By HYUNG-JIN KIM of Associated Press (AP)
|
FILE - In this Saturday, June 25, 2005 file photo, Unification
Church leader Rev. Sun Myung Moon speaks during his
"Now is God's Time" rally in New York. Moon, self-proclaimed
messiah who founded the Unification Church, has died
at age 92 church officials said Monday, Sept. 3, 2012.
(AP Photo/John Marshall Mantel) |
GAPYEONG, South Korea (AP) — The Rev. Sun Myung Moon was a self-proclaimed messiah who built a global business empire. He called both North Korean leaders and American presidents his friends, but spent time in prisons in both countries. His followers around the world cherished him, while his detractors accused him of brainwashing recruits and extracting money from worshippers.
These contradictions did nothing to stop the founder of the Unification Church from turning his religious vision into a worldwide movement and a multibillion-dollar corporation stretching from the Korean Peninsula to the United States.