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Christianity in Korea
First baptism 1784; about 3 in 10 South Koreans today· Religion or tradition· Judaism, Christianity & Islam
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
Christianity took root in Korea through Korean scholars' own reading in the 1770s–80s and now claims about 3 in 10 South Koreans.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
Catholicism arrived without missionaries: scholars studied Chinese-language Jesuit books, and Yi Seung-hun (이승훈) was baptized in Beijing in 1784. The church survived nearly a century of persecution. Protestant missionaries, mostly American, came from 1884–85 and founded schools, hospitals and universities. Growth surged after the 1907 Pyongyang Revival and again after the Korean War. Recent surveys put about 20% of South Koreans as Protestant and roughly 8–11% as Catholic. In North Korea, religious practice is tightly controlled by the state.
Why it matters
Korea became one of Asia's most Christian societies; Christians helped build modern schools and hospitals and co-led the 1919 independence movement and later democracy protests.
Sources and history
Church and mission records, Joseon court records of the persecutions, school and hospital founding dates, and South Korean census and survey data (Statistics Korea, Gallup Korea, Pew).
Questions and debates
Why Christianity grew so fast in Korea but not in Japan or China is debated: links to nationalism under Japanese rule, education, and Korea's shamanic religiosity have all been proposed.
Inside this (2)
Connections (8)
▸State Shinto forced shrine worship on Christianity in KoreaHistorical record
The connection
In colonial Korea from the 1930s, everyone, including Christian schools and churches, was required to bow at Shinto shrines. Many Christians saw this as idolatry. Some mission schools closed rather than comply; in 1938 the Presbyterian General Assembly voted under police pressure to accept the bows. About 2,000 resisters were jailed and roughly 50 died.
When and where
Colonial Korea, mid-1930s to 1945; Pyongyang mission schools' refusals from 1935, and the 27th Presbyterian General Assembly in September 1938.
Historical evidence
Colonial government orders, church assembly minutes, missionary reports and prison records; pastor Ju Gi-cheol's death in prison in 1944 is well documented.
Questions and debates
How to judge those who complied remains painful: the issue split Korean Presbyterians after 1945, leading to the Kosin breakaway denomination in 1952. Casualty figures are estimates.
▸Evangelicalism and the Great Awakenings sent missionaries to build Christianity in KoreaHistorical record
The connection
American evangelical missionaries, mostly Presbyterian and Methodist, brought Protestantism to Korea. Horace Allen, a doctor, arrived in 1884; Horace Underwood and Henry Appenzeller landed at Incheon on Easter Sunday 1885. They founded schools, hospitals and churches, and their revivalist, Bible-centered style still marks Korean Protestantism.
When and where
Seoul and Incheon from 1884–85; Paichai school (1885), Ewha (1886) and the forerunners of Yonsei University and Severance Hospital grew from their work.
Historical evidence
Mission board reports, missionaries' diaries and letters, and the founding records of schools and hospitals.
Questions and debates
Scholars debate how much its character comes from missionaries versus Korean converts, who often evangelized ahead of them under the self-supporting 'Nevius method'.
▸Global Christian missions and empire laid the ground for Christianity in KoreaHistorical record
The connection
Korea's first Christians learned the faith from books produced by the Jesuit mission in China, such as Matteo Ricci's The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, which Korean envoys brought home from Beijing. In 1784 Yi Seung-hun was baptized there and returned to start a lay-led church. A Chinese priest came secretly in 1795, and French priests from 1836.
When and where
Beijing and Seoul: Southerner (Namin) scholars studied Catholic books in the 1770s, Yi Seung-hun was baptized in 1784, and the Paris Foreign Missions Society arrived in 1836.
Historical evidence
Korean Catholic records, Jesuit books preserved in Korea, Chinese and French mission records, and Joseon trial records naming these books.
Questions and debates
Korea is unusual: lay readers started the church before any missionary arrived. Historians debate why Catholic ideas appealed to Confucian scholars.
