• soiejo [he/him,any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    14·
    1 year ago

    North Korea has had presbyterian members of the upper cabinet, even having a Christian political working group at one point

    This seems fascinating, do you know a source where I can learn more about this? Everything I’ve found about NK’s relationship with religion is filled with “you get executed if you have a Bible”-style propaganda.

    • JamesConeZone [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      16·
      1 year ago

      Sure. Kim Il Sung grew up Presbyterian, his maternal grandfather was a Presbyterian minister, his mom was a deacon and lifelong Presbyterian, and his family especially his mom worshiped at a presbyterian church in DPRK. Several members of the dprk cabinet (or whatever it’s called) were Methodist or presbyterian ministers. As long as they were anti-imperial and supported the dprk, there was no issue. There was a Presbyterian seminary in Pyongyang until 1938 that resumed training in the 1970s though I don’t think it’s specifically Presbyterian any more, but it’s still open and training ministers within DPRK. Kang Ryang-uk was an incredibly important figure in the early DPRK. He was the vice chair and chair of the KSDP, the 2nd & 7th Vice President, and secretary and vice president of the People’s Assembly. He was a Presbyterian minister and maternal uncle of Kim Il Sung and studied theology at the Pyongyang Seminary. Kang also helped found the Korean Christian Federation which continues to this day.

      You can read more here (best bits at the end): https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1093/jcs/48.3.659