Christianity in Korea

Christianity In Korea

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The practice of Christianity in Korea revolves around two of its largest branches, Protestantism and Catholicism, accounting for 8.6 million and 5.1 million members respectively. Roman Catholicism was first introduced during the late Joseon Dynasty period. In 1603, Yi Gwang-jeong, Korean diplomat, returned from Beijing carrying a world atlas and several theological books written by Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit missionary to China. He began disseminating the information in the books and the first seeds of Christianity were sown. In 1758 King Yeongjo of Joseon officially outlawed Catholicism as an evil practice. Roman Catholicism was again introduced in 1785 by Yi Sung-hun. Korean Christians were subject to persecution and hardship but this did not deter believers.

Many were martyred, especially during the Catholic Persecution of 1801 and later, the most famous of whom was Andrew Kim Taegon, who was beheaded in 1846 at the age of 25 for his practice of a foreign religion. The Joseon Dynasty saw the new religion as a subversive influence and persecuted its earliest followers in Korea, culminating in the Catholic Persecution of 1866, in which 8,000 Catholics across the country were killed, including 9 French missionaries. The opening of Korea to the outside world in the following years brought religious toleration for the remaining Catholics and also introduced Protestantism. The first Presbyterian missionary in Korea, Horace Newton Allen, arrived in 1884 and remained in Korea until 1890, by which time he had been joined by many others.

The growth of both was gradual until the middle of the 20th century, when a number of factors encouraged the growth of Christianity in Korea, and its growth since the 1960s has been significant enough that the number of adherents to Christianity surpassed that of adherents to the traditional religions. Today, Protestantism, Anglicanism, and Roman Catholicism in South Korea face different challenges, with Korean Protestantism struggling with controversy and a declining number of followers, while the Catholic Church in Korea has increased its membership by 70% in the last ten years. Anglicanism in Korea has also experienced significant growth in the recent decades.