.jpg) Korean Christians board buses as they leave the western city of Heart in this file photo taken on Aug. 3, 2006. About 700 South Korean Christians visiting strictly Islamic Afghanistan against their government's advice were under virtual house arrest in the capital Kabul amid concern about their presence. / AFP-Yonhap |
Evangelizing Right vs. Security
By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
Is it safe for Christians go to an Islamic country to conduct missionary work?
This question was first raised in Korea when interpreter and aspiring missionary Kim Sun-il was kidnapped and killed by insurgents in Iraq in June 2004.
To this question, the Korean government has consistently said no, citing that the Iraqi militants who killed Kim claimed they did so because he and his company were engaged in Christian activities in Iraq.
Since then, government officials have said that it is almost ``suicidal'' for Christians to evangelize Muslims, for security reasons.
Although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade designated some dangerous countries as off-limits countries, including Islamic ones, some Christians ignored the ministry's warning.
Finally, the government will revise a passport law this month under which Koreans would face punishment if they entered off-limits countries without government permission.
The latest kidnapping of 23 Korean Christians taken hostage by the Taliban militants in Afghanistan, Thursday, will put Afghanistan on a list of off-limits countries under the revised law.
Meanwhile, answers to the question were different among Christians. Some of them considered that security must come first, while others gave priority to evangelizing the world.
For example, the National Council of Churches in Korea, Sunday, urged Christians to stop all missionary work in dangerous countries such as Afghanistan.
Other Christian organizations identified with a church in Bundang, south of Seoul, where the 23 Korean hostages regularly attended, apologizing for the nation about the incident, but not mentioning anything about stopping such missionary work.
The problem is that even after the kidnappings, several Protestant-based groups kept going to Islamic countries to do missionary business.
In August 2006, the largest number of Korean missionaries yet _ 2,300 people _ planned to hold the ``Afghanistan 2006 Peace Festival'' event in the Afghan capital of Kabul, despite the serious concerns by the Korean and Afghan governments. The event failed to take place amid great debate home and abroad.
One of the Christian organizations that put religious rights before security, is the Institute of Asian Culture and Development, which unsuccessfully organized the Afghan festival last year.
Security in Afghanistan
Choi Han-woo, secretary-general of the IACD, said its members just want to conduct sports, culture and academic activities, helping the Afghan people, and kept arguing that Afghanistan is ``safe.''
The IACD claimed the government is exerting diplomatic pressure on Afghanistan to prevent even cultural events organized by Korean Christian associations from taking place under any circumstances, for security reasons.
``We have held the peace festival in Afghanistan annually since 2001 and the number of participants reached hundreds at each event,'' Choi said. ``But there was not an accident, so far.''
He stressed that security in Afghanistan is getting better year by year after the end of war. However, he agreed a southern part of Afghanistan is still dangerous, where the U.S.-led coalition and its Afghan allies battle still defiant Taliban militants.
Former Afghan Ambassador to Seoul Nabil Malek-Asghar echoed a similar view of the security in his country.
``We welcome any kind of events organized by the Korean government or its people in Afghanistan,'' Malek-Asghar said. ``But the southern part of Afghanistan bordering Pakistan is dangerous.''
However, the ministry considers all the territory of Afghanistan unsafe as proved in the case of 23 Korean hostages.
About 1,600 people were killed in Afghanistan in 2005, and militants of Taliban, al-Qaeda and HIG continue terrorist attacks on the Afghan government and its allied forces throughout the nation, according to the ministry.
Christian Missionary in Islam
The ministry notes that South Korea's Christian-based missionary work makes security worse than general security in Afghanistan. This view is widely shared by Muslims and foreigners in Seoul.
Sohn Ju-young, professor of Arabic language at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul and former president of the Korea Muslim Federation, agreed with the ministry's view.
``Christians do not know how dangerous it is to conduct missionary work in Islamic countries,'' Sohn said. ``Particularly, it is much more dangerous in Afghanistan where Islamic fundamentalists based on Wahabism are leading terrorist activities.''
Wahabism is part of Islamic fundamentalism and its followers, including Osama Bin Laden, are very violent and extreme in their characteristics, according to him.
Sohn was worried if the Korean Christians' work could negatively affect Korea's various activities in Islamic countries, including Zaytun Unit in northern Iraqi town of Irbil.
Foreign residents who had experienced Korean missionaries' work noted that Korean missionaries have a notorious reputation for their aggressive and blatant way of evangelizing.
Oleg Kiriyanov, correspondent of the Russian state-run newspaper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, said he was surprised to meet Korean missionaries, as they were too persuasive at home and abroad.
``I attended a Korean language class by a Korean missionary in my state-run university in Russia, but he was kicked out because he taught mainly the Bible and Christianity rather than language,'' said Kiriyanov, who lived in Korea for nine years. He could confirm that the forcible way of missionary works was more explicit in Korea after he arrived here.
Their bizarre missionary works are very unique compared to those of other nations' Christians, he added.
Even the Taliban militants, who kidnapped the 23 Christian Koreans, indicated that the Koreans' missionary work would negatively affect their security in Afghanistan.
Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, spokesman of the Taliban, said the insurgents know well the 23 Korean Christians visited Afghanistan in order to convert pure Muslims to Christianity, according to New York Times. ``If they were not women, they would have been killed when captured,'' Ahmadi said.
The Korean hostages _ 18 women and five men, mostly medical doctors and nurses _ went to Afghanistan to offer medical services. Most of them are members of the Saemmul Community Church in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province.
yoonwonsup@koreatimes.co.kr
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