Son of Moonies founder takes over as Unification Church leader

Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, known internationally as the Moonies, has handed control of the movement to his youngest son, Hyung Jin Moon. Reports describe the move as an attempt to broaden the controversial organisation’s appeal. In a ceremony near Seoul, the 28-year-old Harvard-educated Hyung Jin Moon was anointed chairman of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, the name the church has used since the late 1990s.

Moon, who is 88, said of his son: “I hope everyone helps him so that he may fulfil his duty as the successor of the True Parents.” The phrase referred to Moon and his wife. Hyung Jin Moon, who was born in the state of New York, pledged to “develop the church and to connect as many people as possible” to his parents, and said he would “do my best to bring the love of the True Parents and God to every corner of the world.”

Hyung Jin Moon is the youngest of seven sons and has five children of his own. Experts quoted in the report say he is being groomed to secure his ageing father’s legacy more than 50 years after Moon founded the Unification Church in South Korea. According to the report, Moon declared himself the new messiah with the aim of establishing a single world government under his leadership. The new leader holds a degree in philosophy and theology, practised Zen Buddhism, and lived in a Catholic monastery. He has been described as the “most spiritual” of Moon’s children.

Timothy Read, a spokesman for the church in London, told the Guardian that Moon had been preparing his sons for a larger role for three years. “The Unification church is not just a church these days, but an international organisation with many interests,” Read said. “Religion is just one aspect of that. The reverend decided a while ago that it would encounter difficulties if it was simply known as a church and decided to broaden its activities.”

The report estimates the church’s worldwide membership at 250,000, although the church claims more than ten times that number. Critics denounce the movement as little more than a personality cult and say it has often used questionable methods to recruit and retain followers. Former followers say recruitment in the United States, South Korea and Japan has included palm-reading, and that members routinely take out loans to meet fundraising targets.

Moon was convicted in the United States of tax evasion in 1982. Despite the apparent transfer of power, few expect him to loosen his grip. A former member told the Guardian: “He may have appointed his son, but Moon is constantly giving orders, and people do as they tell him. He is unlikely to transfer any actual power to his sons.” Experts say Moon’s eldest son, Hyo Jin, might have been the more obvious successor but was passed over after scandals involving drugs and extramarital sex. Hyo Jin died of a heart attack last month at the age of 45.

A former disciple who left the church several years ago in protest at Moon’s increasingly narcissistic behaviour said he expected the church to step up fundraising under Hyung Jin and to form alliances well beyond its pseudo-Christian origins. The church drew notoriety in the 1960s with its first “blessings,” mass weddings often held in stadiums. When it launched in the UK and other countries in the 1970s, it was criticised for alleged brainwashing techniques, known as “heavenly deception.”

Moon built a business portfolio funded by property purchases in South Korea, Japan, the United States and elsewhere. It includes the Washington Times newspaper, a golf course in California, and a small-arms manufacturer in New York run by one of his sons. The movement’s finances are largely opaque outside the family. One estimate put the leader’s personal wealth at about $990 million, and maintaining steady donations from devout followers will now fall to Hyung Jin Moon.

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