Credit: Jakarta Globe
Bereaved family members carry a portrait and coffin of the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the controversial founder of the Unification Church, after his funeral service at the CheongShim Peace World Center in Gapyeong, South Korea, on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2012. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
More than 30,000 mourners, many weeping openly, attended the elaborate, flower-strewn funeral in South Korea Saturday of their “messiah” and Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon.
In a ceremony that had all the trappings of a state funeral, Moon’s carved, red-lacquer coffin was carried by men in military-style uniforms into a stadium at the church headquarters in Gapyeong, 60 kilometers (35 miles) east of Seoul.
The vast, covered arena, dominated by an altar where a giant portrait of Moon stood on a landscaped bank of floral tributes, was packed to capacity with church members — thousands of whom had flown in from overseas.
Many sobbed quietly as the honor guard, accompanied by members of Moon’s immediate family, moved through the stadium and placed the coffin at the foot of the portrait.
Moon died of complications from pneumonia on September 3 aged 92.