Korean Christian Coexistence Council
PRESS RELEASE
Release Date: Thursday, August 13, 2026
Contact: Rev. Lee On-yu
TEL: 062-954-5794
※ This material is available for immediate release.
3,000 Pastors Worldwide: “South Korea’s Religious Freedom in Crisis… Stop the Taxation of Mission Donations, the Push for a Religious Corporation Dissolution Bill, and the Detention of Religious Leaders”
- First World Pastors’ Joint Assembly Held on the 13th, Co-hosted by Five Christian Organizations from Korea and Abroad
- Denouncing the State’s Wide-Ranging Intervention in and Suppression of Religion, Affecting Both Protestant Churches and New Religious Movements
- Condemning Financial and Institutional Pressures, Including Gift Taxation on Overseas Mission Donations and the Push for a Religious Corporation Dissolution Bill
- “We Will Stand in Solidarity with the International Community to Protect the Universal Freedom of Religion Beyond Any Particular Denomination.”
Five religious organizations—the Korean Christian Coexistence Council, the Korea Christian Leaders Training Institute, the Pastors’ Solidarity for Life and Human Rights, the Russian Evangelical Alliance, and the Thailand Evangelical Association—held the First World Pastors’ Joint Assembly on the 13th, strongly criticizing the serious violations of religious freedom and the erosion of the principle of the separation of church and state that have recently occurred in South Korea.
The assembly drew 3,156 pastors from 55 countries around the world, demonstrating the international religious community’s strong concern over the issue of religious persecution. Within South Korea, an additional 661 pastors participated in solidarity through live broadcasts held at 16 regional venues. In particular, the assembly presented specific cases of administrative, tax-related, and judicial religious persecution occurring across Korean society that extend beyond any particular organization or denomination, drawing deep concern from the international community.
“From the Taxation of Mission Donations to the Religious Corporation Dissolution Bill… Institutional Suppression That Ties the Church’s Hands and Feet”
The presenters pointed out that various institutional and financial pressure measures recently introduced or implemented by the Korean government and political leaders are restricting the church’s genuine religious and missionary activities.
Particular attention was given to the tax authorities’ arbitrary imposition of gift taxes on mission donations sent by churches to overseas mission fields, as well as discussions on a Religious Corporation Dissolution Bill that would enable the state to forcibly dissolve religious organizations it disfavors.
Kim Gun, Chairman of the Yeongnam Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Hapdong Jungang), criticized the measures, saying, “Taxing overseas mission donations is an unjust intrusion by the state into the church’s essential mission of proclaiming the gospel, and a strategy to financially strangle the church.
Furthermore, the push for a Religious Corporation Dissolution Bill is a dangerous notion that would allow the state to determine the survival of any particular denomination or church under the name of the law at any time. The blade pointed at others today will be pointed at all churches tomorrow.”
Rev. Lim Young-woong of the Presbyterian Church of Korea also warned, “The discussion surrounding the dissolution of the religious corporation of a particular denomination is not merely an issue affecting one denomination or one country. It is a dangerous warning sign that the faith and religious freedom of all of us can be taken away by state power at any time.”
The Detention of a 95-Year-Old Religious Leader Constitutes a Serious Human Rights Violation… End Trial-by-Public-Opinion Religious Persecution Assembly participants expressed strong concern, characterizing the excessive custodial investigations and judicial pressure brought against major religious leaders as “clear acts of religious persecution and human rights violations carried out under the guise of the rule of law.”
Regarding the successive custodial indictments of religious leaders—including Lee Man-hee, Chairman of Shincheonji—the participants denounced them as “targeted criminal investigations that disregard the constitutional principle of the presumption of innocence and the principle of non-custodial investigation under the Criminal Procedure Act.”
◇ “We Will Stand in Solidarity to Restore the Principle of Separation of Church and State and Defend Universal Religious Freedom”
Chairman Kim Gun stated, “The separation of church and state is a bulwark of democracy that protects the religious sphere from arbitrary intervention by state power. For the state to make the internal activities and doctrines of religious organizations the subject of investigation, or to apply pressure through targeted tax audits and forced dissolution, is an act that denies the very spirit of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea.”
As the final presenter, Rev. Rugagi Innocent of the Rwanda Evangelical Church in Africa declared, “Our churches in Africa have also experienced firsthand the tragedies that occur when state power attempts to control the sphere of faith. As true faith knows no borders, churches around the world will stand in strong solidarity across denominational and national boundaries for the restoration of religious freedom in South Korea.”
The assembly concluded with the announcement of a Joint Statement adopted through the signatures of approximately 2,000 pastors from around the world. The statement called for: ▲an end to religiously biased suppression by the government and political circles; ▲an end to trial by public opinion within the judiciary and adherence to the principle of the presumption of innocence; ▲and the granting of bail and the immediate release of very elderly religious leaders.
The organizers of the joint assembly stated, “The cases presented here are not issues affecting only a particular denomination, but grave warning signs concerning religious freedom throughout South Korea. We will continue to respond in solidarity with international human rights organizations and churches around the world until the government and judicial authorities return to the principles of fair justice and the separation of church and state.”
