Unification Church says ailing founder getting better

The condition of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the Unification Church founder, has improved five days after he was admitted to a Seoul hospital with complications from pneumonia, the church's current leader said in his latest sermon.

The 92-year-old is in the intensive care unit of Seoul St. Mary's Hospital in southern Seoul where he was admitted last Tuesday.

Rev. Hyung Jin Moon, the head of the church and the youngest of Moon's seven sons, gave the information and a detailed description of his conditions while delivering his latest Sunday sermon at the main church building in Seoul.

The church posted a video of the sermon on the church's Web site on Monday.

"Only two days ago, the hospital had to operate an oxygenator at full capacity. But yesterday, oxygen was being provided sufficiently even though the operation rate was lowered to 30 percent," he said.

"We feel hope because he began to take thin rice gruel through a nose tube and started having bowel movements two days ago."

Despite the improvement, he said the founder is still gravely ill with 13 medical machines being connected to his body.

"Please keep praying for him as things may change at a moment, and he is an old man," he added.

A refugee from North Korea, Senior Moon founded the Unification Church in 1954, one year after the Korean War ended.

The church, officially called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, now claims some 3 million followers in 194 countries around the world.

It gained fame for conducting mass weddings among followers with one wedding ceremony held at Seoul's Jamsil Stadium in 1992 involving 30,000 couples.

Despite various controversies, the church has built a vast business empire all around the world, including 10 corporations in South Korea alone.

The church also has news media outlets such as the Segye Times of South Korea, The Washington Times and the UPI news agency in the U.S. under its wing. (Yonhap News)