Religion in North Korea

Chondoism is represented in politics by the Party of the Young Friends of the Heavenly Way,[4] and is regarded by the government as Korea's "national religion"[5] because of its identity as a minjung (popular)[6] and "revolutionary anti-imperialist" movement.

[7] In Goguryeo, the Korean indigenous religion remained dominant, while Buddhism became more widespread in Silla and Baekje (both areas comprehended in modern South Korea).

[11] Buddhist monasteries were destroyed and their number dropped from several hundreds to a mere thirty-six; Buddhism was eradicated from the life of towns as monks and nuns were prohibited from entering them and were marginalised to the mountains.

[12] In this environment, Christianity began to rapidly gain foothold since the late 18th century, due to an intense missionary activity that was aided by the endorsement at first by the Silhak and Seohak intellectual parties, and then at the end of the following century by the king of Korea himself and the intellectual elite of the crumbling Joseon state, who were looking for a new social factor to invigorate the Korean nation.

[19] At the dawn of the 20th century, almost the totality of the population of Korea believed in the indigenous shamanic religion and practiced Confucian rites and ancestral worship.

[20] Buddhism was nearly dead, reduced to a minority of monks, despite its long history and cultural influence, because of 500 years of suppression by the ruling Neo-Confucian Joseon kingdom,[20] which also disregarded traditional cults.

[23] North Korean revolutionary leader Kim Il Sung's writings address religion in the context of the national liberation struggle against Japan.

[25] Kim criticized the Protestant Christian creed, stating that while "[t]here is no law preventing religious believers from making the revolution," the lack of action led to "non-resistance" and psalms alone could not block the Japanese guns when "decisive battles" were necessary.

"[31] Kim recounted that believers saw their places of worship destroyed by Christians, and that Koreans in the north found their faith "powerless in shaping the destiny of human beings.

[37][38] It is very difficult for outside observers to know what has happened to North Korean religious bodies over the past 60 years due to the extreme isolation of the state.

One interpretation has held that all open religious activity in North Korea was persecuted and eradicated after Kim Il-sung took power, only to be revived in the present as part of a political show.

Some interpretations have considered that the Christian community was often of a higher socio-economic class than the rest of the population, which may have prompted its departure for fear of persecution.

[40] According to a study by Ryu Dae Young, however:[41] Contrary to the common western view, it appears that North Korean leaders exhibited toleration to Christians who were supportive of Kim Il-sung and his version of socialism.

It appears that the government allowed the house churches in recognition of the Christians' contribution to the building of the socialist nation.Religion was attacked in the ensuing years as an obstacle to the construction of communism, and many people abandoned their former religions in order to conform to the new reality.

[39] On the basis of accounts from the Korean War as well as information from defectors, an interpretation has held that the North Korea was the second country (after Albania) to have completely eradicated religion by the 1960s.

[39] This interpretation has been supported by recent evidence gathered that has shown that the North Korean government may have tolerated the existence of up to 200 pro-communist Christian congregations during the 1960s, and by the fact that several high-ranking people in the government were Christians and they were buried with high honours (for instance Kang Yang Wook was a Presbyterian minister who served as vice president of North Korea from 1972 to 1982, and Kim Chang Jun was a Methodist minister who served as vice chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly[39]).

It is the religious dimension of the Donghak ("Eastern Learning") movement that was founded by Choe Je-u (1824–1864), a member of an impoverished yangban (aristocratic) family,[44] in 1860 as a counter-force to the rise of "foreign religions",[23] which in his view included Buddhism and Christianity (part of Seohak, the wave of Western influence that penetrated Korean life at the end of the 19th century).

[23] Choe Je-u founded Chondoism after having been allegedly healed from illness by an experience of Sangje or Haneullim, the god of the universal Heaven in traditional shamanism.

[4] It has political representation as the Party of the Young Friends of the Heavenly Way,[4] and is regarded by the government as Korea's "national religion"[5] because of its identity as a minjung (popular)[6] and "revolutionary anti-imperialist" movement.

[47] Although used synonymously, the two terms are not identical:[47] Jung Young Lee describes Muism as a form of Sinism – the shamanic tradition within the religion.

[54] However, other myths link the heritage of the traditional faith to Dangun, male son of the Heavenly King and initiator of the Korean nation.

[56] As highlighted by anthropological studies, the Korean ancestral god Dangun is related to the Ural-Altaic Tengri "Heaven", the shaman and the prince.

[59] In the 1890s, the twilight years of the Joseon kingdom, Protestant missionaries gained significant influence, and led a demonisation of the traditional religion through the press, and even carried out campaigns of physical suppression of local cults.

Recently, South Korean Buddhist leaders have been allowed to travel to North Korea and participate in religious ceremonies or give aid to civilians.

However, the writings of the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci, who was resident at the imperial court in Beijing, had been already brought to Korea from China in the 17th century.

Protestant missionaries entered Korea during the 1880s and, along with Catholic priests, converted a remarkable number of Koreans, this time with the tacit support of the royal government.

[17] A large number of Christians lived in the northern half of the peninsula (it was part of the so-called "Manchurian revival")[17] where Confucian influence was not as strong as in the south.

In his memoir With the Century, he wrote: "I do not think the spirit of Christianity that preaches universal peace and harmony contradicts my idea advocating an independent life for man".

[76] Other signs of the regime's changing attitude towards Christianity included holding the "International Seminar of Christians of the North and South for the Peace and Reunification of Korea" in Switzerland in 1988, allowing papal representatives to attend the opening of the Changchung Cathedral of Pyongyang in that same year, and sending two North Korean novice priests to study in Rome.

[88] North Korea is number one on Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List, an annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution.