SOUTH KOREA IS TURNING ON ITS CHURCHES — CHRISTIAN LEADERS ARE BEING HUNTED, JAILED, AND SILENCED
South Korea — once considered a beacon of religious freedom in Asia — is now dragging pastors into prison cells, raiding churches, and waging what observers call an ideological purge disguised as prosecution.
This is not “policy disagreement.” This is state power hammering the church.
Pastors in Prison Without Conviction
Multiple reports confirm that Christian leaders — including elderly clergy — are being detained for weeks in cramped detention cells without trial or conviction, in blatant violation of due process.
One 82-year-old Christian leader has been confined in a 70-square-foot cell for more than a month while still legally presumed innocent.
“Christian leaders detained without conviction in South Korea” — Washington Times, Oct. 22, 2025
(https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/oct/22/christian-leaders-detained-without-conviction-south-korea/)
Another detained leader — Rev. Son Hyun-bo, a former South Korean Special Forces soldier turned pastor — was imprisoned after publicly criticizing the government, an unmistakable act of political retaliation.
Prosecutors Target Churches to Cripple Them
These are not isolated arrests. There is a coordinated campaign of raids, subpoenas, and prosecutions aimed at conservative churches, especially those who publicly oppose the current administration.
“Seoul’s assault on churches mired in revenge politics, judicial aggression” — Washington Times, Sept. 30, 2025
(https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/sep/30/seouls-assault-churches-mired-revenge-politics-judicial-aggression/)
The article describes deliberate use of judicial power as a weapon, not to uphold order — but to break and silence an entire religious bloc.
Revenge Politics Masquerading as Law
These actions did not emerge from neutral law enforcement. According to analysts and church advocates:
Investigations are being selectively aimed at churches aligned with conservative or anti-government voices
Allegations are broad and murky — but punishments are immediate
Detention is used as punishment before conviction
Raids and seizures are timed to inflict maximum public humiliation
This is not rule of law.
This is government revenge using the courts as a sword.
A Warning to the Global Church
South Korea is home to one of the largest Christian populations in the world. If a democratic U.S. ally can begin jailing pastors and gutting churches under the color of law — it signals a global shift:
Silence the pulpit, and you silence resistance.
Break the church, and you break the conscience of a nation.
International observers have already warned:
“Crackdown on pastors and conservatives in South Korea… experts say communism is taking hold”
— Washington Stand, 2025
If the world looks away now, South Korea may become the blueprint for how governments crush Christianity without firing a gun — just with jail cells, warrants, and courtrooms.
This is the Moment to Stand
This is not merely a Korean domestic dispute — it is an assault on the global body of Christ.
When pastors are jailed without conviction — we must speak
When courts are weaponized against the church — we must expose it
When faith is punished — silence is betrayal
History is being written right now — and persecution is no longer somewhere “else.”
It is happening in a modern, democratic, allied nation — and it is accelerating.
If the church does not stand now, it will have no moral right to cry out when the same door knocks on its own sanctuaries.
REFERENCES
Washington Times — Sept. 30, 2025:
“Seoul’s assault on churches mired in revenge politics…”
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/sep/30/seouls-assault-churches-mired-revenge-politics-judicial-aggression/
Washington Times — Oct. 22, 2025:
“Christian leaders detained without conviction…”
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/oct/22/christian-leaders-detained-without-conviction-south-korea/
Washington Stand — 2025:
“Amid crackdown on pastors… experts say communism is taking hold”
https://washingtonstand.com/article/amid-crackdown-on-pastors-and-conservatives-in-south-korea-experts-say-communism-is-taking-hold
