Latest news with #Moonies'
Malay Mail
23-04-2025
- General
- Malay Mail
Mass wedding, messier truths: Moonies say ‘I do' amid cult claims and Japan crackdown
GAPYEONG (South Korea), April 23 — They've been called a cult, accused of coercive fundraising, and legally disbanded in Japan. But in a mountainous town nestled in South Korea, thousands of 'Moonies' gathered this month for a mass wedding. Around 1,300 couples from dozens of countries tied the knot at the Unification Church's sprawling headquarters in Gapyeong, north of Seoul, under the supervision of their controversial leader, known as the 'holy mother'. The spectacular tradition, which dates back to the first so-called 'blessing ceremony' featuring 36 couples in 1961, is an integral part of the broadly neo-Christian beliefs held by the church, founded by Moon Sun-myung and now run by his widow, Han Hak-ja. The church claims these mass weddings can help reverse South Korea's woeful birthrate, improve family values, and ultimately bring about Moon's goal of completing the unfulfilled mission of Jesus Christ to restore humanity to a state of 'sinless' purity. 'I'm just really grateful,' American Emmanuel Muyongo, 29, told AFP at the ceremony, where he married his Japanese wife, whom he met years ago and grew close to at a church in the United States. Muyongo's own parents married at a mass wedding, and he said that he was honoured 'to experience what my parents' experienced'. 'We love you, Holy Mother Han!' the couples shouted in unison at one point during the event, which featured blaring fanfare and confetti cannons. Han, 82, looked almost eerily calm throughout the festivities, once slowly waving at her excited followers while wearing sunglasses and a green dress. This picture taken on April 12, 2025 shows Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja attending a mass wedding ceremony organised by the Unification Church at Cheongshim Peace World Center in Gapyeong. — AFP pic 'Holy mother' The church, which was founded in 1954, claims to have around three million followers globally — including 300,000 in South Korea, 600,000 in Japan — and oversees a sprawling business empire encompassing construction, tourism, education and media, among others. But in Japan, the church has been accused of coercive fundraising, especially after the 2022 assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, allegedly carried out by a man who harboured resentment toward the sect. A court there revoked its legal status as an organisation last month, although its members can continue to meet. Abe's accused killer blamed the church for his family's financial ruin, after his mother made huge donations. Abe — along with other world leaders including US President Donald Trump — had sent video messages to events linked to the church. But at the mass wedding this month, followers were unfazed by the recent legal blow, with the visibly emotional couples — including Japanese — radiating joy and gratitude to Han. After Moon's 2012 death, Han stepped up to lead the church and is now referred to by members as god's 'only begotten daughter' and the 'holy mother'. The church has links to everything from a major South Korean newspaper to a high-end ski resort used for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. It is also affiliated with esteemed art institutes. In 1991, Han joined her late husband — revered by followers as a messiah but dismissed by critics as a charlatan — on his trip to North Korea to meet with its founder, Kim Il Sung, to discuss the reunification of the divided peninsula. When her husband died, North Korea's current leader Kim Jong Un sent a personal message of condolence. He later presented her with a pair of North Korean Pungsan dogs, a token of his goodwill. This week, South Korean media alleged that the church had bribed former first lady Kim Keon Hee — whose husband, Yoon Suk Yeol, was recently ousted over his declaration of martial law — with a diamond necklace worth around US$41,970 (RM185,000). Couples attending a mass wedding ceremony. The church, which was founded in 1954, claims to have around three million followers globally — including 300,000 in South Korea, 600,000 in Japan — and oversees a sprawling business empire encompassing construction, tourism, education and media, among others. — AFP pic Indemnity The church has appealed the Japanese court's decision. Experts say that Japan, Korea's former colonial ruler, has long been a financial hub for the sect. 'Usually, religious businesses like Unification Church target isolated lower-middle class individuals,' Vladimir Tikhonov, Korean Studies professor at the University of Oslo, told AFP. 'Their main 'hunting ground' is not South Korea, it is actually Japan,' he added. Since the 1960s, the church is believed to have generated as much as 80 per cent of its global revenues from Japan, according to Levi McLaughlin, a religious studies professor at North Carolina State University. During Japan's 1980s bubble economy, its branch reportedly sent up to ¥10 billion (US$70 million) per month to the South Korean headquarters. Japanese followers are told to 'atone' for the country's colonial past, and McLaughlin told AFP the mass weddings have been framed as a form of 'indemnity'. The church plays a role in match-making couples, experts say, with Japanese women often matched with non-Japanese men — and critics slam the cult-like cutting of family ties that sometimes results. But this month in Gapyeong, more than 1,000 couples — each bride in near-identical white gowns and modest tiaras — wiped away tears, held hands tightly, and swayed to music as they danced and took selfies. The couples 'started from happiness and love, but it seems that those who don't understand it well are misinterpreting it and only seeing the negative aspects', Remi Kosuga, 27, one of the brides, told AFP. 'We simply want to believe in and learn about love. ... I hope people can see that.' — AFP