▸Great Pyongyang Revival sparked growth of Christianity in KoreaHistorical record
The connection
The revival helped turn a young missionary church into a Korean-led movement. Thousands confessed and joined, and Korea's first seven Presbyterian ministers, including Gil Seon-ju, were ordained the same year. Practices born then, such as dawn prayer, loud unison prayer and Bible study classes, still define Korean churches.
When and where
Jangdaehyeon Church, Pyongyang, January 1907, spreading to Seoul and other towns; followed by the 1909–10 Million Souls campaign.
Historical evidence
Missionary reports and church statistics show membership climbing after 1907; Korean church histories trace dawn prayer to Gil Seon-ju.
Questions and debates
Growth was uneven: the Million Souls campaign fell far short of its goal, so historians debate how much lasting growth the revival itself caused.
▸Yoido Full Gospel Church, Seoul is a megachurch landmark of Christianity in KoreaHistorical record
The connection
Yoido's rise mirrored Korea's Protestant boom, from a few hundred thousand believers before the Korean War to roughly a fifth of South Koreans by the 1990s. Cho's message of blessing and healing spoke to rural migrants crowding into Seoul during rapid industrialization, and megachurches made Seoul a world Protestant hub.
When and where
Seoul, 1958 onward; peak growth in the 1970s–1990s; other megachurches such as Myungsung, Sarang and Onnuri grew alongside it.
Historical evidence
Church records and Korean census religion data from 1985, 1995, 2005 and 2015 track the growth.
Questions and debates
Whether prosperity-focused preaching built lasting faith is debated; Protestant numbers stalled after the 1990s amid church scandals and the rise of people with no religion.
▸March 1st Movement was co-led by leaders of Christianity in KoreaHistorical record
The connection
Sixteen of the 33 signers were Protestant pastors and lay leaders, though Christians were then only about 1–2% of Koreans. Church and mission-school networks spread the declaration; Ewha student Yu Gwan-sun (유관순) led a rally and died in prison in 1920. Christians were heavily overrepresented among those arrested, tying the faith to Korean nationalism.
When and where
Seoul and nationwide, March–May 1919; Presbyterian pastor Gil Seon-ju and Lee Seung-hun; the massacre of villagers at Jeam-ri church by Japanese troops, April 15, 1919.
Historical evidence
The signers' list; Japanese police and court records; missionary reports, including Frank Schofield's photographs of Jeam-ri.
Questions and debates
Historians debate how central church networks were compared with Cheondogyo, students and local organizers, and casualty figures vary widely.
▸Unification Church (Sun Myung Moon) emerged from Christianity in KoreaHistorical record
The connection
Moon's family joined a Presbyterian church when he was a boy in what is now North Korea, and he said Jesus appeared to him on Easter 1935 asking him to finish his mission. He drew on 1940s Pyongyang's intense revivalism and messianic groups, then founded his church in Seoul in 1954. Mainline Korean churches condemned it as heresy.
When and where
North Pyongan, born 1920; Pyongyang 1946–50 and a North Korean labor camp; Busan 1951; Seoul 1954.
Historical evidence
Moon's autobiography (2009), church histories, Korean Presbyterian heresy rulings, and studies by scholars such as George Chryssides.
Questions and debates
How much Moon's theology borrowed from earlier Korean messianic sects, such as Kim Baek-mun's group, is debated by scholars.
▸Donghak and Cheondogyo arose as Eastern learning against Christianity in KoreaHistorical record
The connection
Joseon Koreans called Catholicism Seohak, 'Western Learning'. Choe Je-u named his faith Donghak, 'Eastern Learning', as a native answer to it and to Western power, which had just humbled China in the Opium Wars. Yet both spoke of a Lord of Heaven, and officials executed Choe partly on suspicion that he spread Catholic-like heresy.
When and where
Gyeongju in 1860, the year Anglo-French forces captured Beijing; Choe was executed in Daegu in 1864.
Historical evidence
Choe's writings explicitly contrast his way with Western Learning, and Joseon trial records show officials linked his teaching to Catholicism.
Questions and debates
How much Catholic ideas, such as a personal Lord of Heaven, shaped Donghak is debated; Choe himself said the two shared heaven's way but differed in principle.