“Photo: Marcelo Schneider / WCC”
Time Period: December 2024
Location: South Korea
Main Actors: Protestant and Catholic clergy, Buddhist monastic leaders
Tactics:
— Letters of opposition or support
— Signed public statements
— Prayer and worship
— Assemblies of protest or support
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (2022-25) declared martial law on December 3, 2024, on the grounds that his allegedly pro-North Korean opponents sought to overthrow democracy. As mass protests erupted in response, legislators faced off with soldiers at the National Assembly but eventually managed to gain entry and unanimously repeal the law. However, Yoon’s conservative allies boycotted his impeachment vote. The liberal opposition then vowed to hold weekly impeachment votes until succeeding. Yoon’s allies relented and he was impeached on December 14. His Prime Minister was also impeached, on the grounds of stalling appointments to the Constitutional Court (in effect delaying Yoon’s impeachment). Yoon was arrested on January 15, 2025, on insurrection charges following a weekslong standoff between investigators.
Yoon’s martial law declaration was unparalleled in South Korea’s post-1987 democratic history. However, both conservative and liberal governments have recently targeted their opponents using non-democratic means, especially by changing electoral laws and campaign rules to advantage themselves. For example, President Park Geun-hye (2013-17) used Japanese colonial-era surveillance laws to dissolve liberal groups and formed a cultural blacklist of artists critical of her administration. After her, President Moon Jae-in (2017-22) stacked the judiciary to persecute Park’s allies. From 2024, Yoon’s liberal opponents increasingly gridlocked the assembly and initiated a large number of impeachments against conservative leaders. These feelings of punitive excess and uncertainty set the stage for Yoon’s martial law declaration.
Korea is roughly 20% Protestant, 17% Buddhist, and 10% Catholic. (Over a majority (51%) of South Koreans identify as irreligious.) The largest Protestant denominations (of which there are over 200) are Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Evangelicals, including the fast-growing Pentecostal Yoido Full Gospel Church, whose 800,000+ members make it the world’s largest single congregation. Korean Buddhism is dominated by the celibate Jogye Order. It has historically defined itself in opposition to the smaller Taego Order which—owing to Japanese influence during occupation—permits marriage among priests.
Korean Christians and Buddhists have stood in complex relationships with the state, which was ruled by military dictators from 1961-1987. Korea’s division into two states powerfully shaped Christians attitudes, largely because both Catholics and Protestants were severely repressed in North Korea, prompting a mass southward exodus. As such, there is a longstanding anti-communist dimension to Korean Christianity, which led many clergy and laity to support the anti-communist junta. Relative to other Koreans, Protestants have especially high anti-North Korea sentiments, which have been nurtured by politicized pastors. Conservatives have garnered strong Protestant support in recent elections owing to their anti-North Korea platform.
The dictatorship supported specific Protestant churches—whose pastors invited regime leaders to televised prayer breakfasts and held pro-government rallies—which enabled South Korea to grow into one of the most densely Protestant places on earth. It also favored the Jogye Order during its efforts to forcibly integrate Korean Buddhists into one unified order.
At the same time, Korean Christians and Buddhists were important participants in the 1980s minjung (people’s) movement. Within Protestantism there developed a doctrine called minjung sinhak (people’s theology), which opposed the dictatorship’s political, economic, and spiritual oppression. Similarly, critiques by younger monks of “establishment Buddhism,” as well as the junta’s growing crackdown on temples and monks, helped spawn a parallel minjung Bulgyo (people’s Buddhism) movement.
After 1987, the number of Christian adherents stagnated, at least partly because churches were discredited for supporting the dictatorship. Buddhism was also partly discredited because of the acrimonious (and sometimes violent) conflict between celibate and married orders. In addition, advocacy among minjung Bulgyo adherents for reunification with North Korea—which especially conservative Koreans view as naive—contributed to its decline.
Since the 1990s, there has been a notable rise in Protestant militancy, such as fundamentalist groups burning Buddhist temples. Far-right conservative Protestants have played a key role in South Korea’s democratic decline. This was especially evident during the Yoon martial law crisis. For example, infamous pastor Kwang-hoon Jun encouraged rioters to forcibly free Yoon from detention, called the impeachment proceedings a “premeditated leftist conspiracy” to turn South Korea into a socialist state, and called for disobedience to court rulings because “God’s word must be placed above the judiciary.” His congregation chanted “Jae-myung Lee [the new president] must die for South Korea to live.” Jun and other megachurch pastors helped organize and incite pro-Yoon riots, where participants stormed and occupied Seoul’s district courthouse and then attacked police officers, civilians, and journalists.
