The Prayer for the Destruction of Japan

    In the 1930's, having overrun Manchuria and developing plans to invade China, Japanese colonial policies towards the people of Korea became much more severe. At this time, Chondogyo, which had led the Samil Movement, carried out the Muin Prayer for the Destruction of Japan Movement, with the two objectives of praying for Japan's defeat and Korea's independence, and to collect funds for independence activities.
 On the fourteenth day of the eighth month in the 77th year of Podeok(1936), the fourth supreme leader of the Cheon-dogyo, Venerable Teacher Chunam, in consistent faithfulness, assembled the main leaders of the church and ordered them to carry out a demonstration prayer for the destruction of Japan, national independence and the restoration of a national consciousness.
    Telling the assembled leaders that the destruction of Japan was nigh, he cited a teaching from the canonical writings whose contents are as follows: "With infinite serenity I will, in the space of one night, destroy the invading Japanese dogs and exact revenge on them by the sweat of my brow? Venerable Teacher Chunam then gave the secret order to sincerely pray in this way for one day and night.
    Thereupon, throughout the country prayers were secretly given for the destruction of Japan, while at the same time special donations for an independence movement emergency fund were collected. It was thought that, after war between China and Japan had erupted, an opportunity existed to reclaim national sovereignty, and funds for such a purpose were secretly collected in advance by dividing collection efforts into four districts throughout the country.
    On the seventeenth day of the second month in the 79th year of Podeok(1938), in the sexagenary cycle year of Muin, facts behind this movement were exposed in a Sincheon police station in Hwanghae Province, whereupon there ensued a wave of arrests of religious workers throughout the country. As a result, many hundreds of religious cadre were arrested and imprisoned, beginning with Hong Sun-eui and elder Choe Jun-mo.
    Revered Teacher Chunam, ill and advanced in years, suffered interrogation while sick in bed, while many religious workers were severely tortured in prison. Four who died soon after release from prison, where they had been brutally tortured, were Gim Jae-kye of Jangheung, Son Pil-kyu of Nonsan, Yi Gang-u of Haenam, and Gim Jeong-sam of Sincheon. In addition, many more suffered from chronic illnesses that were an unhappy legacy of their having been terribly maltreated in prison.
    Japanese police reported that hundreds of religious workers in their custody several times wrote down the prayer for Japan? destruction, and more than a hundred times throughout the day and night they would, in loud voices, recite the prayer in unison. They recall that, as the sound of praying voices spread inside the station, police would express surprise, and their complexion would change. This was an indication of their spiritual defeat.
    Japanese newspapers reported on these events with headlines reading "Underground Activity on all Sides? "Secret Plans for Subversion? "Visions of Korean Independence? "Chondogy's Grand Plot? and "Special Voluntary Fund Raising?
    However, judging that fueling this incident with further arrests and imprisonment would negatively affect their prosecution of the war in China, Japan released most of the religious workers, retaining only the five leaders Choe Mun-ho, Gim Jae-gye, Han Sun-heui, Gim Gyeong-ham, and Hong Sun-eui, who in turn were released after seventy days. Although the Japanese police considered the nature and gravity of this plot to be potentially greater than the Samil Movement, their resolution of the matter by releasing all those arrested and imprisoned was a sophisticated stratagem employed to minimize any influence or detrimental shock it might cause during a time of war.
    The Muin Prayer for the Destruction of Japan Movement is not widely known, remaining hidden in the folds of history. However, its import and significance was indeed great. In the history of the struggle for national independence, this movement demonstrated an indomitable resolve that helped revive a nation? soul during the painful time when Koreans?very identity was threatened with annihilation.