The Washington Stand reports that, in September, Pastor Son Hyan-bo was arrested for supposedly violating elections laws. He is the leader of Segero Church in Busan, which has the largest congregation in the country.
The South Korean government claims that Hyan-bo interviewing a political candidate was illegal campaigning. They also labeled the pastor as a flight risk and said he destroyed evidence.
Hyan-bo’s son says that’s not the case, that his father has served his church for 30 years and that the flight risk claims make no sense. He calls the arrest “clearly political retaliation and religious oppression targeting Korean churches.”
Hyan-bo isn’t alone among religious leaders in the country.
Hak Ja Han Moon is a religious leader who is currently being held at the Seoul Detention Center for bribery charges, according to The Washington Times. She is the confounder and spiritual head of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. At 82-years-old, with a heart condition and near blindness, she is kept in a 70-square foot cell and only allowed five visitors for 10 total minutes.
Gordon Chang is a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and author of “Plan Red: China’s Project to Destroy America.” He spoke with Jodi Hice on Washington Watch, saying that this problem stems from the new leadership in South Korea.
“E.J. Mung, the new president, is very pro-China, very pro-North Korea, very anti-U.S., and he's been jailing and detaining a number of religious leaders,” says Chang.
Mung was sworn in as the fourteenth president of South Korea on July 4, 2025, after the previous president was impeached. He is a member of South Korea’s liberal political party, the Democratic Party of Korea.
Chang says that Mung is basically holding religious leaders beyond what would be considered normal for the charge.
“A number of them have been detained for what's called political activity, which is prohibited, but normally, it's just a very technical violation. Get a fine and then sent off,” explains Chang. “But E.J. Mung is actually indefinitely detaining religious leaders. So, this looks like an attack on religion. It is just all religions right now, but especially Christianity is being hit.”
Actions speak louder than words
He says that this is something one would expect from someone who looks like a communist.
“And E.J. Mung, unfortunately, although he says he's not, has been attacking democratic institutions. He's been supporting the Chinese communists,” states Chang.
The country is in a dangerous spot.
“South Korea could turn communist,” warns Chang. “I'm not saying that it will happen. I'm saying that it could happen.”
