Unification Church
'Moonies' founder Sun Myung Moon dies
ABC News
AAP
Sep 3, 2012
Source
Sun Myung Moon, a self-proclaimed messiah who founded the controversial Unification Church and turned it into a multi-billion dollar business empire, has died in South Korea at the age of 92.
Moon, who was hospitalised with complications from pneumonia more than two weeks ago, died early Monday morning (AEST), his spokesman said.
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Rejected by Korean Protestant churches, he founded his own church.
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Late last week the church said the religious leader had critical organ failure and quoted doctors as saying he had entered "an irreversible stage of his condition".
Moon was first admitted to the intensive-care unit at St Mary's Hospital in Seoul in mid-August, but was shifted to a church hospital following the grim diagnosis from doctors.
Treating him on "holy ground" would have "greater providential significance", the church's international vice-president, Joon Ho Seuk, said in a statement last week.
Moon, a South Korean, was born to a farming family in what is now North Korea.
to complete the messianic mission
He said he was inspired by a vision of Jesus at age 15 to complete the messianic mission interrupted by the crucifixion.
Rejected by Korean Protestant churches, he founded his own church.
The Unification Church - set up in Seoul in 1954 and officially called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification - is one of the world's most controversial religious organisations.
Its devotees are often dubbed "Moonies" and it is widely known for conducting mass weddings among followers, involving hordes of couples.
in a mass wedding
In one of the most recent such events, Moon gave "blessings" to thousands of couples from across the world in a mass wedding held in South Korea in March this year.
The church says it evangelises in 200 countries, and according to another spokesman has 3 million followers worldwide.
The church's vast business empire includes The Washington Times newspaper and the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan.
Moon, who met North Korea's then-ruler Kim Il-Sung in Pyongyang in 1991, also has business interests there.
carmaking business
A church-affiliated firm, Pyeonghwa (Peace) Motors, established a joint carmaking business in the North in 1999.
Moon had 14 children with his current wife and several are involved in his empire.
Hyung Jin Moon, youngest of his seven sons, succeeded his father as the church's most senior leader in 2008 at the age of 28.
AFP
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