updated August 23, 2022

A critical testimony on the “pikareum sex ritual problem” in the Unification Church

Friday Japanese magazine September 3, 1993 (pages 6-7)

Interviewed by Mr. Hagiwara Ryo (South Korea local coverage)

▲ Left: Rev. Sun Myung Moon, refuted by a former UC top leader.
▲ Center: Mr. Eu, former top UC leader, responding to the interviewer in the garden of his home in Seoul.

During my on-the-ground research in South Korea with a former top leader of the Unification Church I was told, “All of what Sun Myung Moon says is lies. The whole [Ewha Womans University] ‘incident’ was about women.”

Mr. Eu Hyo-min, aged 72, spoke forcefully, waving his hands in the air as he answered journalist Mr. Hagiwara Ryo.

Mr. Eu was a member when the Unification Church was founded in Seoul in 1954. He was in the leading church group known as the “36 Blessed Couples.” Of course, Mr. Eu himself was also in the top leadership, but he left the church 20 years ago [in the 1970s]. He now runs a firearms manufacturing company.

Mr. Eu spoke strongly about the so-called “pikareum problem” in which Mr. Moon, the founder of the church, was said in those days to restore his women followers through [three] acts of sexual intercourse. This was known as “pikareum”.

The actor, Mr. Atsuo Nakamura, recently said: “There was a sex ritual called pikareum in Unification Church.”

[Mr. Atsuo Nakamura was well-known in Japan as an actor. He later became a politician, and was in the Japanese National Diet when he spoke.]

In response, the church filed a lawsuit against Mr. Atsuo Nakamura claiming that the statement was “untrue” [groundless] and the subject became a hot topic.

The Unification Church said, “There is no such thing called ‘pikareum’ in our church, neither is it in our teachings,” and they deny the whole story.

▲ Mr. Moon with many young women who all needed to be “restored”. The wife of Kwak Chung-hwan is front right.

[On April 19, 2022 a top official of the FFWPU, Rev Jinchun Kim has acknowledged that Sun Myung Moon did perform pikareum. He said, “And (Abonim) [Sun Myung Moon] should have neither married before the Marriage Supper of the Lamb [in 1960], nor should he have been involved in a restoration providence [pikareum]. I spoke earlier about this content, and Omonim [Hak Ja Han] also emphasized such content.” LINK

From about 2014 two of Sun Myung Moon’s sons, Kook-jin Moon and Hyung-jin Moon have taught that it was necessary for their father to purify women of original sin through pikareum sex to cleanse their wombs.] LINK

Friday magazine:

They say the very first person to speak out about ‘pikareum’ in public was Mr. Eu. The pivotal moment at which “pikareum” became known to the public was due to the “incident” as Mr. Eu puts it.

But this is an opportunity to discuss “the incident.” In July 1955, a series of rumors which hinted at obscenity successively spread about Mr. Moon, the founder [who was in Seoul at the time], and some Ewha Womans University students. Married women were also involved in the rumors.

Choi Soon-shil, the sister of Soon-wha, and several professors were interrogated by the police during the 1955 Ewha scandal. In his journal Eu Hyo-won (the cousin of Eu Hyo-min) mentions seeing them at the police station when he was also arrested.

The scandal was covered in many Korean newspapers from March to October, and there were some reports in the Japanese press. Here are some examples:

May 27, 1955 Choongang Ilbo

Is the Unification Church a deviant religion?
It is similar to nudism.

Quoting what it said were opinions of various sectors of the society… It carried a remark from a police officer: “Although we cannot yet publicize a concrete piece of evidence about their sexual practice, they seem to be connected to the New Lord Sect, those nudists in Pyungbok.” It also had a remark from Gion Che, their chief editor in Christian communication: “They understand everything in terms of sex. Their three-day brainwashing was quite convincing; however, acts that deny the Bible cannot last long. I am certain that Ewha Womans University took a wise step.”

梨大에除籍沙汰邪敎徒라고敎授學生17名
이대에 제적사태 사교도라고 교수학생 17명
Students and professors, 17 in total, get expelled by the Ewha University due to their cult involvement

June 4, 1955 Yonhap Shinmun

“The founder claims to be God. The members cry wildly and sing hymns, saying that diseases are cured by prayers and baptism of fire.”

June 5, 1955 Yonhap Shinmun

“Their uniqueness lies in being based on sex. Even faculty members who went there to check the situation joined them. … They deny the whole of the established church and claim they will unify the world religions.”

July 6, 1955 서울일보 Seoul Daily News page 3

Moon Sun Myung was “Misleading women into fornication through eloquence”

July 14, 1955 동아일보 Dong-a Ilbo (East Asia Daily News)

六名을拘束送廳「統一敎會」의文教主等

륙명을구속송청 「통일교회」의문교주등

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 a 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.

