2,500 Couples Marry in Mass Wedding at 'Moonies' Church in South Korea

Some 2,500 identically-dressed couples have married in a mass wedding ceremony in South Korea. They were all members of the controversial Unification Church, commonly known as 'Moonies' after their late founder and 'Messiah' the Reverend Sun Myung Moon.

Born in Jeongju, North Korea in 1920, Moon founded his religious movement in 1954. He said that when he was 15 Jesus appeared to him and demanded he set up God's kingdom on Earth.

Mass weddings soon became the trademark of the movement. Often it was Moon himself who matched the couples who were unknown to each other before the ceremony. Moon preferred brides and grooms from different racial backgrounds as he believed in the creation of a multicultural religious world.

This was the church's second mass wedding since Rev Moon died in 2012 aged 93. His widow Hak Ja Han Moon officiated.