Won Pil Kim
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Won Pil Kim is an early follower of Rev. Sun Myung Moon. He first met Rev. Moon in July 1946 in Pyongyang, North Korea when Kim was 18 years old. Members of the Unification Church consider him to be Rev. Moon's first disciple.
Kim played a significant role in Rev. Moon's life on several occasions. He nursed Rev. Moon back to health in October 1947 after he was nearly beaten to death by communist prison guards. When Rev. Moon was imprisoned by communist authorities in 1948 in the Tong Nee Special Labor Concentration Camp at Heung Nam, North Korea, Kim visited him when allowed by the prison guards, bringing him small amounts of food.
After United Nations soldiers liberated Heung Nam prison in 1950, Kim escaped together from North Korea with Rev. Moon and another disciple named Jung Hwa Pak to Busan in South Korea, where they arrived January 27, 1951. There Kim lived together with Rev. Moon in a shack built out of cardboard ration boxes and mud. He supported himself and Rev. Moon by painting pictures for American GIs at a nearby army base as Rev. Moon wrote down many of his theological ideas that would eventually form the core of the book Divine Principle.
Kim was one of the founding members of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (commonly known as the Unification Church), which was started by Rev. Moon in 1954. He was married ("blessed" in Unification Church terminology) on April 16, 1960 to Dal-ok Chung, as one of the first three couples married after Rev. Moon in the Unification Church. That ceremony carries an important theological significance for Unification Church members. He still plays an active role in the church.
