More than 30,000 mourners, many weeping openly, attended the elaborate, flower-strewn funeral

More than 30,000 mourners, many weeping openly, attended the elaborate, flower-strewn funeral in South Korea of their “messiah” and Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon.

In a ceremony on Saturday 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 kilometres 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.

His church, whose members were known “Moonies” by the media, was renowned for its mass weddings of thousands — sometimes tens of thousands — of couples and for its multi-billion-dollar business interests.

Over the past 10 days, more than 150,000 mourners have passed through the stadium to pay their last respects at Moon’s portrait before his burial on Saturday on a hillside overlooking the sprawling Gapyeong complex.

The eulogies were led by the youngest of Moon’s seven sons and his spiritual successor, Hyung Jin Moon, who vowed to continue the work of the “true father, savior and messiah” following his “transition into the spirit world”.

Revered by his followers but denounced by critics as a cult-building charlatan, Moon was a deeply divisive figure whose business dealings saw him jailed in the United States.

Source AP