Religion in North Korea

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Traditionally, religion North Korea primarily consists of Buddhism and Confucianism, as well as, though to a lesser extent, Christianity and syncretic Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way). However, ever since the rise of communism, free religious activities no longer exist as the government sponsors religious groups only to create an illusion of religious freedom.[1]

Contents 1 Conflict with state ideology 2 Traditional religions 2.1 Buddhism 2.2 Christianity 2.3 Chondogyo 3 References 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Conflict with state ideology

Different official attitudes toward organized religion are reflected in various constitutions. Article 14 of the 1948 constitution noted that "citizens of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea shall have the freedom of religious belief and of conducting religious services." Article 54 of the 1972 constitution, however, stated that "citizens have religious liberty and the freedom to oppose religion" (also translated as "the freedom of antireligious propaganda"). Some observers argued that the change occurred because in 1972 the political authorities no longer needed the support of the much-weakened organized religions. In the 1992 constitution, Article 68 grants freedom of religious belief and guarantees the right to construct buildings for religious use and religious ceremonies. The article also states, however, that "No one may use religion as a means by which to drag in foreign powers or to destroy the state or social order. North Korea has been represented at international religious conferences by state-sponsored religious organizations such as the Korean Buddhists' Federation, the Christian Federation, and the Ch'ndogyo Youth Party.

Even so, in North Korea, much more attention is paid to the personalities of the deceased "Great Leader" Kim Il-sung and today's "Dear Leader", his son Kim Jong-il. Their portraits are omnipresent in streets, schools, public buildings and all private homes. The ideological statements and scriptures produced by the two leaders are the main basis of education for both children and adults. The story of the Kims' descent is surrounded with mythology. Children in schools are taught that they came down from heaven, and were placed on the top of the Paektusan mountains, where they were transformed into human beings. At public events, songs are sung that depict the leaders as saviours of the country as well as of each individual citizen, thus elevating them to the level of deities.

This all-pervasive cult of personality, together with the doctrine of juche (self-reliance), has resulted in a deliberate replacement of the religions that flourished in the North before the rise of communism. According to human rights observers, this change of regime put an end to free religious activities, as the government only sponsors selected religious groups to create an illusion of religious freedom. [2] It's unlikely that the annulment in 1992 of a constitutional clause which explicitly prohibited religious activities and endorsed the opposition of religion, brought any actual change in the situation.

Earlier restrictions of religion were enforced by the Japanese, who occupied the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945. A similar reason for intoleration existed in that time, i.e. the Japanese imperial cult.

[edit] Traditional religions

Main article: Religion in Korea

Traditionally, religious life in North Korea is similar to that in South Korea, with which it formed one country until 1948. Most of the country's population consisted of Buddhists and Confucianists, though there were sizeable minorities of Christians and followers of the syncretic Chondogyo (religion of "the Heavenly Way").

[edit] Buddhism

Government sources say that currently there are about 10,000 practicing Buddhists in the DPRK. Buddhism is practiced under the auspices of the official Korean Buddhist Federation. There are some 300 Buddhist temples in the country (e.g. Pohyonsa), but they are viewed as cultural relics from Korea's past rather than places of active worship. Officially, there is a three-year college for training Buddhist clergy. Whether or not these institutes teach traditional Buddhist values has not been verified, however. Religious freedom observers assume the places are used to instruct students to deploy Buddhist teaching merely as a vehicle for the juche ideology.

A limited revival of Buddhism is apparently taking place. This includes the establishment of an academy for Buddhist studies and the publication of a twenty-five-volume translation of the Korean Tripitaka, or Buddhist scriptures, which had been carved on 80,000 wooden blocks and kept at the temple at Myohyang-san in central North Korea. A few Buddhist temples conduct religious services.

