Moonies Leader Dead

Moon died early on Monday (03Sep12) at a church-owned hospital near his home in Gapyeong.

He founded the church, which launched the movement colloquially called The Moonies around the world, in the mid-1950s.

It gained notoriety in the 1970s when Moon started staging mass weddings of thousands of followers. In 2009, he married 45,000 people in simultaneous nuptials throughout the world.

Aside from his religious connections, Moon was also a shrewd businessman, overseeing an empire which included the Washington Times newspaper, various hotels and resorts and a number of Japanese restaurants.