In a stadium festooned with balloons and flags, about 20,000 couples from 131 nations were joined in crowded matrimony Tuesday by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
Some 10,000 other pairs in Brazil, Kenya, Nigeria, the Philippines and Zaire were wedded under the auspices of Moon's Unification Church in simultaneous satellite hookups.Couples from Japan, Korea, the United States, Yugoslavia, Russia, Brazil and scores of other nations sat side-by-side in Seoul's Olympic Stadium, many holding the hands of spouses - picked by Moon - they had met only a few days before.
"There is no problem communicating because she understands my heart," said a beaming Tsuneo Hamada, 26, of Japan. His bride, Eydie Joseph, 30, of Guyana, is a singer in New York City and speaks no Japanese.
Twenty-nine-year-old Harry Mazei of Detroit had only one small worry - no one in his family knew yet about his marriage in Seoul.
"It's going to be kind of a surprise for them, I suppose," he said. His bride, Yogo Suemi, speaks no English, and he speaks no Japan-ese.
Church officials touted the wedding as the largest international nuptials since Alexander the Great married off his soldiers to conquered Persians in 300 B.C.
The Guinness Book of Records lists the largest wedding in history as a Unification Church ceremony in 1988 that joined 6,500 couples. Over the years, the church has staged 11 mass weddings.
In line with church goals, the mass weddings unite many people across ethnic and cultural boundaries, though some of those married Tuesday were of the same nationality.