South Korea’s Radical Pastors To Attend Impeached President’s Judgement

South Korea’s Constitutional Court expected to rule on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment in coming days, few will be watching more closely – or be watched more closely for possible rabble-rousing – than the country’s activist pro-Yoon churches.

Outspoken pastors and their congregations have emerged among the conservative president’s most vocal supporters, demanding in mass rallies, online videos and lawmakers’ speeches that he be restored to office after his impeachment over a martial law declaration in December.

Invoking their religious faith and ardent anti-communism, they have doubled down on support for Yoon and cast his impeachment not as the reining in of a rogue leader, but as an existential threat to the fight against North Korea and other enemies.

Critics from other religious and political groups, meanwhile, see the churches’ strident rhetoric also as a ploy for attention and influence, amid a wider struggle with rising secularism and shrinking congregations.

“This shows they want to exercise power and demonstrate that they are still influential in South Korean society,” said Sukwhan Sung, a theology professor who heads the Center for City and Community, a Seoul-based research organisation.

The rallies and agitating have helped to power a comeback by Yoon’s party in the court of public opinion. Polling shows they now lag the opposition by just four percentage points, compared with a 24-point deficit in December, according to Gallup Korea.

Leading this anti-impeachment charge is Save Korea, a religious advocacy group set up in the wake of Yoon’s martial law declaration. Thousands of supporters have attended its rallies, including one in the conservative stronghold of Daegu that police estimated drew more than 50,000 people.

“At first, everyone had doubts about martial law. But many have been enlightened thanks to Save Korea,” said Bae Ji-hyun, who was attending her third Save Korea protest on March 8 in Seoul.

Other attendees at the group’s “national emergency prayer meeting” carried signs saying “Yes to Martial Law” and “Stop the Steal” – the latter echoing unsubstantiated claims by both Yoon and U.S. President Donald Trump of widespread election fraud.

Lawmakers from Yoon’s ruling party have also appealed to religion in their protests. A group that gathered around the Constitutional Court last week prayed that God would move the hearts of the judges, while one told reporters that South Korea was fighting a “spiritual war against dark forces”.

Heated Rhetoric

In the meantime, heated rhetoric at gatherings of Yoon supporters has raised concerns about clashes, and police are preparing for unrest from either side when the court rules.

Some religious organisations have criticised the pro-Yoon activism, with a task force of the National Council of Churches calling Save Korea a “political group disguised with a Christian facade”.
Save Korea said the group does not support any particular political parties.

Reuters/Ejiofor Ezeifeoma