[Choi Soon-shil abruptly left the Unification Church in 1959, just before Moon wanted to marry her. She was the sister of Choi Soon-wha who is known as “Annie Choi” in the US where she lives. She has spoken about sex rituals involving Sun Myung Moon with six women in a circle; he mounted each in turn. This first happened to her in 1953-54 when she was seventeen. LINK In 1965 Sun Myung Moon impregnated her and she gave birth to his son, Sam Park, in Washington DC in January 1966.]

Friday magazine:

Six church leaders, including Mr. Moon and Mr. Eu, were arrested on charges which included illegal imprisonment [of a female student from Yonsei University]. After a three-month investigation trial Mr. Moon was declared innocent.

Mr. Eu was sentenced to eight months in prison. It was the so-called “Ewha Womans University incident.”

The Unification Church’s position about this incident is: “the Rev. Sun Myung Moon was detained [on July 4th] and others were detained [in the following week] on suspicion of refusal to serve in the military and unlawful confinement. The founder fought the charges on army draft, and at the end of the trial, he was acquitted of both the charges. Therefore it was not pikareum,” said Mr. Mok Noe-hak 牧瀬学, public relations manager.

Mr. Mok went on to say: “For example, a strong argument that is given to journalists for the absence of ‘pikareum’ is the “Ewha Womans University incident”. A former member of the church who published an article on ‘pikareum’ in 1976 was jailed. In 1983 a journalist who wrote about ‘pikareum’ was ordered to pay damages to a church member for damage to their reputation.”

▲ Restoring so many women was tiring for Mr. Moon.

However, Mr. Eu himself was given a prison sentence at the trial. “At the beginning I almost gave testimony against Mr. Moon, but I decided it was not yet the time. I was obstinate. But things got progressively more heavy, and eventually I spoke up and have now given some serious testimonies.”

Here is the historical record:

1955.9.22 동아일보 東亞日報 Dong-A Ilbo

文敎主에二年統一敎會事件求刑
문교주에 이년 통일교회사건구형

Prosecution proposed a sentence of two years against Cult Leader Moon in the Unification Church matter

Following earlier report: The first trial regarding the ‘Unification Church incident’ started on the 20 [September 1955]. After investigating the facts, prosecutor Kang Seo-yong ( 姜瑞龍 ), recommended the following terms for the defendants:

▲ Moon Sun Myung (religious leader) = Imprisonment for two years

▲ Eu Hyo-won = Imprisonment for two years

▲ Kim Won-pil, Eu Hyo-min and Eu Hyo-yeong
= Each person imprisonment for one year and six months

작보 = 二 (이) 십일 개정된『통일교회사건』제一 (일) 회공판에서 사실심리에이어 관여 姜瑞龍 (강서용) 검사는피고들에게 각각다음과같이 체형구형을하였다

▲ 文鮮明 (문선명) (교주) = 懲役二年(징역이년)
▲ 劉孝元 (유효원) = 懲役二年(징역이년)
▲ 金元弼 (김원필) 劉孝敏 (유효민) 劉孝永 (유효영) = 各各懲役一年六月
(각각징역일년륙월)

▲ Moon was released after dark, at 9:40pm on October 4, 1955. There had been a brief hearing earlier that day where, according to the diary of Eu Hyo-won, “Chief Judge Yoon Hak-no proclaimed that Teacher was innocent” in spite of the fact that Moon had admitted his guilt in court on September 20. Oh Yeong-choon’s testimony also sheds light on what happened.

Oh Yeong-choon 呉永春 raised large sums of money and visited the lawyers and the prosecutor. This testimony was written before she left the church. LINK

Friday magazine:

Eu Hyo-min: “Let me give an explanation of ‘pikareum’. Eve, the ancestor of human race, had sex with the serpent in the Garden of Eden and was corrupted. This is known as the fall of man. So, to restore this fall, it is also necessary to perform sexual intercourse. This is the ‘the Principle of Restoration’ according to the Unification Church. In the church this act is called “sex yakuji” (性役事).” [This means ‘an obligatory or necessary sexual ceremony’.] This is the definition of ‘pikareum’.

“Furthermore, as for the matter of Mr. Moon being found innocent [AFTER being sentenced to two years in jail], it was because there were no complaints from these women or their husbands. Therefore the prosecution could only charge him for violation of the Military Service Law because he lied about his age to avoid military service. However, in reality it was entirely a problem about women.”

Mr. Eu who testified also gave consent to being recorded on tape.

