In South Korea, more than 30 thousand people came on Saturday, September 15, to the funeral of the founder of the Unification Church, Sun Myung Moon, reports Agence France-Presse .

The funeral ceremony was held at the stadium in Gapyeong, where the headquarters of the Unification Church is located. The funeral was broadcast live on the religious organization's website and on large television screens installed on the street around the Unification Church headquarters.

Sun Myung Moon died of pneumonia on the night of September 3 at the age of 92. The farewell to the founder of the Unification Church lasted for almost two weeks. During this time, about 180 thousand people passed in front of the coffin with the body of Sun Myung Moon, according to authorities.

Sun Myung Moon founded the Unification Church in 1954, taking the Christian religion as its basis. By the time of Sun Myung Moon's death, the Unification Church had approximately seven million followers in South Korea and other countries around the world.

One of the most famous rituals performed by the Unification Church is mass marriage ceremonies, the first of which was performed by Sun Myung Moon in 1960. People who previously did not know each other often get married during such ceremonies.

Opponents of the Unification Church call this religious organization a sect and accuse it of extorting money from followers and creating the cult of Sun Myung Moon. Their dissatisfaction was also caused by the multibillion-dollar business empire built by Sun Myung Moon, which includes not only construction companies and food production, but also, for example, The Washington Times newspaper and the United Press International news agency. The corporation of the founder of the Unification Church was suspected of not always acting strictly within the law. Sun Myung Moon, in turn, explained any criticism of his corporation as attempts by the authorities to persecute the Unification Church.

30 thousand people attended the funeral of the founder of the Unification Church