Washington Times’ Loss Put at $35 Million

The Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church has been spending $35 million a year to support its money-losing Washington Times newspaper and eventually plans to expand its burgeoning Washington video operations into a nationwide cable-television system, according to the church’s second-ranking official.

In a rare interview in his office in a church-run school here, Moon deputy Bo Hi Pak provided fresh details about the church’s business affiliations--ranging from a computer lab in Japan to a machine tool company in Germany to an Alaska fishing fleet--that provide at least $100 million a year to support the church’s activities.

Pak is best known in the United States as the president of the Washington Times.

The former South Korean intelligence official and military officer said the newspaper has lost about $250 million since its founding eight years ago, and he estimated that it continues to lose about $35 million a year.

Nonetheless, he described the church and its component entities as “very glad to subsidize” the newspaper because it contributes to world peace, and he said it would not be sold or shuttered.