Reverend Moon‘s global business empire is worth billions of dollars. In the United States, the church has the Washington Times newspaper and the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan.
With millions of followers internationally, the church has been established in 1954. The church staged marriages for hundreds of church members whom Moon had selected to marry each other.
The church is also known for having one of the most dedicated followers in the world. Some have even turned over their whole savings to the church. That church’s alleged tactics – using deceptive tactics to recruit followers and keep tight control over their lives – prompted critics to denounce the group as a cult more than a religious sect.
In the late 1940s, Moon was imprisoned in his native North Korea. However, he later set aside ideology to do business with North Korea‘s founder, the late Kim Il Sung.
A church-affiliated firm, Pyeonghwa Motors, established a carmaking business in partnership with the North Korean state in 1999. Several of Moons children have taken leadership roles in the Church’s empire in recent years. There have been reports of fighting among his descendants often because of disputes where religious and economic interests clash.
In 1982, Moon was convicted of tax fraud in the United States and he spent 13 months in a U.S. federal prison. “Moonies” are Moon’s followers that believe that marriage is central to the Unification Church’s mission of uniting the world‘s Christian
denominations.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com