South Korea Faces Outcry Over Jailing of Pastors as Crackdown on Churches Deepens (Worthy News Investigation)

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

SEOUL (Worthy News) – South Korea, long seen as the democratic opposite of its authoritarian-ruled northern neighbor, faces growing scrutiny for what critics call a widening crackdown on Christian leaders and churches.

While believers remain largely free to worship, the latest detention of pastors viewed as critical of the government increasingly mirrors practices seen in China or North Korea, according to church observers.

For more than a month, 82-year-old Hak Ja Han Moon, co-founder and spiritual head of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church), has been confined in a 70-square-foot cell at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province.

Her attorneys say she has endured interrogations lasting up to 12 hours despite severe eyesight and heart problems. She is permitted only five visitors for a total of 10 minutes per day, according to sources familiar with her situation.

Prosecutors rejected her request for home confinement, warning she could “taint evidence,” meaning she could remain imprisoned for up to six months if her controversial bribery trial is delayed.

About 200 miles (320 kilometers) south, in the Busan Detention Center, Pastor Son Hyun-bo, 62, founder and head of Segero Presbyterian Church, has been detained for more than two months.

A former special forces soldier who built a small congregation into a megachurch baptizing over 1,000 new believers each year, Son is reportedly in fair health but suffering from mold and damp conditions. “He never complains,” his son Chance Son said. “Every time I ask if he’s OK, he says, ‘Why ask? God has got my back,” he added in published remarks.

FROM MASS RALLIES TO PRISON

Pastor Son was a key organizer of the “1027 United Korean Church Worship” event in October 2024 — a gathering that organizers said drew perhaps one million people, reportedly the largest Christian rally in South Korea’s recent history.

The event and later “Save Korea” rallies opposed proposed anti-discrimination laws and what conservative Christians viewed as state encroachment on moral teaching.

He is charged under the Public Official Election Act for allegedly endorsing political candidates during sermons — a charge his family says misrepresents brief moral exhortations.

The left-leaning government of President Lee Jae-myung has overseen police raids on several conservative churches, including the large Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul and offices of other Christian networks accused of “political interference.”

Critics argue the raids and detentions form part of a campaign to silence the evangelical-conservative movement that mobilized millions during the past elections.

The late Christian conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who visited South Korea weeks before his assassination in September, met Pastor Son and pledged to mobilize U.S. support should the pastor be jailed.

In a recorded address, Kirk warned that “religious liberty in Korea is in peril” and urged American Christians to “stand with Pastor Son and the churches under fire.” His visit further strengthened ties between South Korea’s evangelical movement and U.S. faith-based conservatives.

TRUMP AND LEE JAE-MYUNG

The crackdown has also drawn the attention of U.S. President Donald J. Trump, who told reporters in August he was “concerned about investigations … that allegedly targeted churches” in South Korea.

“There were very vicious raids on churches by the new government in South Korea,” Trump said, adding, “I heard bad things … I don’t know if it’s true or not, I’ll be finding out.”

He later wrote on his Truth Social platform: “WHAT IS GOING ON IN SOUTH KOREA? Seems like a Purge or Revolution. We can’t have that…”

President Lee Jae-myung — who came to power in June 2025 after the impeachment and arrest of conservative predecessor Yoon Suk-yeol — visited Washington, D.C., in August for meetings with Trump and U.S. officials to discuss these and other issues.

Lee has denied wrongdoing and rejected claims of political persecution, insisting prosecutors act independently of his office.

Yet public anxiety intensified after the apparent suicide of a 57-year-old local official interrogated by the same investigators handling Moon’s case.

Observers note this follows a pattern in South Korea’s political culture, where several high-profile figures — including former President Roh Moo-hyun and actor Lee Sun-kyun — have taken their own lives amid aggressive investigations.

CLIMATE OF FEAR RETURNING?

Critics fear that the climate is returning under the current administration.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned on social media platform X that “the lawfare being directed at religious leaders in South Korea is deeply troubling.”

Jan Figel, president of the Forum for Religious Freedom Europe, described the prosecutions as “a purge disguised as anti-corruption.”

Analysts say the detentions could reshape South Korea’s relationship with its churches and tarnish its image as one of Asia’s most robust democracies.

Whether Mrs. Moon and Pastor Son are convicted or released pending trial may determine the future of church-state relations — and how far Seoul is willing to go in policing religion that crosses into politics.

At least some Christians view the detentions of Mrs. Moon and Pastor Son as a historic test of South Korea’s commitment to religious freedom and the rule of law.

They suggest the question is no longer whether faith can survive persecution in the North, but whether it can remain truly free in the South.

Latest Worthy News