From Korea Times:

4,000 Couples Take Part in Mass Wedding Ceremony

12/01 19:20

| Some 4,000 couples - most long married with 1,000 newly matched

| - took part in a marriage affirmation ceremony at the Chamsil

| Gymnastics Gymnasium in southern Seoul at 1 a.m. Sunday under

| the arrangement of the Unification Church.

|

| The newlywed included 500 Korean couples, 300 couples by Koreans

| and Japanese as well as 200 couples which either one or both

| parties are foreign nationals, most of them U.S., Chinese or

| European citizens.

|

| Married couples renewing their vows did not have to belong to

| the Unification Church and organizers promoted the event as a

| nondenominational celebration of marriage and family.

|

| The 4,000 couples took the bow simultaneously with 28,000

| couples gathered at Washington D.C.'s Robert F. Kennedy Stadium,

| reaffirming their wedding pledges presided over by Rev. Moon

| Sun-myung.

|

| Called ``Blessing '97,'' the ceremonies were broadcast live via

| satellite and participated in by 39.6 million couples in 54

| countries.

|

| Brides and grooms who couldn't stand next to their spouses due

| to financial or geographical separation carried pictures of

| spouses and cellular phones to communicate with them.

|

| Seoul used to be the main venue for these gigantic, satellite

| relaying shows in the past, and Washington is the first city

| outside Korea to play host, which is to be the last one in the

| 20th century.

|

| The church, which believes cross-cultural matchmaking will help

| make world peace, sponsored the event to wrap up a week of

| festivities billed as ``World Culture and Sports Festival.''