Biography of Hak Ja Han's father, Seung-woon Han (Dae Bu Nim)

True Mother’s father, Dae-Bu Nim (Mr. Han Seung-woon), was born on January 20, 1909, in the village of Yongheung in Anju county, South Pyongan Province. He was the eldest son of the five children of Mr. Han Byeong-geon, a teacher in a village school, and Mrs. Choi Gi- byeong.

Dae-Bu Nim entered Manseong Public School in 1919 when he was eleven but dropped out in the fourth grade. He entered Private Education School and graduated in 1925 at the age of seventeen.

Afterward he passed the Teachers Certification Examination. He then worked in the Private Education School as a teacher from 1930 to 1939. In 1941 he was appointed as a hoondo, the title given to teachers during the years that Korea was occupied by Japan. He worked in this capacity until October 1945, and thereafter for a few months, he worked as what would today be an assistant principal in Manseong Public School.

Seung-woon Han (Dae Bu Nim) He’d been a good student when in school and had aspired to become a teacher since he was young. He also had deep Christian faith, which flourished in the New Christian Church of Rev. Lee Yong-do. In the early days of that church’s existence, he was one of its most active members.

He was a reform-minded person, so he kept his distance from family members and others who stubbornly maintained a particular point of view or lifestyle. And, due to his teaching duties and his religious activities, he was rarely at home. His character was very precise. He was frugal. He had a strong physique and uncommon physical strength. Once, when he saw people struggling to remove a large rock from the midst of a rice field, he voluntarily stepped in and easily removed it.

New Christian Church activities and marriage

A period of intense spiritual activity in Korea originated in a prayer meeting of seven Methodist missionaries centering on Rev. R. A. Hardie (1865-1949), in Wonsan [now North Korea] in 1903. This inspired revival meetings, first in the Wonsan vicinity and as word of the great works spread, in other parts of northern Korea, arriving in Pyongyang in 1905 and culminating in the Great Pyongyang Revival of 1907, the spirit of which was subsequently transplanted throughout the Korean peninsula by Korean evangelists. It inspired members of the public with religious vitality for overcoming their trying circumstances.

In November 1933, Dae-Bu Nim and another man were placed jointly in charge of the Education Department of the New Christian Church. Dae-Bu Nim, at that time, was working as a teacher at the Private Education School. At the same time, Dae-Mo Nim, seemed to have led a life of faith at the Anju Christian Church, as did her mother, Mrs. Cho Won-mo.

Dae-Mo Nim was born in Jeongju in North Pyongan Province, the only daughter of Mr. Hong Yoo-il and Mrs. Cho Won-mo (1889-1962), who had deep Christian faith. After moving to Anju, she graduated from Anju Public School and Pyongyang Bible School. Until she was 19, she was Presbyterian.

At a later point in her life, she did a one-hundred-day witnessing tour on foot with Evangelist Hwang Gook-joo’s group. She concentrated on cultivating her faith in the Second Advent with a straight attitude; this involved three years from around 1933 at the New Christian Church of Rev. Lee Yong-do, eight years from around 1936 at the Holy Lord Church of Mrs. Kim Seong-do, and six years from around 1944 at the Inside Belly Church of Mrs. Heo Ho Bin.

While Dae-Bu Nim and Dae-Mo Nim were earnestly devoting themselves in the New Christian Church,

Dae-Mo Nim received the revelation, “When these two get married and have a son he will be the King of Cosmos, and if they have a daughter she will become the Queen of Cosmos.” They were married in March 5 1934, under the officiation of Rev. Lee Ho-bin. At that time Dae-Bu Nim was 26 and Dae-Mo Nim was 21. Thereafter, after nine years of waiting in life of faith passing through the Holy Lord Church and Inside Belly Church a precious heavenly princess was born, whom we know today as True Mother.

While Dae-Mo Nim was pregnant with True Mother, Dae-Bu Nim felt unable to stay with his wife at her parents’ home. One reason was because they wanted him to take their family name, and the other was that he was working far away in Yeonbaek, Hwanghae Province. True Mother was born in 1943 at 4:30 am on the sixth day of the first month of the lunar calendar, which was February 10 in the Gregorian calendar. She was born in her mother’s home in Anju, in what today is North Korea, where she grew up under the care of her mother’s family and began developing her faith.

