In recent months, a disturbing pattern of governmental persecution of Christian pastors and political opponents has emerged in the once thriving democracy of South Korea. Experts say the current leftist administration’s communist-sympathizing authoritarian behavior is the result of a “long march through the institutions” that must be confronted by the Trump administration and remedied by a slumbering church that needs reawakening.

Following the controversial declaration of martial law by former President Yoon Suk Yeol on December 3, 2024, South Korea was thrown into political turmoil. Yoon, the then-leader of the more conservative People Power Party (PPP), publicly justified the move by accusing the opposition party of sympathizing with North Korea and engaging in “anti-state” activities, while also investigating apparent instances of election fraud. In addition, the opposition Democratic Party, which has majority control of Parliament, had engaged in a series of political targeting campaigns against at least 29 conservative members, with many being accused of corruption. Hours after the martial law declaration, Yoon lifted it after the National Assembly unanimously voted it invalid.

Days later, Yoon issued a public apology for the martial law declaration, remarking that he had made a “desperate decision” that would not be repeated. The National Assembly eventually voted to impeach Yoon on December 14. In January, he became the first president in South Korean history to be arrested and incarcerated after he was charged with leading an insurrection and abusing power. Experts say the charges were trumped up and amounted to a coup d’état, since the president has the authority to declare martial law under Article 77 of South Korea’s constitution.

In June, Lee Jae Myung of the liberal Democratic Party was elected president. His administration swiftly undertook a campaign of persecution against Christian pastors and political opponents. Last month, Pastor Son Hyun-bo of Segero Church in Busan, one of the country’s largest congregations with over 4,000 weekly attendees, was arrested for allegedly violating election laws after he interviewed a political candidate — which the government claimed amounted to illegal campaigning. The government further justified Son’s arrest by claiming he had destroyed evidence and was a flight risk.

Chance Son, the pastor’s son, told CBN that his father has “served the same church for over 30 years, faithfully ministering to his congregation and the community.” He further remarked that “the court’s claim of flight risk makes no sense. I believe this is clearly political retaliation and religious oppression targeting Korean churches.”

Political analyst Dr. Daniel Cho concurred. “I think this is a targeted arrest. The government is trying to send a message against the nation against all Christians in Korea to be quiet and to comply with the government’s aggression against conservatives in Korea.”

In addition, other pastors have faced raids of their properties over highly controversial charges, including Hak Ja Han Moon’s Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, the Yoido Full Gospel Church, and Billy Kim, who formerly served as Billy Graham’s interpreter during his crusade in Seoul.

President Lee’s crackdown is not limited to pastors. Last month, prosecutors empowered by his administration requested prison for two conservative representatives for allegedly obstructing official duties in 2019. According to one South Korea expert, “Prosecutors, whether prodded by the administration or out of their own eagerness, are moving ahead, and they have judicial powers to selectively prosecute. The nature of the political culture is once a guy is not in power, his supporters are in trouble, the law is applied, and, if bribery or political interference charges won’t stick, they find something.”

Concerns are also mounting over the Lee administration’s softening stance in relation to communism, particularly the brutal communist dictatorship of Kim Jong Un in North Korea. Lee recently ordered that 80% of the radio broadcasts being beamed into North Korea from South Korea be shut down, citing the desire to “ease inter-Korean tensions.” He also ordered that loudspeakers broadcasting anti-communist rhetoric on the border between the two countries be removed. Experts say that the majority of the broadcasts are from Christian stations and are likely the only means that North Korea’s estimated 400,000 Christians have of secretly hearing the gospel along with Christian teachings and thoughts. Internet access in North Korea is not available to ordinary citizens, and being caught with a Bible will likely lead to execution, usually after being tortured.

In addition, South Korea’s National Assembly leader, Woo Won-shik, shook hands with Kim Jong Un while attending a military parade in Beijing last month. Lee’s administration also began allowing tourist groups from communist China to enter South Korea without visas last week, with the program scheduled to continue through next June.

Conservative leaders in the U.S. are beginning to sound the alarm over the concerning developments happening in South Korea, one of America’s strongest and most vital military allies in Asia. “We are watching our ally in South Korea, which is headed up by basically a pro-communist government, literally and methodically destroying Christianity,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told Fox News last week. “It is an astonishing assault.”

Others like Morse Tan, who formerly served as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice in the U.S. Department of State during the first Trump administration, say that the developments in South Korea find their root in spiritual warfare.

“There is a spiritual war going on,” he told The Washington Stand. “If you think about the kingdom significance, it’s very profound because across the demilitarized zone (DMZ), you have the most unjust regime [and] the worst persecutor of Christians on planet Earth. Pyongyang was once the Jerusalem of the East, and I believe the enemy fears a unified Korea, where South Korea has six out of the 10 biggest Christian churches in the world. If North Korea were to be evangelized and united, Korea would be a missionary sending ground. The second greatest number of missionaries is sent from South Korea, and the first is the United States. And so, in terms of the Great Commission … I think it matters very profoundly.”

Tan, an expert in international criminal and human rights law and constitutional law who has served as professor of law at Northern Illinois University College of Law, went on to contend that a dictatorship could take hold in South Korea in the near future.

“You have the communization of South Korea going on and the rise of a communist dictatorship happening in South Korea,” he observed. “I don’t say that lightly or forcefully or with any exaggeration. Violations of religious liberty and persecution of Christian leaders and the church — this is standard fare when it comes to communist revolution. And so when President Trump said, ‘What’s going on in South Korea? Seems like a revolution or purge.’ Well, he got it exactly right, except it’s not revolution or purge. It’s a revolution and purge. But this is a culmination of the long march through the institutions. That is the normal process for communist revolutions and is the culmination of it. … There have never been raids on churches, never been arrests of pastors. … This is unprecedented in South Korean history.”

Travis Weber, who serves as vice president for Policy and Government Affairs at Family Research Council, exhorted the 16 million Christians in South Korea as well as the American church to redouble their spiritual and evangelical efforts to effect cultural change.

“The church needs to exercise its spiritual authority and seek God’s hand, blessing, and favor on Korea and really call out, cry out to God on behalf of their country as we need to do in the United States,” he underscored during “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” Monday. “So this is a lesson for churches, the people of God, wherever they are. But we at FRC [are seeking to] understand what’s happening, meeting with the Koreans who were connected to this situation, and advocating with government leaders here to step in, because there’s a window. I think the decline that we’re seeing can be stopped. But at some point, if things continue [in] a downward slide in South Korea, it’s going to be very, very difficult. … God can always reverse it, but we want to see the historic freedom preserved in the South. We really want to see that spread to all of Korea and the region.”