When Lim Nara first heard that the South Korean parliament had voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol last December, she sighed in disbelief. She started praying more earnestly for God to intervene in a miraculous way, believing that this was still part of God’s good plan.
During Yoon’s impeachment trial in February, Lim knelt in the prayer room of her church, Joy Church in Yongin, petitioning for the president to “fight to the end” and to meet God while reading Scripture in prison.
Last Saturday, she brought her prayers closer to the heart of South Korean politics as she joined a “National Emergency Prayer Meeting” organized by the evangelical group Save Korea in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul. The event, which attracted 55,000 people, was held on March 1, a national holiday that commemorates the push for Korean independence from Japanese colonial rule in 1919.
“Just like the day our forefathers risked their lives to defend our country, we must come together again to stand for freedom and justice in our country,” the organizers proclaimed on Instagram.
Lim, a 30-year-old housewife, got up at 7 a.m. that day. After gathering umbrellas, gloves, and heat packs to guard against the chilly 4 degree Celsius (40 degree Fahrenheit) weather, Lim set off for Seoul with her mother-in-law, husband, and one-year-old son.
When the family arrived in Yeouido after a one-and-a-half-hour car ride, Lim pushed her son’s stroller—packed full of toys, a blanket, and a bag of croissants—through the burgeoning crowd, eventually finding a row of gray plastic chairs at the back of the rally site. Young and old attendees waved Korean and American flags and held signs that read “Please Save Korea” as they sang worship songs, listened to sermons and speeches, and prayed for Yoon.
Lim said she felt surprised and moved by the sheer size of the crowd. “Since it’s March 1, we came with the same spirit as those who fought for our country during the March 1 Movement,” Lim said. “My mother, child, husband, and I are all here out of love for our country.”
The Yeouido rally was one of the larger evangelical gatherings organized by Save Korea since Yoon declared martial law in December, kicking off the national crisis that led to his impeachment. Evangelicals who support Yoon say that the impeached president is the last line of defense against Communist influences in the country. Those who support his impeachment did not agree with his move to institute martial law on December 3, viewing it as insurrection.
After the Korean government lifted martial law on December 4, the parliament suspended Yoon on December 14 after successfully passing a motion for impeachment. Yoon fled to his private compound, where he avoided prosecutors’ calls and the court’s detention warrants until he was formally arrested on January 19. After a South Korean court canceled his arrest warrant last week, Yoon walked out of detention last Saturday.
The political turmoil in Korea has sharply divided Protestants in the country, who make up 20 percent of the population. More than two-thirds of senior pastors in the country favored impeaching Yoon, according to a survey last December that polled around 1,200 leaders.
The pro-Yoon camp has drawn parallels with the pro-Trump movement among evangelicals in the US, with some protesters at the March 1 protest donning red MAGA hats and toting signs that read “Stop the Steal.” They believe that North Korean and Chinese agents and sympathizers have infiltrated South Korea’s government and need to be eradicated.
Save Korea is led by Busan Segyero Church’s pastor Son Hyun-bo, who has held regular prayer events in cities across the country since January. The group planned the event at the National Assembly to pray for the outcome of the court ruling of Yoon’s impeachment trial. Yoon, who will either be reinstated or removed from office, also faces the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted of rebellion. On March 7, a South Korean court canceled Yoon’s arrest warrant and released him from detention.
Yoon’s supporters are typically older, like Kang Gwi Ran, a Presbyterian pastor in her early 50s who attended the Yeouido rally. In her view, if Yoon does not return, pro-China and pro–North Korea lawmakers will seize control of the National Assembly and turn South Korea into a socialist country as well as a “vassal state of China.” For significant periods in its history, the Korean peninsula was a tributary to China until the Sino-Japanese war erupted in 1894.
Yoon’s People Power Party and its supporters have heavily criticized Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea and possibly the country’s next president, for adopting a favorable stance toward North Korea, China, and the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In February, Lee said that the country “can’t afford to alienate” China and that he would support Trump’s efforts to reengage North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. He also faces trial for allegedly coercing a businessman to send illegal payments to North Korea. Last January, a man stabbed Lee in the neck, claiming he wanted to “cut the head” off the country’s “pro-North Korean” left wing.
Most evangelicals do not support Yoon’s decision to declare martial law, said Sebastian Kim of Fuller Seminary’s Korean Studies Center. But they also do not want Lee to become president because “they strongly believe the opposition party’s policies and behavior have been harming the country’s economic progress, the welfare of people, and Christian moral values,” he said.
