ROK'S RELIGIOUS LEFT/RIGHT/CENTER AND NORTH KOREA

UNCLAS SEOUL 001294

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KS
SUBJECT: ROK'S RELIGIOUS LEFT/RIGHT/CENTER AND NORTH KOREA

REF: A. SEOUL 55


B. 05 SEOUL 5300

SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) Korea's religion-based organizations have played a
supporting, yet often critical role at key junctures in the
nation's modern political history, from lending its
organizational structure to farmers' uprisings in the 1800s
to adding moral weight to the cause of democracy in the
1980s. Today's religion-based organizations appear to be
maintaining that tradition. Armed with sizable bank accounts
and extensive networks, organizations such as the National
Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK),the Christian Council of
Korea (CCK),and the Jogye Buddhist Sect have been active in
shaping public discourse and policy on issues such as
North-South engagement, North Korean human rights, and
U.S.-ROK relations. END SUMMARY.

A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
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2. (SBU) Religious Studies Prof. Ryu Sung-min of Hanshin
University explained to poloff that Buddhism, Confucianism,
and Christianity were the main streams of belief shaping
Korean culture and politics. At critical junctures,
religion-based groups came to the fore of Korean history,
such as the Donghak Movement (1800s) and the Pro-Democracy
Movement (1960s-1980s). The leaders of Donghak -- an
indigenous religion promoting a liberation theology based on
Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Christianity -- mobilized
tens of thousands of peasants around the country to protest
aristocratic exploitation, and the movement is credited as
the beginning of anti-Japanese/anti-foreign nationalism,
which led to the birth of the March 1 Independence Movement
of 1919. In the Pro-Democracy Movement, students, many of
whom were Christian, led the charge against Korea's military
dictatorships. Catholic and Protestant church groups avoided
direct involvement in student activities but provided
critical support by allowing their churches to be used as
sanctuaries for dissidents. They also provided financial and
legal assistance for many imprisoned students and their
families and backed the popular culture movement, in which
radical intellectuals published "subversive" literature, and
artists created work filled with progressive political
content.

RELIGIOUS ACTIVISM AND INFLUENCE TODAY
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3. (U) Recent surveys show that among the ROK's population
of 48 million, there are 15 million Christians (12 million
Protestants, 3 million Roman Catholics),10 million
Buddhists, and 0.4 million others. Twenty-two million said
they practiced no religion. Korea's numerous Catholic,
Protestant, and Buddhist organizations span the political
spectrum, depending on a given church/temple's history and
leadership. However, religious doctrine per se does not
appear to dictate political behavior. Gallup Korea's Chief
of Election Research Heo Jin-jae told us that Gallup had, in
the past, asked voters their religious affiliations during
exit interviews but stopped this practice after the 1992
presidential election because there was no discernible
correlation between a person's religion and voting patterns.
Rather, it remained the case that regional affiliation,
followed by age, was the best predictor of voting behavior,
Heo said.


4. (SBU) Notwithstanding that Korea's religious communities
do not exercise the same degree of political cohesiveness or
clout as America's "Christian Coalition," they do constitute
a respectable political force. According to Prof. Kang
Won-taek of Soongsil University, churches were able to play
an important supporting role in the Pro-Democracy Movement
because Christians were ubiquitous, cohesive, organized,
well-funded, and respected throughout Korean society. Thus,
the authoritarian governments were reluctant to interfere
with church activities for fear of a middle class backlash,
which viewed the church as a symbol of moral respectability.
Using their unique status, Korea's Christian community
weighed in for freedom and democracy. Indeed, Cardinal
Stephen Kim Sou-hwan is credited with having been
instrumental in the democracy movement because he not only
spoke out against human rights and other abuses during the
Park Chung-hee regime (1961-79),he also decreed that
Catholic churches would give sanctuary to fugitive
pro-democracy activists.


