South Koreans will head to polling stations on March 9 to elect a new president, who will choose between China, its leading trading partner, and the US, with whom it has a military pact.
At a time when US-North Korean relations are at an impasse, and the Joe Biden administration is acting aggressively against China, much may rest with Christians who form 28 percent of South Korea’s population.
Although churches played a significant role in the democracy movement, South Korea’s conservative mega-churches are known for their far-right politics and have a close connection with Korean-American churches as well as US evangelical churches.
South Korea’s Christians — particularly its evangelicals — are the crucial link that shaped South Korea’s ties with the US after it became independent from imperial Japan.
Unusual for an Asian country, of South Korea’s 51 million people, some 20 percent are Protestants and 8 percent are Catholics, making Christians the biggest religious group in the country, even larger than Buddhists who form 16 percent. Most South Koreans (56 percent) have no religion.
Christians in South Korea wield considerable influence relative to their numbers as they are commonly found among the country’s elites. Out of the eight South Korean presidents in the democratic era (since 1987), six were Christians — three Protestants (Roh Tae-woo, Kim Young-sam, and Lee Myung-bak) and three Catholics (Roh Moo-hyun, Kim Dae-jung and current President Moon Jae-in).
The incumbent Moon Jae-in is unwilling to adopt any step that would not go down well with Washington
Christianity, which was introduced in the 14th century, began to spread in the 17th century mostly through lay missionary work. Christianity came to be associated with education and Western modernization and expanded its appeal through social service and aid.
Moon Jae-in, the current president, converted to Catholicism as a North Korean refugee child in Busan as he lined up to receive food that Catholic nuns served daily.
Two presidential candidates are running neck and neck in opinion polls even though their views differ on crucial matters. Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party advocates South Korea taking the lead on inter-Korean relations, while the incumbent Moon Jae-in is unwilling to adopt any step that would not go down well with Washington.
To the solace of President Moon, the nation’s security and military establishments are sticking to fostering cordial ties with Washington. Lee Jae-myung, on the other hand, cannot take South Korea to the Chinese camp as the US has an arsenal of economic and diplomatic weapons at its disposal to make a wayward nation fall in line.
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Another conservative opponent, Yoon Seok-youl of the People Power Party, however, takes a hardline position on North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). He has hinted at launching a pre-emptive strike. He favors the military alliance with the US and seeks an active role in Washington’s global coalition to contain China.
The Catholic Church has been advocating Korean unification. Churches in South Korea celebrate National Liberation Day from Japanese rule on Aug. 15 every year with a special prayer for peace and reunification.
All of Korea had been unified as a single entity for centuries. Following the Japanese surrender in 1945 at the end of World War II, the US and the Soviet Union divided the Korean Peninsula. The Korean War, in which the North invaded the South in 1950, claimed more than 4 million lives. The war ended on July 27, 1953, with an armistice, not a peace treaty. This means the two neighbors are technically still at war.
While the Catholic Church has prospered in South Korea, the Holy See does not recognize North Korea’s state-run Korean Catholic Association (KCA), which claims there are 3,000 Catholics in the country, while the UN estimates around 800.
Reconciliation between the two Koreas has been a major thrust of the Church, and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea (CBCK) established the Special Commission for the Reconciliation of the Korean People in 1997.
The South Korean military is accelerating technological upgrades and has hiked its defense budget by an average of 7.4 percent each year
During his visit to South Korea in 2014, Pope Francis dedicated the last Mass to peace and reunification. “Jesus asks us to believe that forgiveness is the door which leads to reconciliation,” he said in his homily in Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul.
President Moon has missed opportunities to improve inter-Korean relations. The South Korean military is accelerating technological upgrades and has hiked its defense budget by an average of 7.4 percent each year.
The US is also increasing its military presence in the Asia-Pacific. South Korea’s geographical location places it on the front line of the US anti-China project, and the Koreans are assigned the role of “force multiplier” in that effort.
An election victory for the conservative candidate would automatically give the US everything it wants. Yoon Seok-youl is firm in his intention to ally closely with US militarism. A win for Lee Jae-myung, however, may change South Korea’s course.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
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