An estimated 35,000 mourners attended an emotion-filled funeral for Unification Church leader and founder Rev. Sun Myung Moon in the church's main compound in Gapyeong, east of Seoul, on Saturday, according to the church.
Moon's family and followers wept as the casket was carried into the CheongShim Peace World Center, a church-owned sports and cultural center, for the funeral service.
Moon will be buried on Mount Cheonseong, overlooking the church's estate which has its own general hospital, museum and schools in Gapyeong.
The self-claimed "messiah" died on Sept. 3 at the age of 92 due to complications from pneumonia.
Among the mourners at the service were Lord Tarsem King, a member of the United Kingdom's House of Lords from the Labour Party, and former Albanian President Alfred Moisiu.
During the service, Rev. Hyung Jin Moon, the seventh son and religious heir of the late founder, said the "indomitable spirit of the 'true father' is essential to overcoming all suppression and hatred remaining in the world."
He vowed to make full efforts to build a heavenly and idealistic nation based on the "life of true love" lived by his father.
There was also a tribute given by Kang Dong-suk, who chaired the 2012 Yeosu Expo Organizing Committee. "Many educational facilities built by the late Moon to cultivate elite students and his culture-arts activities along with worldwide corporate activities will root deeper and will be lush with leaves and fruits," he said.
Moon's third and oldest living son, Hyun Jin, who is in a legal feud with the church, did not attend the service.
The 43-year-old chairman of the Unification Church International (UCI) Group will hold a separate service in the United States where he now lives to remember his father, together with his family and close friends, according to sources.
The late Moon was born in Jongju, North Pyongan Province in North Korea, in 1920, and founded the Unification Church in 1954, one year after the Korean War ended in an armistice.
The church, officially called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, now claims some 3 million followers in 194 countries.
It gained fame for conducting mass weddings among followers with one wedding ceremony involving 30,000 couples.
The controversial sect has built vast business and educational empires around the world, including 10 in South Korea alone, including a ski resort and a professional soccer team.
The church also has news media outlets including the Segye Times in South Korea, The Washington Times and the UPI news agency in the U.S. under its wing, in addition to an automaker in North Korea and a hotel and a university in the U.S. (Yonhap)