Hello from Seoul
One of the benefits of traveling with the Catherine of Siena Institute is the ability to accumulate frequent flier miles. I used them to get me to Seoul, Korea two days ago, where I'm visiting my graduate school room mate from Stanford, Professor Yun-kyung Cha of Hanyang University, and his family.
Korea, as you may know, is the most Christian of the countries of Asia. Yesterday, Cha took me via the incredibly extensive subway system of Seoul (at least 200 stations, as far as I can tell) to downtown Seoul, where I hopped on a city-wide tour bus and took in some of the sights. After walking around a series of traditional Korean-style homes and gardens near downtown, I walked off the beaten path and found Myeongdong Cathedral, the one-hundred year old Catholic center of Seoul and a focal point for the democratic movement in Korea in the '70s and '80s. The Catholic community of the cathedral has also played an important role in the expansion of human rights in Korea.
Even though the facade of the gothic Cathedral is undergoing restoration and reverberates with the sound of jackhammers, there were at least 20 Koreans praying in the nave. Most of them were young adult to middle-aged. There were also a number of young sisters in habits in the neighborhood, including three staffing a small religious goods store a few blocks from the cathedral. Unfortunately, none of them spoke English, so I was not able to find out what community they belonged to.
Seoul is a huge city, well over 10 million inhabitants. It seems like most of them live in high-rise apartments that are like small forests of steel and concrete. Cha's apartment complex has about ten high-rises around a small park with a half-court basketball area and exercise machines that utilize the user's weight as resistance.
There are little reminders that I'm not in Kansas anymore. I realized that after walking around Seoul and being driven through miles of it that I never saw a bit of graffiti. My first night in Cha's apartment, after not sleeping for 36 hours, I put what looked like toothpaste on my toothbrush. Fortunately, it was toothpaste, but I discovered that Koreans prefer "fresh pine-scented breath" to "fresh minty breath"!
I'm looking forward to my stay here. I'll do some more exploring of Seoul, and Thursday I'll head out to the DMZ for a half-day tour. Korea is the last divided country in the world, according to Koreans.
Perhaps what's most amazing is the incredible transformation that has occurred here since the end of Japanese occupation, which over three and a half decades (1910-1945) crippled the Korean economy and impoverished the people. Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, the country has been virtually entirely rebuilt, and the standard of living has increased tremendously. Koreans are very, very hard-working, and it will be interesting to see what happens in the future.
I'll try to send a few pictures of my travels from time-to-time.
posted by Fr. Mike, O.P. @ 4:06 PM
8 Comments
8 Comments:
Hi Fr. Mike:
Glad to see that you made it in one piece.
It will be great to hear about your adventures in Korea as you have time!
Looking forward to your commentary, Fr Mike.
As a point of information, the proportion of Christians in Korea is reportedly around 29%, lower than East Timor (98%) and the Philippines (~93%) and--I had no idea--Kazakhstan (46%).
Hi Sheepcat:
East Timor was a Catholic enclave that broke away from largely Muslim Indonesia and the Phillipines, of course, was a Spanish colony for centuries.
What is unique about Korea is that little more than 120 years ago, the percentage of Christians in the country was very small (Korean Christianity was brought to the country by Catholic lay men in the late 18th century and they originally ordained their own priests before realizing that wasn't right. The 19th century Catholic Church in Korea endured a number of terrible persecutions and many years without resident priests.
In the 1880's Protestant missionaries arrived and the rest is history. There were about 50,000 Catholics and 300,000 Protestants in united Korea by 1945.
Growth after the Korean war in South Korea was dramatic and there were about 800,000 Catholics and 3.5 million Protestants by 1977.
In North Korea, the Christians who have survived decades of brutal persecution are all underground.
Christian growth in the 70's and 80's and 90's was dramatic. All religions in Korea grew and while 57% claimed "no religion" in 1985, a decade later, that had fallen to 49% and Christianity had grown from 20% to 26% percent of the population.
By 2005, Christians made up nearly 30% of the population: 29.3% are Christian (of which 18.3% (on total) profess to be Protestants and 10.9% to be Catholics) and non-believers had dropped to 46%.
Believing Christians in South Korea - especially evangelicals - are incredibly mission-minded. And high on their list is re-establishing the faith in North Korea.
Thanks for the stats, Sherry. I should have said Korea was the most Christian of non-western colonized countries. Of course, Vietnam was heavily Catholic, too.
Your observations are right on point. As a North American travelling in Seoul, I had the very same reaction about the absence of graffiti. There was not a trace of it on the subway.
With reference to Christianity, one of the first things a traveller will notice about the city are the hundreds, nay, thousands of red neon signs that signify the location of a Protestant church. I also recall Protestant missionaries, including Jehovah's Witnesses, walking through the subway and soliciting members that way. They would politely ask for your telephone number and address. Needless to say, this was all quite shocking for a North American.
In regards to population, you are right, the district of Seoul has a population of 10 million. However the National Capital Area which includes Seoul in addition to 65 municipalities/suburbs, has a population of 23 million people.
I suppose, Fr Mike, I should have made it clearer I didn't seriously imagine you were unaware of other Asian countries with large proportions of Christians.
Anyway, it sounds like a very dynamic environment for evangelism, and I'm eager to read more of your impressions.
Hi, Mike
Glad you made it to Korea. Hope you have a great visit with Cha and his fam. I'll make sure that Ma & Pa see your blog. Miss you. Your sis
Hi, Bro
Printed this out for Ma & Pa. Sounds like you are having a great visit. Did you make it to the DMZ? The cultural differences are very interesting. Hope to see some photos asap. I'm heading back to the UP on Tuesday. School starts on 9/2; I need to get my room ready. Lots to do, of course.
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