5. (SBU) Although the Catholic Church in Korea has receded
into the background of the political landscape in recent
years, Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk stated that the
Korean Catholic community would continue to provide
humanitarian aid to North Korea. (NOTE: As the Archbishop of
Seoul, Cheong is automatically the apostolic administrator
for Pyongyang. END NOTE.) The Diocese of Seoul has been
providing over USD 1 million in food and humanitarian aid
annually for more than ten years. The Cardinal, however,
expressed reservations about the one-sided aid provisions.
Korea's Protestant churches, in contrast, have been even more
active over the years. In 2005, Korean Protestant churches
sent more than 14,000 missionaries abroad, making the ROK the
second largest source of missionaries after the United
States. Moreover, a number of these churches have ventured
beyond mere proselytizing in order to advance their agendas
for two distinctly political missions: North-South
reunification and North Korean human rights.

CHRISTIAN LEFT
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6. (SBU) Among the most politically active religion-based
groups is the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK).
Founded in 1905, the NCCK is the largest progressive
Christian umbrella group and claims that its member churches
account for 5 million of the ROK's churchgoers. (NOTE: Our
sense is that this number is exaggerated. END NOTE.) NCCK
Secretary General Rev. Paik Do-woong said the organization

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was well-known for working among Korea's urban poor, farers,
and laborers during the 1960s and 1970s and for fighting the
military dictatorships. Conscientious Christians had formed
the group, Paik said, and claimed among its numbers dissident
leaders (and later presidents) Kim Young-sam and Kim
Dae-jung. Today, the NCCK continued its human rights work by
advocating labor rights, gender equality, and, most
importantly, Korean reunification.


7. (SBU) A strong and early supporter of the North-South
engagement policy, the NCCK actively supports the ROKG's
position that North Korea's human rights situation is best
addressed through practical measures such as food aid and
economic cooperation. Like other progressive elements
supportive of engagement with the DPRK, the NCCK believes
that those calling for more vocal criticism of North Korea
are politicizing human rights in order to bring about regime
change. It is highly critical of the USG's "hardline"
approach to the DPRK nuclear issue and actively seeks to sway
public opinion through demonstrations, op-ed pieces in
newspapers and on the Internet, and educational seminars.


8. (SBU) Progressive religion-based organizations target
North Korea through indirect methods such as organized
prayers. Since 1988, the NCCK and the Korea Christian
Federation (KCF),the NCCK's partner in North Korea, have
observed the annual joint "South-North Common Prayer Sunday
for Peace and Unification" on the Sunday preceding the August
15 National Independence Day. The KCF is one of four members
of the DPRK's Korean Religionist Council, which also includes
the Korea Buddhist Federation, Korean Catholic Association,
and Korean Cheondoist Association. The Korean Religionist
Council was founded in 1989 under the pretext of peaceful
reunification but most critics believe the DPRK government
formed it as a means to secure foreign aid.

CHRISTIAN RIGHT
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9. (SBU) Christian Council of Korea (CCK) leads Korea's
Christian right. Established in 1989, CCK Human Rights
Committee Chairman Rev. Soh Kyung-suk claimed the CCK
accounted for 80 percent of Korea's Protestant churches.
(NOTE: As with figures provided by the NCCK, a likely
exaggeration. END NOTE.) He regretted the conservative
churches' silence during the military dictatorships, but
stated the organization was now actively pursuing issues from
the center. One of its goals, Soh said, was to organize a
Christian-based voter awareness group that was as active as
the U.S. Christian Coalition, but different in that it would
focus on social and economic issues, not moral issues.


10. (SBU) The CCK and other conservative religious groups
represent a counterbalance to far-left ideologies, Rev. Soh
stated. For example, concerned that the new Roh
Administration was anti-American, the group organized a
peaceful 100,000-person-strong demonstration in 2004 to show
support for the U.S.-ROK alliance. It was the largest
pro-American gathering Korea had seen in decades. More
recently, the CCK flexed its muscle in response to the
government's passage of a law that would create greater
external oversight of private schools, many of which are
affiliated with Christian churches (REF A). Working in
conjunction with the conservative Grand National Party (GNP),
the CCK organized numerous mass demonstrations in Korea's
major cities to demand that the government retract the law.
Although the government ultimately prevailed, observers
pointed out that the episode demonstrated anew the religious
right's ability to mobilize its forces. It also reaffirmed
the CCK's alliance with the GNP.


