Understanding the rise of Christianity in Korea

One of East Asia's most significant historical mysteries is how this small, fractured nation went from having just one percent of the population practice Christianity in 1900 to having the highest missionary production outside the United States.

No one could have foreseen Christianity's rise in Korea two hundred years ago. Confucian professors who had returned from China in the 18th century were the first to introduce Catholicism, but they viewed it more as an academic pursuit. But the Koreans got to achieve the taste of Christianity through the decorated personality of Dong Suk-Kee. 

Dong Suk-Kee, a Korean American missionary and Gospel preacher, was also known as D.D. Bell in America. He lived from May 5, 1881, until December 26, 1971, when he was 90. He founded the first Church of Christ in Korea (1930). For his intense involvement in the March 1st Movement in 1919, Dong received the Presidential Prize in 1996 from the Korean government. 

Dong delivered fourteen years of sermons in Korea for the Methodist Church in 1913. 

He was then appointed as the sixth minister of the Naeli Gyohae Church, a position he held from June 1914 to April 1917. During his missionary efforts, the church expanded, and he renovated the parsonage and sanctuary. He assisted in developing the Yanghwa Hagdang playground, a cutting-edge elementary school system run by the church. He was actively involved in Christian education while serving as pastor of the Naeli Church by running the Yanghwa School. Among the first in Korea, Yanghwa Yuchiwon, or Preschool, was a 1917 addition to the school as a result, in part, of his labor.

Dong started the Church of Christ in Korea on November 29, 1930. Between 1946 and 1949, four churches of Christ were established in Seoul and one in Busan following the liberation. In 1949, Dong returned to the country to raise money for missions. He evangelized Korean military officers who were being educated at the Army Infantry School in Port Banning, Georgia, following the armistice, dispatched missionaries, and gathered money for missionary expenses when he could not return to Korea due to the commencement of the Korean War in 1950. 

The role of Dong Suk-Kee was crucial to the steady rise of Christianity in the initial years, although the current situation in South Korea has proved to be pretty different. Nonetheless, it seems that the attraction to evangelical Protestantism has peaked. Attendance levels and the proportion of Koreans who identify as Protestants have plateaued. Many young Koreans disliked how conservative and pro-regime most churches were due to the democratization movement. Church attendance has also been impacted negatively by corruption, internal strife within the churches, and a singular concentration on growth at all costs.

By contrast, the Catholic Church has remained growing, partly because it is viewed as progressive, anti-regime, above corruption, and more democratic, odd as that would sound to reform-minded Westerners. Catholic Kim Dae-Jung was a well-known dissident during the dictatorships who later rose to power and received the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet, some Protestants practiced a "minjung" theology that strongly emphasized liberty and democracy. 

How the various religious groups in South Korea will interact moving forward is still an open topic. Protests against North Korea, picketing LGBT Pride celebrations, and even the introduction of halal meat in some stores—a move intended to draw tourists from Muslim nations—show that Protestants are still a potently conservative force.