[edit] Christianity

The first Christian missionary (a Roman Catholic) arrived in Korea in 1785. Because the spread of Christianity was prohibited by the government, the number of Roman Catholics did not rise beyond 23,000 by 1863. Korean Christians were persecuted by the government until the country launched its Open Door Policy with Western countries in 1881. By that time, Protestant missionaries began entering Korea during the 1880s. They established schools, universities, hospitals, and orphanages, and played a significant role in the modernization of the country. Before 1948 P'yongyang was an important Christian center; one-sixth of its population of about 300,000 residents were converts.

In the first half of the twentieth century, Pyongyang was the centre of Christianity on the Korean peninsula. A spiritual revival took place in 1907 (following the 1903 Wonsan Revival), and by 1945, 13% of the population was Christian. Because of these figures, the city used to be called the Jerusalem of the East. Japanese occupation suppressed Christian activity, but did not wipe it out. The effect of the 1948 communist revolution was more drastic.

Between 1945, when Soviet forces first occupied the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and the end of the Korean War in 1953, many Christians, considered "bad elements" by North Korean authorities, fled to South Korea to escape the socialist regime's antireligious policies. The state co-opted Buddhism, which had weakened over the centuries. Pyongyang has made a concerted effort to uproot indigenous animist beliefs. In the early 1990s, the practices of shamanism and fortune-telling seem to have largely disappeared.

By the late 1980s, it became apparent that North Korea was beginning to use the small number of Christians remaining in the country to establish contacts with Christians in South Korea and the West. Such contacts are considered useful for promoting the regime's political aims, including reunifying the peninsula. In 1988 two new churches, the Protestant Pongsu Church and the Catholic Changchung Cathedral, were opened in Pyongyang. Other signs of the regime's changing attitude toward Christianity include holding the International Seminar of Christians of the North and South for the Peace and Reunification of Korea in Switzerland on November 1988, allowing papal representatives to attend the opening of the Changchung Cathedral in OctoberNovember of the same year, and sending two North Korean novice priests to study in Rome. Moreover, a new association of Roman Catholics was established in June 1988. A North Korean Protestant pastor reported at a 1989 meeting of the National Council of Churches in Washington, D.C., that his country has 10,000 Protestants and 1,000 Catholics who worship in 500 home churches. In March-April 1992, American evangelist Billy Graham visited North Korea to preach and to speak at Kim Il Sung University.

The North Korean government considers Christianity (especially Protestantism) to be closely connected with the United States and heavily suppresses it. The facts and figures concerning Christianity published by the DPRK's government[3], like those concerning Buddhism[4], are disputed by almost all foreign observers. Although independent verification is impossible, it is assumed that there is a large underground Church. Many defectors from North Korea have attested that any form of adherence to the Christian faith, even the mere possessing of a Bible, can be considered a reason for arrest and deportation to one of the infamous DPRK prison camps, where convicts are subjected to exceptionally brutal, and often fatal, treatment.

In Pyongyang there are three church buildings. One of them (the Changchung "Cathedral") is officially said to be Roman Catholic although it has no priest, and the other two are Protestant. Two of these churches were inaugurated in 1988, in the presence of South Korean church officials. A Russian Orthodox church was completed in 2006. Religious freedom advocates say the buildings were constructed for propaganda purposes only. Foreigners, always guarded by state minders, can attend religious services. Eye-witnesses report that the sermons mix political and religious messages glorifying the DPRK, and that some of the pastors seem to have had no genuine religious training[5].

As of now, Christianity in North Korea is officially represented by the Korean Christian Federation, a state-controlled body responsible for contacts with churches and governments abroad.

[edit] Chondogyo

Chondogyo ("Heavenly Way") religion grew out of the Tonghak movement during the 19th century. It stresses the divine nature of all people and contains elements found in Buddhism, shamanism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Catholicism.

[edit] References

This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain.

[edit] See also

• Human rights in North Korea
• Persecution of Christians

[edit] External links

• Nautilus Institute on religious freedom in DPRK
• Religion in North Korea: Country Studies