[KS] Koreanstudies Digest, Vol 99, Issue 7

Kwang On Yoo lovehankook at gmail.com
Sun Sep 11 08:51:18 EDT 2011


Hello All,

I would like to share following article with you in connection with the
Catholicism in
N. Korea.

Kwang-On Yoo

N Korea stages Mass for Pope, BBC News, April 10, 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4431321.stm

On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 6:02 AM, Frank Hoffmann <hoffmann at koreaweb.ws>wrote:

> **
> 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 Kim¹s 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 Kim¹s insignia for
> priests¹ 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
> Korea¹s new Orthodox deacons, admitted that it had been Œvery difficult¹ to
> adopt the Orthodox religion. But he didn¹t have much choice: the ŒDear
> Leader¹ had already made the decision to build the church. (...)
>
> http://www.eagleworldnews.com/2006/08/22/russian-orthodox-church-ope
> ns-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 Korea¹s 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 ŒChurch¹ was a
> type of state-run trade company, because Hong had been expressing his
> interest in working at trade department. (...) the fellow ŒChristians¹ 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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