Thousands of tearful mourners flocked to the Unification Church's main compound east of Seoul Thursday to pay their respects to the church's late founder and leader Rev. Moon Sun-myung.
Men clad in black suits with white ties and women in white dresses formed 100-meter-long lines outside a massive sports and cultural center owned by the church in Gapyeong, 60 kilometers northeast of Seoul, as they waited their turns to bid farewell to Moon.
The self-claimed "messiah" died Monday at the age of 92 due to complications from pneumonia.
The church opened a shrine at the CheongShim Peace World Center Thursday ahead of the funeral ceremony scheduled for Sept. 15.
From the early hours of the day, the parking lots and areas surrounding the facility where a special altar bearing a giant portrait of Moon had been built were packed with cars and buses carrying the visitors. Residents of neighboring villages hang banners mourning Moon's death.
The altar was decorated with condolence flowers from prominent figures including South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
The mourners laid roses and lilies -- Moon's favorite flowers -- and bowed before the portrait.
Moon's family, including the seventh and youngest son Hyung Jin who is the international president of the church, and other church leaders received the mourners. The 33-year-old priest chairs the funeral committee for his late father.
The church said it will receive mourners for nine days, extended from the originally planned eight days, until Sept. 14.
About 10,000 mourners, including 3,000 Japanese, are expected to pay respects to Moon on Thursday alone, church authorities said.
In total, more than 150,000 mourners from home and abroad are forecast to visit the center during the nine-day mourning period, the authorities said.
Among the mourners will be church faithful, significant figures from all walks of life and former and current state leaders from around the world, they added. Some Japanese mourners took pictures of another huge portrait of Moon hung on the outer wall of the building and others knelt on the ground to pray as they waited their turn to pay their respects.
"I still cannot believe the death of a man who formed my family and made us happy," Asako Wagai, a 44-year-old Japanese woman who married a Korean in 2007, said past tears. (Yonhap)