- Moon Kook-jin
-
Christopher Miner Spencer Born Moon Kook-Jin
July 17, 1970
South KoreaOccupation CEO Relatives Sun Myung Moon, Hak Ja Han Notes Moon Kook-Jin, also known as Justin Moon, (born July 17, 1970) is a firearms designer and businessman. He owns and operates Kahr Arms, a U.S. small arms manufacturing company and subsidiary of Saeilo, a company controlled by his father, Sun Myung Moon (founder of the Unification Church). He is the chairman of the Tongil Group a South Korean business group which supports Unification Church projects.
Contents
Early life
Moon is the fourth son of Unification Church leaders Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han. He was born in South Korea, and in 1973 moved to the United States, to Tarrytown, New York, with his family. The environment in which he was raised has been described as "lavish"[1] and as one of "luxury and privilege," though he disputes this.[2] He attended Hackley School, a small private school in Tarrytown.
Early interest in firearms
Moon, who later took the first name Justin, recounts his early interest in firearms:
My first experience shooting was with my older brother when I was 14. He also liked guns and took me shooting with friends and family. We would have a great time setting up and shooting targets with an assortment of firearms. Ever since that first shooting experience, I continued to pursue my interest in firearms.[3]
At age 18, Moon got a license to carry a handgun, co-signed by one of his older brothers, but he wasn't satisfied with the small caliber available in a compact handgun. "I had been licensed to carry in New York State since I was 18 and had looked for an ultra-compact 9 mm. pistol," Justin later told American Handgunner magazine. "To my chagrin, I could not find a pistol with the quality of construction and features in design which I felt were appropriate for a carry gun. Therefore, I decided to design an ultra-compact 9 mm. pistol that I could carry."[4] By his junior year of college, he decided to design one himself.[3]
"I spent the summer and much of my senior year designing the mechanical layout of the pistol and prototyping various design concepts," he told Handgunner.
He received a B.A. from Harvard University in economics in 1992.[3]
Founding Kahr Arms
In 1993, Moon founded Kahr Arms, choosing the name to be suggestive of two of his affections: German engineering and fast cars. “I wanted to create the ultimate line of concealable pistols,” he said. Kahr Arms is owned by the Saeilo Corporation, a subsidiary of the Unification Church International holding company. Moon reports that he borrowed money from his father to found the company.[2]
Moon designed the original Kahr pistol himself.
The design of Kahr’s line of pocket rockets is complicated, but basically it involves five patented methods of arranging the gun’s internal parts, reducing empty space and allowing the gun to contract in just the right places, while maintaining enough room for a larger-caliber bullet. Because of all the patents, it is difficult, if not impossible, for others to replicate its design.[2]
According to journalist Christopher Stewart, writing in Conde Nast Potfolio, Kahr Arms and other Unification Church affiliated businesses are "presumably intended to sustain and defend his [Sun Myung Moon's] followers when the world as we know it ends."[2]
Building the company
Kahr Arms specializes in compact and mid-size semi-automatic pistols chambered for popular cartridges including 9 mm Luger Parabellum, .40 S&W and .45 ACP. Kahr pistols feature polymer or stainless steel frames, single-stack magazines, and double-action striker firing actions. Its headquarters is in Blauvelt, New York and it has a manufacturing facility in Worcester, Massachusetts.
In 1999, Kahr Arms bought Auto-Ordnance Corp., the maker of Thompson submachine guns. Now Kahr manufactures Auto-Ordnance's line of semi-automatic weapons, including a long-barreled, semi-automatic version of the famous "Tommy Gun". The Auto-Ordnance Corporation that Kahr Arms purchased was not the original Auto Ordnance started by General John T. Thompson and his investors.
In 1994 the U.S. federal government banned manufacture and importation of pistol magazines with more than a 10-round capacity. These were the so called "hi-capacity" magazines, which again became legal to manufacture and import in most states in September 2004, after the relevant federal law expired. This change in federal law rendered many staggered-magazine pistol models (commonly with magazine capacities of 15 or more rounds) less popular in the American market. They were now overly large in light of their newly mandated 10-shot limit. [5]
Chairman of Tongil Group
In 2005 Moon was appointed chairman of Tongil Group, a South Korean business group associated with the Unification Church.[6] As of 2010 he is in the process of reforming its businesses by hiring new managers and by closing unprofitable operations. Among Tongil Group’s chief holdings are: The Ilwha Company, which produces ginseng and related products; Ilshin Stone, building materials; Tongil Heavy Industries, machine parts including hardware for the South Korean military; and Segye Ilbo, newspaper. It funds the Tongil Foundation which supports Unification Church projects including schools and the Little Angels Children’s Folk Ballet of Korea.[7]
External links
- Interview in the JoongAng Daily
- Interview in the Wall Street Journal
References
- ^ Hong, Nansook. (1998). In the Shadow of the Moons: My Life in the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Family. Little, Brown. (ISBN 0-316-34816-3)
- ^ a b c d "Money, Guns, and God" by Christopher S. Stewart, Conde Nast Portfolio, October 2007
- ^ a b c Massad Ayoob, "The Rise of the House of Kahr", American Handgunner (November/December 2001) pp. 58-67.
- ^ Quoted in "Rev. Moon son made gun" New York Daily News July 27, 2003.
- ^ Mintz, John (1999-03-10). "Church's Pistol Firm Exploits a Niche". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/march99/moon10.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-22.
- ^ Kim, Hyung-eun (April 12, 2010). "Business engine of a global faith". Joong Ang Daily. http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2919043.
- ^ Kirk, Donald (May 2, 2010). "Sons rise in a Moon’s shadow". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/global/2010/0412/enterprise-moon-sun-myung-spiritual-unification-world-revival.html.
Categories:- American people of Korean descent
- 1970 births
- Living people
- Firearm designers
- South Korean Unificationists
- Harvard University alumni
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