When True Mother was four years old, the mother of Mrs. Heo Ho-bin of the Inside Belly Church saw her and testified, “This person will be the bride of the Lord,” and then offered a benediction over her. Grandmother Cho Won-mo and Dae-Mo Nim wholeheartedly brought up True Mother according to the will of Heaven and established a three-generation foundation for the motherly bride through deep faith in overcoming all obstacles with chastity and clean life. Hence, Dae-Bu Nim and Dae-Mo Nim lived separate lives and independent of their families from early on. This was the path called for by the will and the heavenly providence.

Teaching work after moving south

Worried about the danger posed by the communists, Dae-Bu Nim went to South Korea in April or May 1946. According to the researcher, True Mother recalls that her father traveled to their home at that time and asked his wife to come with him. But she said that she could not go with him, and that she must follow the way of faith in preparation to meet the Lord. Dae-Bu Nim then crossed into South Korea along with his brothers and settled in Seoul.

Dae-Bu Nim taught first at Gyodong Primary School in Seoul in the borough of Chongno from that May until October 1946, when, with the aim of involving himself in rural reformation, he moved to Gyeong-gi Province, outside of Seoul. There, he worked as the principal of Jangheung Primary School from October 25, 1946, to May 30, 1947. In December 1946, with the death of his father, Dae-Bu Nim became the head of his family.

In 1947 he was transferred to another school in the same general area. That year, he married Jee Hee-sun, a woman who was teaching at the same school. On March 1 of the following year their first son, Wee-il, was born. Dae-Bu Nim was again transferred to Yeoju in Gyeong-gi Province and worked as the principal in one elementary school until October 1950 and then another until July 1952. During his stay in Yeoju, the Korean War broke out and he fled to Busan with his family, where in February 1951, his second son Wee-yong was born.

Afterwards returning to Seoul, sometime after 1952, he worked at yet another elementary school until 1957, when he was transferred again this time to Miwon Elementary School in Seorakmyeon (the village just a few kilometers from the present-day Chung Pyung training center, from which members often board a shuttle bus to the training center). He was the principal there until 1960, and while he was there True Parents’ Holy Wedding took place in the former headquarters church in the Cheongpadong area of Seoul. Dae-Bu Nim ‘’s living for over three years near the Chung Pyung holy ground is a remarkable coincidence that Han Wee-il mentioned in a letter to True Parents after he met them in March 1997.

A description of Dae-Bu Nim has been found among the records of a former student and later teacher at Miwon Elementary School, Mr. Lee Gwang-heon, who wrote:

“Dae-Bu Nim’s voice was very sharp and had a clear quality about it. When someone disagreed with him, he would call that person and seriously try to persuade the person to agree with him.

He was close to the heads of local government and leading figures. He had a special aptitude for and interest in literature, so he occasionally contributed his own articles to magazines or newspapers.

During his stay in Chung Pyung, the scenery was so good that his younger brother used to come for recuperation from health problems.

Every time he came, his nephews, Wee-il and his brother, used to go to the old couple who caught and sold fish in a hut next to a river near today’s Chung Pyung Training Center and bought two big carp that they’d carry on their shoulders on a skewer and cook for him.”

Dae-Bu Nim was transferred to several schools after being transferred out of Seorak-myeon. At the time of his retirement, he left behind a forty-one year record of having taught in fifteen different schools. After

their marriage, his second wife had been able to teach in the same schools as her husband in all but one or two instances. At the time of his retirement he and his family were living in Incheon, just west of Seoul.

Lighthouse of education for rural children

After Mr. Han Wee-il, the first son, joined our movement in 1997 he provided valuable materials related to his father at the memorial services in 1998 and 1999, and during several interviews in 2002 and 2003, and he testified about his father’s life. Also, as the best pupil, Rev. Jang Gi-taek who is the senior pastor in Seongdae Presbyterian Church in present Sangdo-Dong, Seoul provided a written testimony on the teaching life of Dae-Bu Nim in March 15, 2000. Following is the summary of testimonies of these two people:

“Dae-Bu Nim was a patriot to the bone. He put the nation and other people before him or his family. He grieved over the partition of Korea into North and South and prayed for reunification.

He was the model of a New Village campaigner. In whatever place he’d been transferred to, he would give enlightenment lectures, which he did, all in all, around five hundred times. He was handsome, spoke in a loud voice and was well-spoken. His lectures moved people’s hearts. Because he used his living expenses for such activities, his household was always poor. The teachers under him followed his example and became involved in lecturing and took part in patriotic activities.

