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North Korea The Role of Religion
Koreans are traditionally pragmatic and eclectic in their
religious commitments. Their religious outlook is not conditioned
by a single, exclusive faith but by a combination of indigenous
beliefs and creeds, such as Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism.
Belief in a world inhabited by spirits is probably the oldest
Korean religion. Daoism and Buddhism were introduced from China
around the fourth century A.D., the latter becoming predominant
during the Silla Dynasty (668-935), but reaching its height
during the Kory Dynasty (918-1392). Buddhism suffered a decline,
however, and Buddhists were persecuted to some extent during the
Chosn Dynasty. For the average Korean in late traditional and
early modern times, the elaborate rituals of ancestor veneration
connected to Confucianism were generally the most important form
of religious life. Korean neo-Confucian philosophers, moreover,
developed concepts of the cosmos and humanity's place in it that
were, in a basic sense, religious rather than philosophical.
In 1785 the first Christian missionary, a Roman Catholic,
entered Korea. The government prohibited the propagation of
Christianity, and by 1863 there were only some 23,000 Roman
Catholics in the country. Subsequently, the government ordered
harsh persecution of Korean Christians, a policy that continued
until the country was opened to Western countries in 1881.
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.
Another important religious tradition is Ch'ndogyo. A new
religion that developed out of the
Tonghak (Eastern Learning) Movement (see Glossary)
of the mid- and late nineteenth century,
Ch'ndogyo emphasizes the divine nature of all people
(see Korea in the Nineteenth-Century World Order
, ch. 1). A syncretic
religion, Ch'ndogyo contains elements of shamanism, Buddhism,
Daoism, Confucianism, and Catholicism.
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. P'yongyang 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.
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.
Many churches and temples have been taken over by the state
and converted to secular use. Buddhist temples, such as those
located at Kmgang-san and Myohyang-san, are considered "national
treasures," however, and have been preserved and restored. This
action is in accord with the chuch'e principle that the
creative energies of the Korean people in the past must be
appreciated.
In 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 P'yongyang. 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 in 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.
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.
Many if not most observers of North Korea would agree that
the country's official religion is the cult of Kim Il Sung. North
Korean Christians attending overseas conferences claim that there
is no contradiction between Christian beliefs and the veneration
of the "great leader" or his secular chuch'e philosophy.
This position does not differ much from that of the far more
numerous Japanese Christian communities before and during World
War II, which were pressured into acknowledging the divine status
of the emperor.
Data as of June 1993
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