The Candlelight Protests, Democracy, and Christianity in Korea

Image provided by Seon-Wook Kim; cropped

Dr. Seon-Wook Kim, Professor & Chair, Department of Philosophy, Soongsil University, Seoul Chair, Institute for Values and Ethics

Thursday, May 18, 2017
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM

243 Royce Hall
UCLA

More than 1.7 million people peacefully participated in twenty candlelight street rallies in South Korea from October 2016 to March 2017. As a result president Geunhye Park was impeached, indicted and imprisoned, and a new president, Moon Jae-In, was elected and inaugurated on May 10th. Along with the candlelight rallies, there were the so-called "Korean National Flag rallies", a kind of reactionary movement. Korean Christians were politically divided in the process. From a formalist viewpoint both rallies seem to deserve equal political value, but from a judgmental viewpoint the rallies are differentiated by their motivating political values. By experiencing these events, Korean Christians become politically enlightened, and a recent poll shows that the differentiated political views among them reflect their ages and cultural backgrounds.

koreanstudies@international.ucla.edu

Sponsor(s): Center for Korean Studies