hankyoreh

Okay, so let’s assume for a second that when Lee Myung-bak was mayor of Seoul and while praying he said he dedicated the city to God he just misspoke, and that he was just doing a little payback when he put people in his personal network from Somang Church in important positions at the Blue House and in his Cabinet.

Still, it’s getting to be too much. The favoritism towards one particular religion is becoming so severe that you actually get the feeling the country is being run not by President Lee Myung-bak, but by Lee Myung-bak the Protestant elder.

After being inaugurated, Lee invited a minister with whom he is especially close to hold a worship service in the Blue House, something previous presidents worked hard to refrain from. Then, the head of the presidential security corps was quoted as openly saying that he dreams to “gospelize the government ministries,” and in the Office of the President they did a survey of the “religious tendencies” of civil servants involved in political affairs. The head of the National Police Agency appeared in a poster with Rev. David Yonggi Cho, of Yeouido Full Gospel Church, to advertise a prayer service calling for the “gospelization” of the country’s police officers. Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong openly brags about shedding some sort of “tears of prayer.” Minister of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs Kim Soung-yee once said that social welfare policy had failed “because of a lack of religious faith.”

Chu Bu-gil, formerly a secretary to President Lee, called people participating in the candlelight protests “Satan’s lot.” The country’s Buddhist temples have all disappeared from the “Know Before You Go” (Algo ga) traffic and transportation information system run by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs. It is in this context that one learns that the principal of Gyeonggi Girls’ High School buried Buddhist cultural artifacts that had long been located on the campus grounds.

According to 2005 figures from the National Statistical Office, of a population of 47 million, 10.72 million Koreans identified themselves as Buddhist, 8.61 million identified themselves as Protestant, and 5.14 million said they are Catholic. Very many Koreans are of other faiths that are classified differently, like Won Buddhism. What these numbers mean is that Korea is a society in which there is always the risk of religious discord. The country has long managed to overcome this with religious tolerance and by furthering religious diversity. A good example of this would be how the 33 nationalists who were at the core of the March 1st Movement during Japanese rule fully represented the country’s religious faiths. This tradition has been suffering, however, since the inauguration of Lee Myung-bak. The situation is enough to cause worry about religious discord and even clashes.

There are numerous examples of how religious deviationism on the part of political leaders leads to tragedy, from the Crusades of Europe’s Middle Ages to Hitler’s massacre of Jews. The recent tragedy in Bosnia originated in religious conflict, and religious conflict has fueled the tragedy in Northern Ireland. At a Protestant candlelight worship service yesterday, participants all said they are ashamed of elder and president, Lee Myung-bak. He needs to meditate deeply on how that is not only because of his arrogance and failures at governing, but also because of his religious favoritism.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]