[KS] Koreanstudies Digest, Vol 99, Issue 7

[Frank Hoffmann]

Fine. Thank you, for that info -- both very interesting.

Churches: So there are now four churches. To 
summarize, and to correct my earlier note:

(1) Pongsu kyohoe P'yôngyang (Protestant Church P'yôngyang), build 1988
(2) Changch'ung sôngdang (Changch'ung Roman Catholic Cathedral), build 1988
(3) Ch'ilgol kyohoe (Ch'ilgol Eastern Orthodox Church), build 1989
(4) Life-Giving Trinity church (a Russian 
Orthodox church), opened August 13, 2006

Should we not try to put things into a historical 
perspective? Please think of other dictatorships 
in history, the Nazi regime or Stalin's Soviet 
Union. There were also churches, there were also 
organizations that seemed independent from the 
state (keyword Benedictine order). But even in 
those dictatorships there was more religious 
freedom than in North Korea -- no, do you really 
doubt that? Maybe not such a good comparison as 
Balazs Szalontai already pointed out in his very 
educational Buddhism/Mongolia/NK reply. But there 
are no Buddhists or 'shamans' allowed either. 
Just think of the role that the culture of 
Buddhist lower level strata of society (minjung) 
or 'shaman' culture, or Christian beliefs 
(modelled after South America) played for the 
1980s nativist Minjung cultural movement in South 
Korea. In North Korea you ONLY see the modernized 
socialist version of HIGH culture, of court 
culture, yangban culture of the past, mixed with 
strong influences from Soviet and Chinese 
socialist culture. Lower culture has not be 
incorporated and modernized. I mean, there is 
neither any sort of role of native believe 
systems like shamanism or Buddhism nor of the 
newer Christian religions. Religion has no role 
in North Korea, and if you look at specific 
culture--e.g. the fine arts or literature--you 
can very clearly see that. The Kim cults are an 
replacement for this. Religious believe systems 
would offer an alternative, would get to the root 
of the "people's" needs and desires, would offer 
alternative 'paradises' and of course, and such 
parallel worlds would weaken the Kim cults, the 
Kim system. There is a reason why a country like 
Cuba was the favorite place for tourists in 
eastern Europe before 1990, and why today it is 
one of the top locations for West European 
tourists also--and why it is not a place like 
North Korea. Strolling down Cuba Tacón towards 
the Castillo in Havana today, you will see plenty 
of Picasso's "Guernicas" in all possible formats, 
materials, colors and interpretations, even on 
busses or as murals, serious ones and rather 
playful interpretations, state commissioned ones 
and private works, and of course also abstract 
paintings for sale and sometimes works in montage 
or pseudo-montage techniques and prints that may 
be called communist versions of Pop Art by local 
Cuban artists. You will see private sales shops, 
artists studios, pretty girls with micro-mini 
skirts, churches, etc. Now, please, stroll down 
T'ongil Street in P'yôngyang to visit that new 
Russian Orthodox church (or whatever other 
destination). What will you see on your way?

Below is what others observed about the churches, 
and I find that very telling as regards to the 
issue of "theatrical production." (Of course, 
yes, one has to be careful with any such 
'sources'--but I just find it hard to find an 
alternative interpretation that in the end tells 
me there is anything undecided, liberal, or 
complicated.)


(3) Ch'ilgol kyohoe:

>>  We arrived around 10, there were 50 believers 
>>in the church, singing and praying. Then after 
>>15 minutes, they invited us to leave the place. 
>>(...)
North Korea already has a Catholic church, which 
for many seem to be 'showcases' built for the 
visits of foreigners since they do not offer 
regular liturgical service.<< (Eric Lafforgue)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mytripsmypics/2609230523/


(4) Russian Orthodox church:

