August 20, 2013
SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has extended a condolence letter to mark the one year anniversary of the death of the Unification Church founder Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the North's state media said Tuesday.
According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) report monitored in Seoul, Kim "sent words cherishing the memory of Moon Sun Myung."
"Kim Jong-un prayed for the repose of Moon, who worked hard for national concord, prosperity and reunification and world peace," the KCNA said in an English-dispatch, adding that the bereaved family members would carry forward the intentions of Moon.
The Rev. Moon, a self-claimed "messiah," died at the age of 92 on September 3, 2012. He was born in 1920 in what is now North Korea before moving to the South to found the Unification Church in 1954, one year after the Korean War ended.
Following Moon's death, Kim immediately sent a condolence message to Moon's family in the South over the KCNA.
Also, the North awarded Moon what it calls the National Reunification Prize in recognition of his contribution to inter-Korean reconciliation and unity.