Dae-Bu Nim was also a church pioneer. He was a faithful elder in the Christian church and lived a true life of faith. He always had a small prayer room on one side of the school residence and prayed from 4 am every day and meditated and prayed in the evening. When he was transferred to a place without a church, he took charge of building one; and in those places with a church but without a pastor, he tried to invite one by all means.

The churches were made of mud bricks; the labor and carpentry work was contributed by the local residents. Dae-Bu Nim invested in missionary work more than any missionary, revival speaker or pastor would have done.

He was a dedicated educator. When schools had been burnt down during the Korean War, he conducted classes on the lawn. At times when government support was low, with the cooperation of the students’ parents, he undertook to have schools constructed in several places.

He defended justice and truth and did not compromise with unrighteousness, which tended to cause friction between him and other principals. His upright character and conviction is also what motivated him to work in rural schools.

He had outstanding ability and personality, but firmly refused to have anything to do with corrupt bureaucrats. He devoted himself to educating and serving the children of poor and needy rural areas as his duty in life. Also, he had a strictly regimented life with no drinking or smoking.

He devoted himself to welfare work and the encouragement of learning. He even drained his small salary to help orphanages. He gave food and tutoring to students from poor families. He loved young students as though they were his own children. He even washed dirty children and cut their hair and applied medication to boils, which in those days many children had.

Such a merciful and gentle an image taught much about life even to his own children, and many of the scholarship students who were impressed by his noble character joined the Christian church. Rev. Jang Gi-taek, who was a teacher when Dae Bu Nim was working in an elementary school in Yeoju, went to theology school and became a pastor after observing his devoted life based on Christian beliefs.

For such a devoted life, Dae-Bu Nim received a letter of commendation from the governor of Gyeong-gi Province on March 1, 1954 and the Order of Service Merit Green Stripes on January Order of Civil Merit Medal and Order of Service 1, 1960. In addition, he received a distinguished Merit, Green Stripes service badge from President Park Chung-hee in

November 1973, a letter of commendation for distinguished service from the director of the Federation for Education in Korea on January 28, 1974 and the Order of Civil Merit Medal on the day of his retirement.”

Peaceful remaining years and eternal blessing

Dae-Bu Nim was usually very healthy, so he did not go to doctors. He always walked with powerful strides without bending his back. He woke up early every morning and woke up family members, folded up the family bedding and cleaned while singing hymns. His children grew up watching, learning and practicing their father’s customs of always cleaning and keeping things tidy.

After retirement, he moved to a rural area in Gyeonggi Province, where he spent his days gardening, reading or meditating quietly at home. He was admitted to Incheon Christian Hospital in 1977 with cirrhosis of the liver, but due to his worsening condition he returned home. On March 18, 1978, at around one o’clock in the morning, he passed away in peace, while his family members were watching over him. He was buried in the Northern Seoul Park Cemetery in Bundang, just outside Seoul. His grave was decorated with a few aromatic trees likes those near his rural home. His books and artifacts were donated to a nearby high school.

The reunion of Dae-Bu Nim with Dae-Mo Nim was realized only in the spirit world. They received the first spirit world blessing in history on August 23, 1995, at the Hannam-dong house in Seoul together with [True Father’s parents] Moon Gyeong-yoo (Choong-bu nim) and Kim Gyeonggye (Choong-mo nim), and [True Father’s elder brother and his wife] Moon Yong-soo (Dae-hyung nim) and Jee Chee-sook.

The will of Heaven was realized through the foundation laid by True Parents, especially True Mother’s love and devoted heart, and Dae-mo nim’s devoted service.

So it was a new beginning from the unfulfilled marriage on earth to blossoming unity in the eternal, spiritual world. At their blessing ceremony, True Parents renamed the Dae-mo nim Memorial Hall in Seoul as the Hall of Loyal, Righteous Love and made it possible for members to attend the three couples there.

In the mid-1960s, Dae-Bu Nim met several times with 36-couple member Rev. Chong Su-won, the elder son of Mr. Chong Seok-cheon of the old Holy Lord Church. After his retirement, Dae Bu Nim met Dae- Mo Nim’s younger brother, Mr. Hong Soon-jeong. But he did not speak about anything relating to his first wife until the end.