Mr. Hagiwara also obtained a testimony, also recorded on tape, from Mr. Kim Deok-jin (aged 80) about the “pikareum problem”. Mr. Kim was a composer, and was a founding member of the Unification Church, but he left [many years ago]. “I inherited the precious blood by doing a sex act with a woman who had done “pikareum” with Mr. Sun Myung Moon. After that I did pikareum with 16 women myself. The women then did pikareum with other men. When I counted, it became a total of 72 people. It was a sex relay.”

The Unification Church claims the “Ewha Womans University incident” is evidence against the existence “pikareum”, and discounts Mr. Eu’s testimony.

However, the testimonies of Mr. Eu, Mr Kim and others, who were directly involved in the incident, are causing large ripples.

End

Kim Deok-jin – Someone who actually practised Moon’s sex relay

▲ Mr Moon is fourth from the left.

1955.9.21 동아일보 東亞日報 Dong-A Ilbo (East Asia Daily News)

▲ The defendants in front of the judge at the trial. ‘X’ marks the leader, Moon. Eu Hyo-min is in the center. The others are Eu Hyo-won, Eu Hyo-yeong and Kim Won-pil.

어제첫公判統一教會事件

어제첫공판 통일교회사건

Yesterday the first trial was held in the ‘Unification Church incident’

On September 20, ‘Unification Church’ leader Moon Sun Myung (real name, Moon Yong Myung), aged 36, appeared for the first day of his trial in Seoul District Court No. 4. At the 10:30a.m. hearing the presiding judge was Yoon Hak-no ( 尹學老 ) and the prosecutor was Kang Seo-yong ( 姜瑞龍 ) who was handling the prosecution of Moon Sun Myung. [The afternoon hearing was at 2:30p.m.] On this day the court was jam-packed with many women who seemed to be ‘Unification Church’ believers.

Defendant Moon, who has been much talked about concerning multiple alleged adulteries, on the day only stood as a defendant for charges of Military Service Act violations. This is because there were no complaints from the alleged victims. Along with him, other defendants from the same church stood trial as well: Kim Won-pil (28, violated the Military Service Act, and had raised his age by six years), Eu Hyo-won (42, failed to report to military record), Eu Hyo-min (36, same charge as above), and Eu Hyo-yeong (35, same charge as above).

As soon as the court session began the prosecution read the list of indictments and then the investigation into the facts proceeded. Defendant Moon did admit that he had raised his age. The legal profession still had two arguments about whether raising one’s age, even when the person subject to the draft was over 32 or 33 years old, was a violation of the Military Service Act. Nevertheless, Prosecutor Kang, in the bill of indictment, pointed out that defendant Moon “had raised his age to avoid the draft (military service) in accordance with the Christian doctrine against injuring others or taking life”.

「血分け問題」に重大証言 (The original Japanese Friday magazine text)

Eu Hyo-min and Kim Deok-jin interviewed ON VIDEO

Eu Hyo-min, one of the 36 couples, gives his testimony: exploited by Moon, then shunned by Moon.

Moon found guilty in 1955; started two year jail sentence

Professor Kim: “The Ewha University reputation damaged for some years”

The Ewha Womans University Sex Scandal of 1955 as told in the newspapers

The original 1955 Korean newspaper articles:
1955년 이화여대에서 일어난 문선명 섹스 스캔들
統一教會事件 통일교회사건 1955.7.4.

The Consequences of the Ewha Womans University sex scandal

Moon talks about the Ewha Womans University scandal

What was Moon teaching? Pikareum – Moon explains in his speeches

The testimonies of Moon’s first wife, Choi Seon-gil, and Kim Deok-jin
from the Japanese Magazine, “Weekly Post,” October 8, 1993

The above magazine article in Japanese: LINK
The testimony of Moon’s first wife, Mrs 崔先吉 = Choi Seon-gil
from the Japanese magazine 週刊ポスト Shūkan Post October 8, 1993

Pak Chung-hwa interviewed about the “SEX relays” of Sun Myung Moon

Pak Chung-hwa – “Sex relays” Shūkan Gendai interview (in JAPANESE)

Moon’s theology for his pikareum sex rituals with all the 36 wives

Sun Myung Moon – Restoration through Incest

Ritual Sex in the Unification Church – Kirsti L. Nevalainen

The six ‘wives’ of Sun Myung Moon

The Choi family’s entanglements with Moon

Kim Myung-hee, the third wife of Sun Myung Moon

Sam Park video – recorded at ICSA in July 2014

Sam Park video transcript (July 2014)

This Mother Jones article also confirms the sex rituals of Sun Myung Moon:

EXCLUSIVE: Meet the Love Child Rev. Sun Myung Moon Desperately Tried to Hide