The Guardian
25-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Tokyo court orders dissolution of ‘Moonies' Unification Church
A court in Japan has ordered the Unification Church to be dissolved after a government request that was spurred by the investigation into the 2022 assassination of the former prime minister Shinzo Abe. The church, founded in South Korea and nicknamed the 'Moonies' after its late founder, Sun Myung Moon, is accused of pressuring followers into making life-ruining donations, and blamed for child neglect among its members, although it has denied any wrongdoing. The church said it was considering an immediate appeal of the Tokyo district court's revocation of its legal status, which would take away its tax-exempt privilege and require liquidation of its assets. The order followed a request by Japan's education ministry in 2023 to dissolve the influential South Korea-based sect, citing manipulative fundraising and recruitment tactics that sowed fear among followers and harmed their families. The Japanese branch of the church had criticised the request as a serious threat to religious freedom and the human rights of its followers. The church called the court order regrettable and unjust and said in a statement that the court's decision was based on 'a wrong legal interpretation and absolutely unacceptable'. The investigation into Abe's assassination revealed decades of cosy ties between the church and Japan's governing Liberal Democratic party. The church obtained legal status as a religious organisation in Japan in the 1960s during an anti-communist movement supported by Abe's grandfather, the former prime minister Nobusuke Kishi. The man accused of killing Abe resented the church and blamed it for his family's financial troubles. The church, which officially calls itself the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, is the first religious group subject to a revocation order under Japan's civil code. Two earlier cases involved criminal charges: the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, which carried out a sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system; and Myokakuji group, whose executives were convicted of fraud. Seeking the church's dissolution, the education ministry submitted 5,000 documents and pieces of evidence to the court, based on interviews with more than 170 people. The church used manipulative tactics to make its followers buy expensive goods and donate beyond their means, causing fear, harm and seriously deviating from the law on religious groups, officials and experts said. The cultural affairs agency said the settlements reached in or outside court exceeded 20bn yen (£103m) and involved more than 1,500 people. The church, founded in Seoul in 1954, a year after the end of the Korean war, by Moon, a self-proclaimed Messiah who preached new interpretations of the Bible and conservative, family-oriented value systems. It developed relations with conservative world leaders including US president, Donald Trump, as well as his predecessors Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush. The church faced accusations in the 1970s and 1980s of using devious recruitment tactics and brainwashing adherents into turning over huge portions of their salaries to Moon. In Japan, the group has faced lawsuits for offering 'spiritual merchandise' that allegedly caused members to buy expensive art and jewellry or sell their real estate to raise money for the church. The church has acknowledged excessive donations, but says the problem has lessened since the group stepped up compliance in 2009. Experts say Japanese followers are asked to pay for sins committed by their ancestors during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, and that most of the church's worldwide funding comes from Japan.
South China Morning Post
15-03-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Controversial Unification Church may be dissolved in Japan
The Unification Church has come under intense scrutiny in Japan since a former prime minister was assassinated, but it could soon fall even further from grace. Advertisement Authorities said in October 2023 they were seeking to dissolve the influential sect, founded in South Korea and nicknamed the 'Moonies' after its late founder, Sun Myung Moon. The church is accused of pressuring followers into making life-ruining donations, and blamed for child neglect among its members – although it has denied any wrongdoing. Now a court order is expected to strip the group of legal recognition as early as this month, major Japanese media outlets reported. The dissolution would remove the church's tax-exempt status while branding the organisation a harmful entity. Advertisement
