Simultaneous: Couples at a church in Washington join in the ceremony through an internet link

Churchgoers watched the ceremony on a large screen flanked by the flags of South Korea, Japan and the United States in Washington.

'This is the best way to make peace,' said Fumi Oliver, a native of Japan who married an American, the Rev. Zagery Oliver, 12 years ago.

'International, intercultural, interracial marriage is the best way to make peace.'

Hundreds of brides and grooms gathered in churches in Australia, said Enrique Ledesma, 
Australian director of the church-affiliated Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.

The ceremony in Honduras marks a new start for the movement in the Latin American nation, said Omar Valle, 
president of the Unification Church in Tegucigalpa. He said 25 couples will renew their vows.

And in Brazil some 2,000 people in 40 cities took part in the ceremony via simultaneous broadcast.