South Korean religious leaders engaged in various forms of speech and action after Yoon’s martial law declaration. For example, nearly 700 Presbyterian pastors held public prayer meetings demanding Yoon’s impeachment. Similarly, nearly 3500 Catholic clergy gathered to protest, including bishops, protests, nuns, and laity. (However, and as stated above, some of the most visible examples of Christian action occurred at pro-Yoon protests by far-right Evangelical groups.) Jogye monks repeatedly performed full-body prostrations from a Seoul temple in the direction of the Constitutional Court to symbolize their devotion to justice.
As regards public speech, the Protestant Korean National Council of Churches Korea (NCCK) issued a statement that is worth quoting at length for its political and theological impact:
[The martial law declaration is] a challenge and betrayal of the democracy and peace that have been painstakingly cultivated under God’s grace…[Yoon’s] actions seek to drag Korean society into “deep darkness” (Isaiah 60:2)…he is not an absolute monarch who reigns over the people and commands chariots and horses (1 Samuel 8:11)…[but rather ought to be] a servant to the people, wiping away their tears and understanding their hearts…NCCK, in obedience to the prophetic mission entrusted by the Lord, will not overlook a President who has undermined democracy…We commit ourselves to fervent prayer and unwavering action to restore the democracy that has been achieved through the blood and toil of the people of the Republic of Korea.
The Church Reform Action Alliance released a similarly powerful statement:
The Korean church leaders and believers who have blessed, ordained, and defended President Yoon Seok-yeol must repent thoroughly and apologize to the Korean church and the people…the Korean church must take the lead in driving out this injustice…‘Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver the oppressed from the hand of the oppressor. Do not oppress or mistreat the alien, the fatherless, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place’ (Jeremiah 22:3). God commands the Korean church to practice fairness and justice and to rescue those who have been deprived of freedom and peace from the hands of those who oppress them!
The Korean Church Human Rights Center went a step further, warning that “Christians would topple the Yoon government” should it continue refusing to heed the people’s demands.” Meanwhile, the United Christian Churches of Korea, another Protestant alliance, condemned the violence of Yoon’s far-right supporters as “something God would disapprove of.” A final Protestant example comes from the Future Pastoral Forum, which took a slightly less confrontational approach, saying it was:
shocked by [Yoon’s] declaration…and urges the [Assembly] to actively resolve the resulting political chaos through dialogue and compromise…At this time, we need to seek the grace of God, the subject of history, and have the wisdom to wisely overcome the current crisis. Therefore, we ask Korean churches and believers to pray for our country’s emergency salvation. It is time for all churches to pray every morning and evening for the country’s peace and restoration of order.
On the Catholic side, the Korean Bishops’ Conference demanded Yoon apologize, provide an explanation, and face accountability. It urged Yoon to “respond sincerely to the demands of the Korean Catholic Church and the Korean people.” About two weeks prior, nearly 1500 Catholic priests had released a statement accusing Yoon of neglecting his constitutional responsibilities and polarizing Korean society, calling for his resignation. All of this was significant in light of the fact that Korean Catholics infrequently make political statements.
Finally, the Jogye Order said the Constitutional Court’s decision—that martial law was undemocratic—served as evidence of Korean democracy’s vibrancy. The Korean Council of Religious Leaders, representing seven major religious groups, called for those who “disrupt the constitutional order and unsettle the people…[to] be checked and [held] responsible for their role.” The minority Won Order also called for Yoon’s impeachment.
What can US democracy organizers learn from the example set by South Korean Christian and Buddhist leaders? One lesson concerns the power of religious language. Korean clergy, in particular, not only expressed their anti-authoritarianism very directly and critically, but they connected these critiques to biblical themes of justice, grace, prophecy, faith, and salvation. Other religious leaders around the world who have, for example, merely criticized the violent aspects of democratic backsliding, or who have not explicitly connected their criticisms to biblical injunctions, would do well to emulate these rhetorical examples from South Korea.
Where to learn more:
– Cho, J. E., & Hur, A. (2025). The Perils of South Korean Democracy. Journal of Democracy, 36(2), 38-46.
– Greitens, S.C. (2024). The Global Consequences of Yoon’s Martial Law Gambit. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Emissary Blog.
– Hong, J. Y., & Paik, C. (2021). Hate thy communist neighbor: Protestants and politics in South Korea. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 186, 707-723.
– Nadjibulla, V. & Williams, E. (2024). Explainer: Democracy Under Pressure: Yoon’s Failed Martial Law and South Korea’s Political Turmoil. Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.
You can access all the caselets from the Pillars of Support Project here.