Moon was born in what is now North Korea in 1920 and raised Presbyterian. He was imprisoned in the North in 1948, released by advancing forces in 1950, and built the church in the South from 1954. He moved to the United States in 1971, and over the next four decades built a business and media empire — the Washington Times, seafood distribution, Korean manufacturing — alongside the church, and ran a persistent anti-communist political operation. He was convicted of tax fraud in 1982 and served thirteen months. He died in 2012, and the movement has since split between his widow Hak Ja Han and two of his sons, each with a separate organisation.