Founder of ‘Moonies’ church dies aged 92
Sun Myung Moon, the founder of a worldwide church whose followers became known as “the Moonies”, dies at the age of 92.
The head of the Unification Church, which has millions of followers around the world, died at a retreat near the South Korean capital Seoul on Monday, church officials said.
The Unification Church has declared 13 days of mourning.
Moon had suffered complications from pneumonia, the officials said, and was hospitalised in mid-August. He was moved to the retreat last week when his family and church believed there was little chance of recovery.
Moon had led an active public life until recently, officiating a mass wedding for 2,500 in March and leading a service of more than 15,000 followers in July.
‘True parents’
Moon is survived by his wife – the pair are called “true parents” by followers – and 10 of their 13 children.
The church gained fame and notoriety by marrying thousands of followers in mass ceremonies presided over by Moon himself, who claimed that Jesus Christ personally called on him to complete his work.
The couples often came from different countries and had never met, but were matched up by Moon in a bid to build a multicultural religious world.
Critics of the church have for years vilified the organisation as a heretical and dangerous cult and questioned its murky finances and how it indoctrinates followers, described in derogatory terms as “Moonies”.
Business operations
Born in what is now North Korea in 1920, Moon founded his Bible-based religion soon after the Korean War that ended in 1953, rapidly expanding the ministry internationally and building a business at the same time that served as the backbone of the empire.
The Unification Church runs the Segye Times newspaper in South Korea and more than a dozen other firms in the country along with overseas businesses.
Day-to-day operations of the church, which has its headquarters in Seoul, have been handed over to one of Moon’s sons and the management of the Tongil Group, the movement’s commercial arm, to another son.
Moon, whose group runs the conservative Washington Times publication and was a strident anti-communist, visited North Korea in 1991 and met the reclusive state’s founder Kim Il-sung to discuss business ventures and unification.