Unification Church patriarch Sun Myung Moon leaves behind children who have been groomed to lead a religious movement famous for its mass weddings and business interests – if family feuds don’t bring down the empire.
Moon, the charismatic and controversial founder of the church, died on Monday at age 92 at a church-owned hospital near his home in Gapyeong County, northeast of Seoul, two weeks after being hospitalised with pneumonia, church officials said.
Flags flew at half-staff at a Unification Church in Seoul as followers trickled in, some wiping away tears, some wondering what would happen to a movement defined for decades by the man who founded it in 1954 and proclaimed himself a messiah.
The Reverend Moon and wife Hak Ja Han have 10 surviving children, and, in recent years, the aging Moon had been handing them power over the church’s religious, charitable and business entities.
There have been reports of family rifts. One son sued his mother’s missionary group last year, demanding the return of more than US$22 million he claimed was sent without his consent from a company he runs to her charity. His mother’s group eventually returned the money after court mediation.
Church officials said the son, known as Preston, is no longer in charge of any church operations.