​Unfortunately, Sewon's father had a stroke while he was attending his son's graduation at Oxford University (he was hospitalized in Radcliff Infirmary), and passed away a year after he was transferred to Korea.¹⁾

Sewon immediately returned to Korea to take care of his family.²⁾

His father Shin Jeong Yil (1938 - 1999)³⁾ was a Korean religious leader (the founder of HANOL-GYO), a politician and an entrepreneur.⁴⁾

HANOL-GYO⁵⁾ is a religious re-establishment of the Korean national founding principle based on the philosophy of ‘spiritual transcendence’.⁸⁾

The progenitor of HANOL-GYO, Dangun, is the Founding Father of Korea who established the Old Korean Empire, Gojoseon 5,000 years ago.⁶⁾ Dangun foresaw the possible evolution of human consciousness from Ego-state to Transcendental (Divine)-state and initiated the Hanol principle. Hanol principle is the teachings on enlightenment and awakening; it pursues self-liberation of consciousness rather than the traditional ways of religious worship.⁸⁾

Shin Jeong Yil re-established the Hanol religion,⁷⁾ which was on the verge of distortion after 5,000 years of historical turbulence.

According to the Official Guidance to HANOL-GYO, HANOL-GYO allows its adherents to practice other religions as well. It regards all enlightened beings (Dangun, Buddha, Jesus, Lao-tzu, Confucius, etc.) as teachers of enlightenment and awakening, and various religions as the pursuit of Universal Truth in different forms. Its aims are to understand and practice Universal Truth, and to overcome all forms of segregation (e.g., religion, race, ideology, and so on).⁵⁾

The Founder's Doctrine is "Naol is Hanol," which means "My true spiritual nature is one with the spiritual nature of All."¹²⁾

"When HANOL-GYO was first founded 50 years ago, society was suffering from the aftermath of the Korean War under a strict military regime. Despite the unfavorable circumstances, the rise of the Hanol Spiritual Movement (with 800,000 followers) allowed for governmental recognition of HANOL-GYO (Hanol Spiritual Foundation) by 1967. After the recognition, HANOL-GYO branches were rapidly established throughout the country and HANOL-GYO reached 2 million members at its peak."⁹⁾

According to the 『Encyclopedia of Korean Culture』, there were 2 million followers during its heyday. Another survey of the 『Current status of religious groups』 published by the Ministry of Culture and Public Information, shows that there were 520,000 followers in 1982, and approximately 410,000 followers in 1997, with 186 branches located throughout the country including the main temples in the major cities of Seoul, Busan and Daegu.⁹⁾

Shin Jeong Yil was also the founder and Chairman of the HANON Group, and as a politician, he formed the Unified Korea Political Party and ran for the Korean Presidency twice, in the 13th Presidential Election in 1987 and 15th Presidential Election in 1997.¹⁰⁾

He proposed the political theory of the ‘ Inter-mediate Unification of Korea, the neo-functional approach of economic detent’, at Havard, John F. Kennedy school Institute of Politics.¹⁰⁾ He insisted upon his ideas to the former US president George Bush and Clinton while they were in their office, and it was his main campaign agenda during his presidential elections. It was partly realized only after his passing, as a Gaeseong Industrial complex and economic corporation between South and North Korea.¹¹⁾

As the founder and chairman of the Hanon Group, Shin acquired the right to develop one of the largest crude oil mines in Iraq¹²⁾ and formed a consortium with Samsung, SK and Korea National Oil Development Corporation, where the HANOL Corp. was a Managing Partner and Directing Initiator.¹³⁾

Dr. Shin foresaw the opening of China and established a close humanitarian relationship with China ten years before the official diplomatic relationship was developed: he opened the Jeong Yil computer center at Beijing Central University for Nationalities and the monumental gate on Baekdu (Jang Baek) Mountain was named after him as a symbol of his effort and diplomatic contributions.¹⁴⁾

In 1998, Shin Jeong Yil¹⁵⁾ finalized the elaboration of the Transcendental philosophy of the HANOL principle,¹⁶⁾ the compilation of 36 books containing the profound teachings on the Universal Truth and its applications on philosophy, epistemology, metaphysics, science, economics, politics, society, nature, culture and religion.¹⁷⁾

Shin Jeong Yil passed away in 1999.¹⁸⁾

In the absence of the founder, Sewon Shin,¹⁹⁾ the legal descendant, inevitably took the responsibility of restructuring HANON Group and the leadership of HANOL-GYO Foundation.¹⁾

After Sewon Shin¹⁵⁾ successfully restructured and stabilized HANON Group and HANOL-GYO, he resigned from all responsibilities and returned to being an artist. He introduced Trans-Art, which is the (Non-religious) elaboration of the Art of Enlightenment and Awakening that he introduced during his religious leadership: the Transcendental philosophy of HANOL in pure art form.²⁰⁾

The Hanol Spiritual Committee decided to leave the official publication and the formal acknowledgement of “the founder’s finalized compilation of the HANOL principles¹⁶⁾ - the sacred teachings acquired by the legal descendent” undisclosed to the public until the proper moment in the era of intellectual singularity is reached.¹⁾ Until then, the quintessence of the undisclosed principles can be experienced through the reflection in the Art of Enlightenment and Awakening.