Since December, anti-Communist rhetoric has been gaining momentum among younger Koreans. Men in their 20s and 30s are increasingly supportive of Yoon: They made up more than half of the people arrested for the January 17 riot at the Seoul Western District Court. Protesters smashed windows and forced their way into the court building, assaulting police officers and destroying some judges’ private offices to oppose Yoon’s arrest.
Another Christian, Lee Ye Hwan, echoed Kang’s concerns about the rise of communism at the Yeouido rally. If a civil war between Korean nationalists and their opponents breaks out because of ongoing political and social instability, “China might take advantage of it and actually invade South Korea,” said Lee (no relation to Jae-myung), a 47-year-old graphic designer who worships at SaRang Church in Gangnam, Seoul.
Some of this fear is rooted in Cold War–era events that shaped Korean—and Korean Christian—history. During the 1950 Korean War, South Korea and the United States became “intertwined” in the fight against communism by seeking to “win a holy war through fulfilling the Great Commission” in the transpacific, Helen Jin Kim wrote in her book Race for Revival: How Cold War South Korea Shaped the American Evangelical Empire.
Korean pastor Han Kyung Chik provided a firsthand account of Communist persecution of believers in a 1961 CT interview. “In spite of Communist persecution the churches in North Korea were going strong,” Han said. “They did fine until the Communist war. Then the Communists began to invade South Korea, and they arrested practically all of the pastors.”
Yoon tapped this cultural and historical nerve in the Korean social psyche when he declared martial law, claiming that North Korean Communist forces had snuck into the opposition party and were trying to overthrow South Korea.
Conspiracy theories from far-right YouTubers have amplified these claims. Jun Kwang-hoon, pastor of Sarang Jeil Presbyterian Church, has also become a prominent voice in this space.
The evangelical Christian Council of Korea expelled Jun, who had previously been the group’s president, in 2022 for making controversial statements that he had received a revelation from God that he was a prophet and king. He is also under investigation for allegedly instigating the January 19 court riot.
The National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK), which is affiliated with the World Council of Churches, has spoken out strongly against the riot and called for believers to pursue peace and reconciliation.
“The violent and unconstitutional actions of some far-right Protestant forces have nothing to do with the gospel of Christ,” NCCK said in a statement last month. “Rather, they are false prophets who promote hate politics and violence, and they are only dividing the community and leaving wounds on countless people.”
Still, these critiques have not deterred believers like Lim and Lee from showing up to support Yoon on March 1. On that day, close to 65,000 people participated in another pro-Yoon rally—led by Jun—in Gwanghwamun, while pro-impeachment rallies in the area drew a smaller crowd of around 18,000 protesters.
The Yeouido rally kicked off with worship, with people raising their hands, closing their eyes, and singing with gusto. Political figures, like the conservative People Power Party representative Kim Gi-hyeon, and supporters from the US gave impassioned speeches.
Like at other anti-impeachment rallies, Korean Christian affinity with the US was strong. Kang noted that China is “constantly trying” to take over Korea. “But the US has protected us with Christian ideals and has never been greedy for our land,” Kang said. “We trust the US for that.”
Lee, the graphic designer, has participated in public protests affiliated with Jun’s group since 2020. He would often wave the Korean flag, the American flag, and the Israeli flag at the events. This time, he brought his Bible, a Korean flag, and a “Save Korea” poster.
“As a Christian, the most important thing isn’t who holds power,” Lee said. “What matters is whether the system itself is biblically sound. Supporting or opposing a political party is secondary.”
Lim, however, is clinging to Romans 8:28 as she continues to intercede for Yoon and the result of his impeachment trial. “No matter where I am, I will keep praying,” she said.
She also wonders what the future looks like for her son and the rest of his generation in South Korea. If Yoon is removed from office, his supporters say an influx of Communist principles isn’t the only potential devastating consequence. An antidiscrimination bill may also be passed if the liberal Democratic Party takes control, which Lim fears will challenge the traditional family unit and serve as a corrupting influence on children.
Last October, an estimated 1.1 million Christians participated in a rally in central Seoul to oppose the bill, which seeks to ban discrimination against a person based on gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, race, and academic background. Many also showed up to oppose the legalization of same-sex marriage in South Korea, in response to a landmark court ruling that partners in such relationships were eligible for spousal health benefits.
“I want the next generation to be separated from these evil forces and cultures that go against the Word of God and become a holy generation that responds only to the Word of God,” Lim said.
As for who can accomplish this for her young son, her answer is clear: “I want a president like Yoon Suk Yeol for him … a worker who can be used for the next holy generation.”
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