11. (SBU) Rev. Soh asserted the CCK and other conservative
Christian groups forced the North Korean human rights
situation into the public spotlight through vigils and
large-scale international conferences. CCK recently worked
with the Freedom House to organize last year's "Seoul Summit:
Promoting Human Rights in North Korea" (REF B). Funded by
the USG per the North Korea Human Rights Act, the conference
attracted thousands of international human rights
campaigners, Christian activists, politicians, and North
Korean defectors. By contrast, progressive religious and
civic groups such as the NCCK studiously avoided, if not
outright condemned, the conference as unhelpful to
North-South reunification. Critics have accused conservative
Christians of using North Korean human rights to evangelize
and of sending converted North Koreans back to the DPRK to
secretly proselytize.

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12. (SBU) Religion-based organizations operating at the
grassroots level in China are almost all conservative
Christian groups, said Prof. Kang. An estimated 1,500 South
Korean missionaries are deployed evangelizing secretly and
illegally among the Han Chinese, ethnic Korean Chinese, and
North Korean border crossers in China. (NOTE:
Korean-American missionaries are also very active in China
and sometimes work in concert with Korean missionaries. END
NOTE.) Missionaries and religion-based organizations have
helped North Korean border crossers with food, shelter, and
transit to South Korea via third countries at a cost of
approximately USD 2,000-3,000 per beneficiary. (NOTE: Many
missionaries absorb the entire cost while some professional
brokers can charge as much as USD 10,000. END NOTE.) In
South Korea, religious groups run social welfare programs
targeting resettled North Koreans. Jayoutuh ("Freedom
Place"),for instance, a Christian affiliated educational
organization, offers academic and social assistance for
resettled North Korean students who face unique educational
challenges due to lost classroom time while living in China
and third countries or difficulty adjusting to a South Korean
curriculum.

BUDDHIST CENTRISTS
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13. (SBU) Korean Buddhists generally maintain the most
centrist political and social positions. Of the 28 Buddhist
sects, the Jogye Order is the wealthiest and largest. It
controls a yearly budget of about USD 23.3 million and
oversees 15,000 monks and nuns affiliated with 3,000 temples
across the country. The Jogye Order contributed USD 145,000
to the ROKG's Hurricane Katrina relief package and, because
of its influence, its leaders are sometimes seen in the
company of senior Korean politicians. (NOTE: The Venerable
Bubjang (1941-2005),head of the Jogye Order from 2003-2005
and responsible for getting the first nun on the Jogye
Council, called on former Special Envoy for the DPRK nuclear
issues Joseph DeTrani and EAP A/DAS David Straub to discuss
North Korea. When he passed away last fall, President Roh
Moo-hyun stated that Bubjang had "contributed greatly to
North-South reconciliation and cooperation through his visits
to North Korea." END NOTE.)


14. (SBU) The Venerable Hae-yong, Deputy Director of Social
Affairs for the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, explained
that Buddhists were less vocal compared to their Christian
counterparts and thus were viewed as being apolitical.
Although Korean Buddhism had become a "quiet" religion with a
focus on lifestyle, Buddhists were also a force to contend
with because of its potential to mobilize.


15. (SBU) In recent years, Buddhist activism has increased.
Good Friends is a Buddhist-based NGO committed to promoting
North-South reconciliation and refugee assistance. It
assists North Korean defectors in the ROK and North Korean
border crossers in China with humanitarian aid. In addition,
Good Friends publishes reports based on its own independent
research in China conducted along the PRC-DPRK border to
assess the realities of life in North Korea and the North
Korean displacement situation in China. The ROK National
Assembly has called on the group to testify on the status of
North Koreans in China.

COMMENT
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16. (SBU) A usually quiet, but often potent, presence in
Korean politics, Korea's religion-based organizations --
especially evangelical Christians and the Buddhists -- have
emerged as stakeholders in the debate over North-South
relations, North Korean refugees, and North Korea human
rights. As these issues assume greater prominence in the
public consciousness, Korea's religion-based communities hope
to seek a higher profile in Korean politics and expand their
assistance to North Korean border crossers. They are also
likely to intensify their outreach to like-minded
organizations in the United States, China, and elsewhere. END
COMMENT.
VERSHBOW