UN-IFICATION? Rev. Moon, "Humanity's Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent"

Various bloggers and conspiracy theorists with "intelligence sources" are speculating that Ban Ki-Moon, the mild-mannered foreign minister of South Korea, is a member of Rev. Sun Myung Moon's famously loony cult, known for its aggressive recruitment tactics, mass-marriage ceremonies, militant conservativism, and sundry other misdeeds.

The evidence seems to center on the fact that Ban identifies himself as a "non-denominational Christian," reportedly a euphemism in his home country for membership in the Korea-based Unification Church (aka "The Family Federation For Peace and Unification")

Although Ki-Moon couldn't be reached for comment, Sockjoong Yoon, a spokesperson for the South Korean embassy in Washington, tells Radar, "I worked closely with him for over two years and if he was a Unification Church member, I think I would have known." A Moonie spokesman was even more emphatic: "It's inconceivable to me that he could be a member of the Unification Church in strongly mainline Christian South Korea and have it be unknown," adding that he had heard Ban is affiliated with another "small Christian group" based in South Korea.

After breaking in the South Korean press, Ki-Moon's alleged connection to the Bush-bankrolling owner of the right wing Washington Times and UPI wire service was first raised in the States last week by political blogger Wayne Madsen, who posted several stories about a supposed plot by Unification Church members to hijack the U.N.