movement against Imperial Japan. After the defeat of Japan (in the Second World War) in 1945, Korea was divided between Soviet and American occupation forces. In 1948 the Republic of Korea was established in the south and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north, usually referred to as South Korea and North Korea.〔''The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History'', Don Oberdorfer, Basic Books, 2001 ISBN 0465051626, 9780465051625, pages 3 - 10〕 The government of North Korea followed Stalinist policies and sought to discourage free religious activities. In 1946, Moon was living in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. Pyongyang was the center of Christian activity in Korea until 1945. From the late forties 166 priests and other religious figures were killed or disappeared in concentration camps, including Francis Hong Yong-ho, bishop of Pyongyang and all monks of Tokwon abbey.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work= Missionary Benedictines of St. Ottilien )〕 No Catholic priest survived the persecution, all churches were destroyed and the government never allowed any foreign priest to set up in North Korea.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work= U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, November 2005 )〕 Moon was arrested by the North Korean authorities on allegations of spying for South Korea and given a five-year sentence to the Hŭngnam labor camp.〔 In 1950, during the Korean War, he escaped and fled to Pusan, South Korea. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Unification Church and North Korea」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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