5,000 Couples from 90 Countries United in Marriage
Officiated by Family Federation President Han Hak-ja
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church, hereinafter referred to as the Family Federation) held a mass wedding ceremony on the 12th for 5,000 couples of believers from various countries.
Yonhap News reported on the 13th about the '2025 Hyojeong Cheonju Blessing Wedding Ceremony.' At this event, 5,000 couples from 90 countries including Korea, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Brazil, Bolivia, Costa Rica, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Thailand, and the Philippines were united in marriage under the officiation of Han Hak-ja (82), the president of the Family Federation. President Han is the wife of the late Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church.
At the international mass wedding held on the 12th at the Cheongshim Peace World Center in Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi Province, members of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church) are raising their hands with bright expressions. Photo by Family Federation for World Peace and Unification
About 1,300 couples gathered at the Cheongshim Peace World Center in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province. Those who could not attend in person were connected online to participate in the wedding.
The Family Federation has been holding mass weddings since 1961, starting with 36 domestic couples married under the officiation of founders Sun Myung Moon and Han Hak-ja. Since then, the Family Federation has expanded the scope and scale of its mass weddings.
The Sunhak Sang Peace Committee, affiliated with the Family Federation, awarded the 6th Sunhak Peace Prize the day before to Wanjira Mathai, Regional Director for Africa at the World Resources Institute, Hugh Evans, CEO of the international relief organization Global Citizen, and Patrick Awuah, President of Ashesi University in Ghana. The Founder’s Special Award was given to former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and Samuel Hadebe, a clergyman of the Church of God of Prophecy in South Africa. Each recipient received a prize of $200,000 (approximately 280 million KRW), along with a medal and a plaque.
Panoramic view of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification joint wedding ceremony. Provided by the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification
Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology issued a dissolution order against the Family Federation in Japan, citing illegal activities including large-scale donation fraud.
According to NHK, the Tokyo District Court stated, “A vast scale of damage has occurred, and the current situation cannot be overlooked,” and on the 25th of last month, issued a decision ordering the dissolution of the Family Federation in Japan. The Japanese Family Federation has appealed this decision to a higher court.
In response, the Family Federation issued a statement under the name of its association president, saying, “The government’s move to dissolve a religious organization can only be interpreted as religious persecution,” expressing their position on the Tokyo District Court’s dissolution order against the Family Federation’s Japanese corporation last month.
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