The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who founded the Unification Church and Washington Times, had a love child and made the man who would become the Times’s founding editor and publisher raise the boy, according to a report today by Mother Jones.
Mother Jones reports that, Moon, who died in 2012 after decades of preaching celibacy and performing mass weddings, was hardly the model practicioner of his own sermons. In the 1960s, the magazine reports, Annie Choi, a woman with whom Moon was having an affair, became pregnant. Moon then arranged to have his deputy, Bo Hi Pak and Pak’s wife take custody of the child and raise it as their own, with the Paks taking rather extensive measures to pull off the scheme:
Mrs. Pak stuffed her midsection with an expanding mound of cloth diapers to mimic pregnancy. When Choi went into labor, Pak drove her to a Washington, DC, hospital and passed her off as his wife. The Paks were even listed as the child’s parents on his birth certificate.
The article also contains other steamy details about the early days of the Unification Church, including allegations that it becan as an “erotic cult” that required female acolytes to have sex with Moon several times before being inducted into the faith. Choi, who met Moon in Korea before moving to Washington in 1964 to attend Georgetown University, also says she was one of a group of concubines known as the “Six Marys.”
The son, Sam Park, is now 47 years old and lives with Choi in Phoenix. He has known that Moon was his father since he was 13, but is only know going public about it. Park and Choi also happen to be suing Moon’s estate for $20 million because when Moon was carving up his religious and media empires upon his retirement, he did not appoint Park to a senior leadership position in the Unification Church, as he allegedly promised to do.
Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.
Report: Rev. Sun Myung Moon Made Washington Times Editor Raise Secret Love Child
The article from Mother Jones also says the early Unification Church was a sex cult.
The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who founded the Unification Church and Washington Times, had a love child and made the man who would become the Times’s founding editor and publisher raise the boy, according to a report today by Mother Jones.
Mother Jones reports that, Moon, who died in 2012 after decades of preaching celibacy and performing mass weddings, was hardly the model practicioner of his own sermons. In the 1960s, the magazine reports, Annie Choi, a woman with whom Moon was having an affair, became pregnant. Moon then arranged to have his deputy, Bo Hi Pak and Pak’s wife take custody of the child and raise it as their own, with the Paks taking rather extensive measures to pull off the scheme:
Mrs. Pak stuffed her midsection with an expanding mound of cloth diapers to mimic pregnancy. When Choi went into labor, Pak drove her to a Washington, DC, hospital and passed her off as his wife. The Paks were even listed as the child’s parents on his birth certificate.
The article also contains other steamy details about the early days of the Unification Church, including allegations that it becan as an “erotic cult” that required female acolytes to have sex with Moon several times before being inducted into the faith. Choi, who met Moon in Korea before moving to Washington in 1964 to attend Georgetown University, also says she was one of a group of concubines known as the “Six Marys.”
The son, Sam Park, is now 47 years old and lives with Choi in Phoenix. He has known that Moon was his father since he was 13, but is only know going public about it. Park and Choi also happen to be suing Moon’s estate for $20 million because when Moon was carving up his religious and media empires upon his retirement, he did not appoint Park to a senior leadership position in the Unification Church, as he allegedly promised to do.
Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.
Most Popular in News & Politics
Another Mysterious Anti-Trump Statue Has Appeared on the National Mall
DC Pedestrian Killed by Truck Carrying Tank From Trump’s Parade, Kristi Noem Went to Hospital for Allergic Reaction, and Most Virginia Primary Results Are In
Smaller Crowds, Big Emotions for Army’s 250th: What We Heard Around DC
Man Jumps From AU Radio Tower in Apparent Suicide
PHOTOS: “No Kings” Protests Draw Thousands in DC Area
Washingtonian Magazine
June Issue: Pride Guide
View IssueSubscribe
Follow Us on Social
Follow Us on Social
Related
How Would a New DC Stadium Compare to the Last One?
The Culture of Lacrosse Is More Complex Than People Think
Did Television Begin in Dupont Circle?
Kings Dominion’s Wild New Coaster Takes Flight in Virginia
More from News & Politics
What to Know About the Dupont Circle “Deckover” Project
Nine Minutes With Jonathan Van Ness
War Not About Regime Change Upgraded to War About Regime Change, Alleged Ed Martin Spitter Faces More Spitting Charges, and We Spent a Few Minutes With Jonathan Van Ness
Trump Roams White House in Search of an Audience, Dismay in Richmond Cost Levar Stoney, and Miss Pixie’s Will Close
DC Pedestrian Killed by Truck Carrying Tank From Trump’s Parade, Kristi Noem Went to Hospital for Allergic Reaction, and Most Virginia Primary Results Are In
Another Mysterious Anti-Trump Statue Has Appeared on the National Mall
Army Says Tanks Didn’t Damage DC’s Streets; Trump Attends, Leaves G-7 Summit; and an Alligator Got Escorted Out of Fairfax
5 Things to Know About the New Trump Smartphone