'Messiah' on show for the mourning Moonies: Cult leader lies in state as thousands of mourners gather for start of ten-day wake

Thousands of mourners gathered yesterday at the start of a ten-day wake for their self-proclaimed 'messiah', Sun Myung Moon.
The leader of the controversial Moonie cult, who died on Monday at 92, lay in a glass-covered coffin at the headquarters of his Unification Church in South Korea.
Only senior church members and specially invited mourners were allowed to view the body. But that didn’t stop the general public turning up in droves to pay their respects.

Visitors pay respects near the body of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon at the Cheon Jeong Gung Museum in Gapyeong, South Korea

Buses began arriving yesterday morning at the compound in Gapyeong, about 40 miles from Seoul.
Most of the mourners, the men in black and the women in white, paid tribute at an altar set up around a portrait of Moon.
More than 150,000 mourners from around the world – including as many as 32,000 from Japan – are expected to attend the wake.

Mourners attend a memorial service for the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon at the CheongShim Peace World Centre in Gapyeong, South Korea, yesterday

The body of the evangelist, founder of the Unification Church, is seen at the Cheon Jeong Gung in Gapyeong

Mourners wept quietly as solemn music played in the background. Many offered roses and lilies, Moon’s favourite flowers, and bowed before the portrait ringed with roses

Moon started the church after claiming Jesus appeared to him while he was praying as teenager

Mourners wept quietly as solemn music played in the background.
Many offered roses and lilies, Moon’s favourite flowers, and bowed before the portrait ringed with roses.
'I feel even sadder than when my own parents died. I'd never thought the true father would leave us so soon,' said Park Mal-rye, a follower for the past 20 years.
Following a personal condolence message from North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, there has been speculation that Pyongyang might send a rare delegation to the South to attend the September 15 funeral Moon founded the church in the 1950s and established a massive business empire spanning from car sales to sushi restaurants.
He was famous for officiating over mass weddings. He started the church after claiming Jesus appeared to him while he was praying as a 15-year-old and asked him to set up God’s kingdom on Earth.
A controversial figure, Moon denied claims that he brainwashed members, broke up families and used the church to fill his own pockets.
But he served 11 months behind bars in the US after being convicted of tax evasion in 1982.
Moon, who was admitted to hospital a fortnight ago suffering from pneumonia, will be buried at Cheonseung Mountain, near his home.