Government clamps down on aggressive proselytization in Muslim countries

Published Date: September 10, 2009

The government has apparently moved to discourage aggressive missionary work by South Korean Protestants in some Islamic countries in the wake of complaints by these countries.

The cover of a booklet titled ‘Thirty Days of Prayers for the Muslim World,’ published by Youth With A Mission, Korea. It is being used by members of Protestant churches during the Ramadan period.

Iran, Jordan and Yemen expelled some 80 South Koreans in July and August, most of them for preaching Christianity, a practice banned in those countries.

UCA News understands that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade wrote to the Korea World Missions Association (KWMA), an umbrella group of 142 Protestant foreign missionary groups, on Aug. 21.

Both the ministry and the KWMA refused to disclose the letter to UCA News, saying that it is a sensitive matter.

However, UCA News understands the letter warned that the ministry would revoke the passports of those expelled from foreign countries, especially missioners working in the Middle East, or restrict the re-issuing of their passports.

UCA News understands that the Catholic Church did not receive such a letter.

The Passport Act gives the government the authority to restrict the issuing or reissuing of passports for one to three years for those who harm “national dignity.”

A foreign ministry official quoted in the “Chosun Ilbo” daily on Aug. 27 said the government was worried that aggressive missionary work may provoke “attacks not only on missioners but also on ordinary Korean tourists.”

The newspaper reported that Iran on Aug. 11 expelled 11 South Koreans who had been visiting Muslims at home. Yemen expelled four South Koreans on Aug. 10 for distributing Bibles to Muslims.

A KWMA official contacted by UCA News criticized the government´s restrictions but acknowledged popular support for the move.

A Protestant media organization, the Korean Association of Church Communication (KACC), commenting on the matter on its website in late August, said that no developed country restricts missionary work as it is part of religious freedom.

Critics say that South Korean Protestants can be aggressive in promoting their religion. Domestically they have made inflammatory remarks about the country´s dominant religion Buddhism, the faith of a fourth of 49 million South Koreans.

In 2006, a mass evangelical meeting prayed that “all the Buddhist temples be demolished.” That event embarrassed then-presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak who had appeared in a congratulatory video for the meeting. He later apologized to Buddhists saying he had known nothing of the prayer.

Lee, a devout Protestant, was elected in the 2007 election for a five-year term.

In recent years, Korean Protestants have focused on Islam. A booklet that is currently being used by members of many local Protestant churches, including the largest, Yoido Full Gospel Church, asks Christians to pray during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan “for Muslims to enter Jesus´ eternal kingdom.”

In the case of the Middle East Team (MET), a missionary group, its website says MET is praying it “will win over the dark forces covering Islamic areas and proclaim the victory of Jesus Christ.”

MET, organized in 1984, is the oldest South Korean missionary group for Islamic countries.

The recent government move would not be its first in restricting Koreans from visiting the world´s troubled areas. It banned its people from traveling to Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia in the wake of the Taliban´s abduction and murder of Korean Protestants in Afghanistan in 2007.

Catholic Father Augustine Kim Myong-dong, superior general of the Korean Missionary Society, said the Korean Protestant missioners´ approach is quite different from those of Catholic missioners´.

Protestant missioners “need to respect religious sentiment, history and culture,” he said. “Otherwise such missionary activities will not succeed in the long term.”

But he was also critical of the government´s move.

“The restriction seems to come from the state´s concern for its reputation and not people´s safety and so is not justifiable,” he said. “Since Protestant Churches have many missioners, they will be able to continue such activities despite government restriction.”

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