A Brief History of
Christianity in Korea

Introduction

Korea may be the only country which was able to evangelize itself without the help of foreign missionaries. 

Around 1777, a Buddhist monastery in the central part of Korea, near Wol Myeong Dong, evangelized itself while studying a Catechism written by a Jesuit priest in Beijing.  1784 is considered the official beginning of the Catholic Church in Korea after the first Korean baptized in China came back and started a Christian faith community at Myeong Dong, the site of today’s Myeong Dong Cathedral in Seoul.  Korea had evangelized itself without the help of any foreign missionary. 

The community started administering the sacraments to each other and continued writing to the bishop in Beijing, begging him to send them a missionary to teach them more.  That proved to be extremely difficult because Korea was a closed country and no Korean was to have direct contact with a foreigner without explicit permission from the government.  The first Chinese priest did not come to Seoul until 1794. 

Persecution of Christians began in 1785, only one year after the church was founded.  The Christian principle of everyone being equal before God was considered subversive by the government because it questioned the existing power structure.  Christianity also clashed with so many neo-Confucian beliefs of the time period, that Christians were not only persecuted by the government, but also by their families and villages.  Christians had to withdraw to their own villages, often established in remote areas.  French missionaries, who came in the early 19th century, were so impressed by the Korean faithful that they exclaimed: "The Christian life of Apostolic times has not disappeared but is alive here in Korea.” 

The persecutions of 1801, 1839, 1846 and 1866 led to the death of about 10,000 martyrs.  103 of them were canonized in 1984 by Pope John Paul II at Yeouido, the largest number ever outside of the Vatican.  The bloody persecutions strengthened the faith of the believers, but it scuttled new evangelization efforts. 

In 1834 a French priest sent three promising young men to Macao to study for the priesthood.  Kim, Dae‑geon (김대건) was the first Korean priest to be ordained in 1845.  He had been raised in a family of martyrs.  With a lot of difficulties he was able to reenter his country, but his missionary work ended after only one year.  In September 1846, at the age of 25, the first native Korean priest was executed at Saenamteo 새남터), a military training ground near the Han River.  It was a ritualistic execution during which each officer, one after the other, struck Father Kim’s head, which finally fell after the eighth blow. 

After a French warship had sailed up the Han River in 1866 the Lord Regent declared: “The barbarians have invaded us because of the Catholic Church. … Permitting fraternizing with the Western barbarians is a betrayal of the country.”  The waters of the Han River “sullied by foreigners” were to be cleansed with the blood of Christian believers.  What followed was the most savage of all persecutions.  Executions did not take place, as usual, at Saenamteo or Seosomun, but next to a heavily frequented trading route.  Several thousand Christians were beheaded and their heads and bodies thrown into the Han River. 

The place was known as the “Shrine of Yanghwa Ferry,” but when the Catholic Church bought the site in 1956 it discovered that people in the area called it 절두산, Jeoldusan, or “chopped-off head mountain.”  

After the bloody persecutions ended in 1882, Protestant ministers started entering the country in 1884.  Many of them were from the United States and brought a lot of money with them.  They built schools, universities and hospitals.  By 1907 the number of Protestants had already exceeded the number of Catholic Christians. 

Myeong Dong Cathedral 명동대성당

Myeong Dong Cathedral is very hard to miss.  It is located in downtown Seoul on a hill, in the middle of what is now the fashionable shopping district of Myeong Dong.  Take Line 4 to Myeong Dong Station, or, for even shorter access, Line 2 to Euljiro 1 (il)‑ga. 

During the Japanese occupation the Catholic Church stayed a little too close for comfort to the occupiers, a mistake freely admitted on the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea (www.cbck.or.kr).  But after 1945 the tables turned.  Now it was the Protestant Churches which supported or at least acquiesced to the military dictatorship, while the Catholic Church opposed it.  Much of the struggle for democracy took place in front of Catholic Churches, first and foremost Myeong Dong Cathedral, where demonstrators could find refuge inside of the church when pursued by the police.  To this date Myeong Dong Cathedral is a focal point for political rallies and demonstrations and at the epicenter of internal change for Korea. 

Saenamteo  새남터

Saenamteo is right where Subway Line 1, and the long-distance main line to Daejeon and Busan, cross the Han River.  It is about a 20 min walk from Yongsan station. 

The picture of the beheading of Kim Dae-geon was taken inside of the church vestibule at Saenamteo. 

http://saenamteo.or.kr/

Jeoldusan  절두산

Jeoldusan is right where Subway Line 2 crosses the Han River.  You see 절두산 marked on every single subway map of the Seoul Metro System.  Take either Line 2 or Line 6 to Hapjeong Station.  After leaving the station at Exit 7 it is a five to ten minute walk down to the river.  Half way down you will notice a sign to the cemetery for Christian missionaries to Korea on the right side.  You might enjoy reading some interesting stories on the tombstones. 

After entering the museum, the first picture you see is the beheading of hundreds of Christians with their bodies thrown into the Han River.  The first actual exhibit to the right is a picture of the Jesuit priest in Beijing who wrote the Catechism with which the Buddhist monastery in Korea evangelized itself, and the second exhibit is of the actual book. 

Jeoldusan was the first place Pope John Paul II visited in 1984, on occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Catholic Church in Korea. 

http://jeoldusan.or.kr

Chronology

1777	Buddhist Monastery evangelizes itself
1784	Catholic Church founded in Korea
1785	Persecutions started
1794	First missionary arrives in Seoul
1835	3 young Koreans sent to seminary in Macao
1845	Kim Dae-geon ordained
1846	Kim Dae-geon executed at Saenamteo
1866	Several thousand Christians beheaded at Jeoldusan
1882	End of bloody persecutions
1884	Protestant missionaries start entering Korea
1907	Number of Protestants exceeds number of Catholics
1984	John Paul II canonizes 103 Korean martyrs at Yeouido

References

Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea

History of the Catholic Church in Korea
Korean Martyr Saints

NajuMary.org (not an official Catholic website)

History of the Catholic Church in Korea
Kim Dae-geon
Jeoldusaa Shrine

Podcast from The Korea Society

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The Religious Revolution in Modern Korean History

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