Anti-Christian wave reaches Seoul, with President Lee as the target
by Joseph Yun Li-sun
The conservative leader kneels during a Christian prayer meeting. As the footage of the event is broadcast across the nation, the scene is “unforgiveable” for Buddhists. Even conservative media are outraged.
Seoul (AsiaNews) – A wave of anger against Christians appears to be sweeping over South Korea, a traditionally pluralistic nation when it comes to religion, where the Catholic community grew by 10 per cent in less than a decade. Across the country, people are still talking about the state’s secular nation after they saw President Lee Myung-bak kneel (pictured) during a national prayer meeting when an elder asked him to.
Footage of the event was broadcast by all national TV networks and caused a storm in a country where about half of the population professes no particular faith and the remainder is split between Buddhists, Christians and local creeds.
South Korea’s post-1953 constitution stipulates no official religion and bars the country’s leaders from elevating one faith above the others.
Publicly, South Korean leaders have generally refrained from professing any religion. A few have told the public of their religious beliefs but have not shown them.
The main Buddhist Jogye Order called the scene “unforgiveable”. Even right-leaning media outlets, which are generally supportive of the conservative leader, have harshly criticised him.
However, for a source that spoke to AsiaNews, the president’s gesture is “a coded apology to the Protestant community to which he belongs, for heavily fining a Protestant group that sent unauthorised aid to the North.”
South Korea’s current government has banned sending food or medicine to North Korea’s Kim Jong-il’s regime.
However, a powerful and very active evangelical group simply ignored the ban, sending flour and vermifuge drugs to the North. South Korean authorities reacted by imposing a hefty fine and placing the group’s leader under surveillance.
By kneeling, the president “tried to apologise, but in so doing he drew the ire of the rest of the nation.”
Footage of the event was broadcast by all national TV networks and caused a storm in a country where about half of the population professes no particular faith and the remainder is split between Buddhists, Christians and local creeds.
South Korea’s post-1953 constitution stipulates no official religion and bars the country’s leaders from elevating one faith above the others.
Publicly, South Korean leaders have generally refrained from professing any religion. A few have told the public of their religious beliefs but have not shown them.
The main Buddhist Jogye Order called the scene “unforgiveable”. Even right-leaning media outlets, which are generally supportive of the conservative leader, have harshly criticised him.
However, for a source that spoke to AsiaNews, the president’s gesture is “a coded apology to the Protestant community to which he belongs, for heavily fining a Protestant group that sent unauthorised aid to the North.”
South Korea’s current government has banned sending food or medicine to North Korea’s Kim Jong-il’s regime.
However, a powerful and very active evangelical group simply ignored the ban, sending flour and vermifuge drugs to the North. South Korean authorities reacted by imposing a hefty fine and placing the group’s leader under surveillance.
By kneeling, the president “tried to apologise, but in so doing he drew the ire of the rest of the nation.”
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