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The youngest son and heir to Rev. Moon Sun-myung, the late founder of the Unification Church, visited North Korea on Friday on a trip apparently aimed at accepting condolences from his relatives residing there, the Unification Ministry said Friday. The ministry handling inter-Korean relations approved the North Korean visit by seventh-son Hyung Jin Moon and Park Sang-kwon, president of the church's auto-making venture Pyeonghwa Motors, the top ministry spokesman said in a press briefing. The two, both U.S. nationals, crossed the heavily fortified border early Friday for the two-day visit, which the ministry said is being paid to accept condolences from the late Moon's family members in the North. The Rev. Moon, messiah, died on Monday aged 92. He was born in what is now North Korea in 1920 before moving to the South to found the Unification Church in 1954, one year after the Korean War ended. It is not known how many relatives the family has in the North. The latest trip came after Park, who lives in the United States and travels regularly to North Korea, returned from his previous visit to the North, during which the Pyeonghwa Motors president was informed of the communist country's decision not to send a delegation to the South. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un extended his condolence letter to Moon's family in the South over the North's official news media, extolling the founder's efforts for reconciliation and unity between the Koreas. The Unification Church said in a statement that the visit is being made because the North Korean leadership, including Kim, may want to express condolences directly to Moon's family members. The visiting son and the president will also visit a memorial altar set up in the church-owned building in Pyongyang, the church said. About 70 relatives, including the senior Moon's younger sister, currently reside in his hometown in Jongju, North Pyongan Province, the church added. The Unification Church and the North have exchanged condolence delegations for funerals for key figures including late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il since Sung Myung Moon's meeting with North Korean founder Kim Il-sung in the North in 1991. Whether the two will meet with any North Korean authorities during their two-day trip is unknown, the spokesman said. "(The possibility) is open, but it's an issue to be dealt with by the Unification Church," he said. The church, which controls a lucrative business empire in the South and the U.S., also operates the auto-manufacturing venture and a hotel in Pyongyang. (Yonhap) |
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