hankyoreh

Oct. 23. (Photo by Park Jong-shik)

By Kim Ji-hoon and Choi Woo-ri　

With the Seoul mayoral election three days away, megachurch pastors Kim Hong-do and Jeon Kwang-hoon launched ideological attacks Sunday on opposition candidate Park Won-soon.

While leading a prayer during a service at Kum Ran United Methodist Church in the Mangubon neighborhood of Seoul’s Jungnang District, Kim, the church’s director, said, “What are we to do if someone who belongs to Satan and demons becomes mayor of Seoul, which is like our heart?”

Kim also said, “Let us pray that someone with healthy ideas and a proper national view becomes prayer. The fate of the nation is in jeopardy if this mayoral election goes wrong.”

Kum Ran United Methodist Church is the world’s largest Methodist church, with a congregation of some 120 thousand.

As they were leaving the service, members of the congregation were asked who the “someone with a proper national view” that Kim spoke of was. Three women in their 70s answered that it was Grand National Party (GNP) candidate Na Kyung-won. “Everyone in the congregation knows that,” they said.

A woman in her 20s answered, “The Grand National Party [candidate].”

Two men in their 20s were asked who the “someone affiliated with Satan and demons was.”

“The man [Park], not the woman [Na],” one answered.

At the end of his prayer, Kim added that the latest issue of the Jayu Daehan Sinmun newspaper had come out and asked that members of the flock “take three or four them, pass them around to your member members, and especially encourage young people” to read them. Thousands of copies of the newspaper were positioned at the exits to the chapel.

The Oct. 20 edition of the newspaper, which is published by the Association to Commemorate the Founding of the Republic of Korea, includes a contribution on pages 2 and 3 by Rev. Suh Kyung-suk.

“It has come to light that when People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy has criticized corporations, and those corporations have generally sent contributions of hundreds of millions of won or more to the Beautiful Foundation,” Rev. Suh wrote about Park. “The coordination of the Beautiful Foundation and PSPD is no different at all from an organized crime group.”

Suh made his opposition to Park clear, demanding that the candidate “clarify whether he will maintain ties with the Democratic Labor Party, which is a leftist party serving North Korea and a group of followers of Kim Jong-il.”

“If my questions about Park Won-soon are resolved, I would like to reconcile with him and withdraw my opposition,” he added.

Jeon Kwang-hoon also criticized the political opposition during a sermon at Sarangjeil Presbyterian Church of Korea in the Jangwi neighborhood of Seoul’s Seongbuk District.

“The opposition is repudiating the Republic of Korea,” Jeon said, adding, “Where else do you find a party that won’t even let you use the term ‘liberal democracy’?”

Jeon previously sparked controversy by spearheading the founding of the Christian Liberal Democratic Party and giving 10 million won ($8,780) to the Korea Parent Federation to fight the Hope Bus campaign.

An official with the Seoul election commission said that the distribution of the Jayu Daehan Sinmun at Kum Ran United Methodist Church was suspended after being deemed problematic early on.

“We are currently examining matters closely to determine whether the content of sermons at Kum Ran United Methodist Church and elsewhere was in violation of election law,” the official added.

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