Sun Myung Moon

Sun Myung Moon was a prominent Korean religious leader and businessman.

He founded the Unification Church, a movement with a unique theological framework. Moon also managed diverse business interests and supported various political causes. He is often remembered for his mass wedding ceremonies known as "Blessings." His life involved significant religious, political, and legal complexities. He remained a controversial figure throughout his long career.

Moon's religious mission was rooted in a personal experience. He claimed to have seen a vision of Jesus at age 16. This vision supposedly defined his life's purpose. He wrote the Divine Principle, which is the religious scripture of the Unification Church. This text explains the specific theology of his movement. He sought to establish what he called a "true family" through spiritual leadership. This goal was meant to create a God-centered life for all people.

In the Unification tradition, the "Blessing" ceremony is a central practice.

During these ceremonies, Moon would match individuals to become husbands and wives. This process is called "matching." Moon would often select couples by pointing at them in large groups. He frequently chose partners from different races and different nations. He believed this would help unify the world. Many couples did not meet their partners until the wedding day. Some couples remained engaged for long periods through letters before marrying.

These ceremonies grew to an enormous scale over the years. In 1961, only 36 couples participated in the first ceremony in Seoul. By 1982, over 2,000 couples joined a ceremony at Madison Square Garden in New York. In 1988, Moon entered the Guinness Book of Records. He married 6,516 couples at the Olympic Stadium in Seoul. By 1992, approximately 30,000 couples took part in these mass blessings. These large numbers brought both fame and intense public criticism.

Moon's early life was marked by political instability in Korea. He was born in 1920 in what is now North P'yŏng'an Province. His family converted from Confucianism to Christianity when he was ten. In 1941, he studied electrical engineering at Waseda University in Japan. He later returned to Seoul and married his first wife, Sun-kil Choi. During the 1940s and 1950s, he faced imprisonment by both North and South Korean governments. He was sentenced to five years at the Hungnam labor camp. He was eventually liberated by United Nations troops during the Korean War.

Moon's later years in the United States included legal and political involvement. He moved to the U.S. in 1971 and gave many public speeches. In 1982, he was involved in a federal court case, United States v. Sun Myung Moon. He was found guilty of willfully filing false federal income tax returns. He served 18 months in a federal prison for this offense. Some clergy and civil libertarians protested, claiming the trial was biased. Despite this, he built a large business empire. This included the Tongil Group and News World Communications. He also supported The Washington Times.

Moon's personal life and leadership were central to his church. He married his second wife, Hak Ja Han, in 1960.

Followers refer to the couple as the "True Parents." This title reflects the church's focus on the importance of the family unit. Moon also maintained relationships with many global political figures. These included several U.S. presidents and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. He was a strong advocate for the reunification of North and South Korea. His death in September 2012 marked the end of a significant era for his followers.