The Church and the Democratization Movement

Background

Park Hyung-kyu, a minister of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, recalled that seeing students who had been shot during the April 19 Revolution of 1960 prompted him to become socially engaged. In October 1972 the Park Chung-hee government proclaimed the Yushin ("Revitalizing Reforms") system, which concentrated power in the presidency, and it suppressed criticism through emergency decrees. In response, pastors, theologians, and young people from denominations belonging to the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) began to embrace human rights and democracy as a task of faith.

Development

• 1973: In the spring, the "Declaration of Korean Christians" was issued without the names of its signatories. The declaration characterized the Yushin system as treason against the people. Ahead of the April 22 Easter Union Service at the Namsan outdoor amphitheater in Seoul, Park Hyung-kyu, Kwon Ho-kyung, and others prepared banners and leaflets criticizing the Yushin system. They were later arrested on charges of preparing and conspiring to commit insurrection (the Namsan Easter Union Service Incident). On November 5, Ham Sok-hon, Kim Chai-choon, Catholic Bishop Daniel Tji Hak-soon, and others gathered at the YMCA in Jongno, Seoul, and issued a statement on the state of the nation.
• 1974: Numerous Christians were punished in connection with the Mincheong Hakryeon (National Democratic Youth and Student Federation) Incident, and Park Hyung-kyu was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. On May 4 the NCCK established its Human Rights Committee. In July the "Thursday Prayer Meeting" began, bringing together families of detainees and young pastors. Because public assemblies were banned at the time, the prayer meeting became a gathering place for people who longed for democratization, regardless of their religion. The meeting moved to Fridays in May 1976 and continued into the 1990s. In September 1974 the Catholic Priests' Association for Justice was formed within the Catholic Church.
• 1976–1978: The Reverend Moon Ik-hwan was implicated in the 1976 March 1 Declaration for Democratic National Salvation Incident. In February 1978 the "March 1 Democratic Declaration," which criticized the Yushin Constitution, was issued at the Korean Christian Building, and Park Hyung-kyu and others were indicted in connection with it.
• 1980s: Under the Chun Doo-hwan government, Seoul First Church, where Park Hyung-kyu was senior pastor, had its worship services disrupted and held its services in the street for six years. During this period the Korean Christian Youth Council stood at the forefront of the Protestant democratization movement. The NCCK also worked to uncover the truth about the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement.

Outcomes and Influence

After democratization, those who had been punished were progressively exonerated. In retrials, Park Hyung-kyu was acquitted in the Mincheong Hakryeon case in 2012 and in the case concerning violation of Emergency Decree No. 9 in 2014. In the case concerning the disruption of worship at Seoul First Church, the court likewise acknowledged the involvement of the Defense Security Command and ordered the state to pay compensation. The experience of the democratization movement led to the NCCK's "'88 Declaration" of 1988. In this declaration the churches confessed as sin the hatred each side had harbored toward the other amid national division, and it is regarded as having laid the foundation for the subsequent church reunification movement.

Assessment

Those who view the movement favorably regard it as an act of standing with the oppressed out of Christian conscience and as an example of the church's social responsibility. Researchers, however, point out that the NCCK's early human rights activity focused on protecting the freedom of missionary activity and that its participants were mainly Protestants. The movement was led by NCCK-affiliated denominations and a number of pastors. Many conservative denominations are known to have been cautious about the church's involvement in political movements, citing the teaching in Romans 13 on submission to the governing authorities and the principle of the separation of church and state. They held that the church's proper calling lies in proclaiming the gospel. Participants in the democratization movement, by contrast, have criticized this stance as silence in the face of dictatorship. This debate continues in present-day discussions of the church and politics.