>>  (...) quoted Ho Il Jin, chairman of the Korean 
>>Orthodox Church Committee as saying, "The North 
>>Korean government will successfully manage and 
>>operate the church." (...) Reuters news agency 
>>gave some background on how the church came to 
>>be built. / "... in North Korea, freedom of 
>>religion exists only in name, and the reasoning 
>>behind Kim's current favoring of the Orthodox 
>>religion remains unclear. What is known is that 
>>the dictator first came up with the idea of 
>>building the church on trip to Russia in a 2002 
>>during which he visited an Orthodox house of 
>>worship. / The next year, he sent four young 
>>men from the newly established North Korean 
>>Orthodox Committee - all of whom had worked for 
>>the North Korean intelligence service - for 
>>spiritual training at the Orthodox Seminary in 
>>Moscow. During a crash course, the men were 
>>taught to become servants of the Church. There, 
>>they exchanged their dark suits with Kim's 
>>insignia for priests' robes. / Following their 
>>visit to the seminary, the freshly baptized 
>>Christians, who had previously known nothing 
>>but the personal ideology of Kim Jong-Il and 
>>his father, were sent to the far eastern 
>>Russian city of Vladivostok for practical 
>>experience. / Fyodor Kim, one of North Korea's 
>>new Orthodox deacons, admitted that it had been 
>>'very difficult' to adopt the Orthodox 
>>religion. But he didn't have much choice: the 
>>'Dear Leader' had already made the decision to 
>>build the church. (...)

http://www.eagleworldnews.com/2006/08/22/russian-orthodox-church-opens-in-the-north-korean-capital-of-pyongyang/


(1) Pongsu kyohoe P'yôngyang:

Report from a North Korean defector to the South:
>>  "I had lived in Pyongyang from 1996 to 1998. 
>>During that time, my cousin introduced me Mr. 
>>Hong, a forty two-year old official in the 
>>Foreign Ministry. (...) Hong was a graduate of 
>>North Korea's most prestigious Mankyongdae 
>>Revolutionary Academy and studied French at KPA 
>>Security College. Since then, he had been 
>>assigned as a National Security Agency liaison 
>>officer to the Foreign Ministry. (...) In 
>>February 1997, Hong was appointed to the Bongsu 
>>Church. At that time, I thought the 'Church' 
>>was a type of state-run trade company, because 
>>Hong had been expressing his interest in 
>>working at trade department. (...) the fellow 
>>'Christians' in Bongsu Church are, in reality, 
>>sent by the North Korean government authorities 
>>such as United Front Department of KWP and 
>>National Security Agency. It is not probable at 
>>all for the state-run Bongsu Church to have a 
>>true believer, whether of Christianity or any 
>>other kind of religion except for the Kim Il 
>>Sung/Kim Jong Il cult."

http://orientem.blogspot.com/2006/11/pyngyangs-potemkin-church.html



Best wishes,
Frank Hoffmann


>Prof. Dr. Eckart Dege wrote:
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>For a long time I also wondered how Chusok is observed in North Korea.
>Last time I visited North Korea during Chusok. Knowing that our
>interpreter was the eldest son, I asked him who would do the ancester
>rites on this day. He answered that his younger brother had to do them
>since he was on duty translating for us. Then I asked how the rites are
>performed in Pyongyang (where you don't find any graves). He explained
>that all people are cremated and the urns are stored in special buildings
>(one in each city precinct). On Chusok people go there, show a special
>identity card and get the urn(s) of their ancestor(s). These they take to
>a park, where they perform the ancestor rites and have a picnic. After the
>rites they return the urn. We observed many such family groups on
>Moran-bong.
>
>Now to the churches: there are four in Pyongyang, the Changchung Cathedral
>(Roman Catholic), the Pongsu Church (Protestant), the Chilgol Church
>(Protestant) and a new Russian Orthodox church at Tongil Street. I took
>part in Sunday services in two of these churches and did not have the
>impression that these services were a theatrical production for foreign
>tourists (in both cases I was the only foreigner). What struck me was the
>fact that during the service they took off their Kim Il-sung badges. When
>they went out after the service they put them back on.
>
>Happy Chusok,
>Eckart Dege
>
>
>
>
>--
>Prof. Dr. Eckart Dege
>Geographisches Institut
>Universität Kiel
>D-24098 Kiel / Germany
>Phone (home): +49 4342 889695
>Phone (mobile): +49 1717110654

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