February 18, 2010
SEOUL (AFP) - Some 7,000 South Korean and overseas couples tied the knot Wednesday in a mass wedding dedicated to "the creation of a peaceful world beyond borders and races", the Unification Church said.
Reverend Sun Myung Moon officiated at the "True Parents' Cosmic Blessing Ceremony" at a sprawling exhibition centre in Goyang city north of Seoul, the church said in a statement.
The church describes Moon, 90-year-old founder of the controversial church, and his wife as "True Parents of Mankind" and Moon himself as "the King of all Kings".
Moon, sporting a bow tie, and his wife blessed the couples from some 20 countries including South Korea, Japan, the United States, Europe, Africa and Oceania.
Moon's son and successor as church leader Reverend Hyung Jin Moon also attended the event, the second mass wedding in four months. Another 7,500 couples were united last October at Asan south of Seoul.
Brides in white wedding dresses and grooms in dark suits chanted prayers at Wednesday's indoor event.
The church was founded in Seoul in 1954 and grew into a worldwide organisation. Organisers say the number of believers is confidential.
Moon has presided ovr mass weddings since the early 1960s. In the past he picked spouses for his followers. His daughter-in-law has said she did not see Hyung Jin Moon until they were introduced at their engagement ceremony.
In recent years the church has allowed couples a chance to get to know each other before they marry, according to the Segye Times newspaper which is financed by the church.
Hyung Jin Moon, 30, took over day-to-day control of the church in 2008.
