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The protracted standoff between political parties over the state spy agency’s alleged meddling in the parliamentary and presidential elections last year is threatening to boil over into a conflict between the government and progressive religious groups.
Today, a group of some 1,000 Buddhist monks are to hold a rally at a temple in central Seoul to denounce the National Intelligence Agency’s involvement in the elections and criticize President Park Geun-hye for her “inability to communicate with the public.”
The monks are expected to call on Park to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the allegations against the NIS, while at the same time urging Park to apologize for her “arbitrary handling of state affairs.”
The monks’ move follows a Mass organized last Friday by some members of the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice to urge Park to resign. During the Mass, Park Chang-shin, a priest in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, asserted that the president should step down because the spy agency tampered with the December election.
The left-leaning priest also caused an uproar by defending North Korea’s shelling of Yeonpyeong Island. On the eve of the third anniversary of the North’s deadly provocation, he said it was right for the North to bomb the island because the South and the U.S. staged military drills in areas that Pyongyang laid claim to.
The senior priest also called into question the Seoul government’s findings that the North torpedoed the South’s Cheonan corvette in 2010, killing 46 sailors on board.
On Tuesday, prosecutors launched a probe into the priest as a conservative group filed a petition to prosecute him for breaching the National Security Law. Undaunted, however, he pledged to continue his campaign for the president’s resignation.
The Catholic priests’ crusade against the president is also spreading to progressive Protestant pastors. A group of ministers is holding a 10-day fast and prayer meeting at Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall from Dec. 16 to demand that Park step down.
These moves, however, are unlikely to escalate into a full-fledged confrontation between the government and the religious community as a whole, given that their organizers are small, nonmainstream groups.
Following the Friday Mass in Gunsan, the Catholic Church sought to distance itself from its organizers. Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, the archbishop of Seoul, said the CPAJ did not represent the Catholic Church in Korea.
However, the progressive groups‘ political influence cannot be dismissed, as ordinary believers who follow them are likely to join their campaigns. Even so, this type of political activism can hardly be justified.
Religious leaders can express their political views as citizens. But they should refrain from engaging in political campaigns, as this goes against the Constitution, which stipulates the separation between church and state. The Catholic Church, as Yeom noted, also forbids priests from directly participating in politics.
In this regard, religious organizations are advised to stay away from politics. When Korean society was undergoing a transition from dictatorship to democracy, it needed their active participation in politics. But Korea has already passed that stage.
Having said this, President Park should not miss the message of the progressive religious groups. She should ensure that the whole truth about state agencies’ systematic meddling in last year’s elections is brought to light.
Today, a group of some 1,000 Buddhist monks are to hold a rally at a temple in central Seoul to denounce the National Intelligence Agency’s involvement in the elections and criticize President Park Geun-hye for her “inability to communicate with the public.”
The monks are expected to call on Park to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the allegations against the NIS, while at the same time urging Park to apologize for her “arbitrary handling of state affairs.”
The monks’ move follows a Mass organized last Friday by some members of the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice to urge Park to resign. During the Mass, Park Chang-shin, a priest in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, asserted that the president should step down because the spy agency tampered with the December election.
The left-leaning priest also caused an uproar by defending North Korea’s shelling of Yeonpyeong Island. On the eve of the third anniversary of the North’s deadly provocation, he said it was right for the North to bomb the island because the South and the U.S. staged military drills in areas that Pyongyang laid claim to.
The senior priest also called into question the Seoul government’s findings that the North torpedoed the South’s Cheonan corvette in 2010, killing 46 sailors on board.
On Tuesday, prosecutors launched a probe into the priest as a conservative group filed a petition to prosecute him for breaching the National Security Law. Undaunted, however, he pledged to continue his campaign for the president’s resignation.
The Catholic priests’ crusade against the president is also spreading to progressive Protestant pastors. A group of ministers is holding a 10-day fast and prayer meeting at Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall from Dec. 16 to demand that Park step down.
These moves, however, are unlikely to escalate into a full-fledged confrontation between the government and the religious community as a whole, given that their organizers are small, nonmainstream groups.
Following the Friday Mass in Gunsan, the Catholic Church sought to distance itself from its organizers. Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, the archbishop of Seoul, said the CPAJ did not represent the Catholic Church in Korea.
However, the progressive groups‘ political influence cannot be dismissed, as ordinary believers who follow them are likely to join their campaigns. Even so, this type of political activism can hardly be justified.
Religious leaders can express their political views as citizens. But they should refrain from engaging in political campaigns, as this goes against the Constitution, which stipulates the separation between church and state. The Catholic Church, as Yeom noted, also forbids priests from directly participating in politics.
In this regard, religious organizations are advised to stay away from politics. When Korean society was undergoing a transition from dictatorship to democracy, it needed their active participation in politics. But Korea has already passed that stage.
Having said this, President Park should not miss the message of the progressive religious groups. She should ensure that the whole truth about state agencies’ systematic meddling in last year’s elections is brought to light.
