Praying for the World...

Republic of Korea 

(South Korea) - Asia

 

 

 

Geography

Area: 99,067 sq km
Southern half of Korean peninsula. Forested mountain ranges; 22% arable.
Population: 48,500,717    Annual Growth: 0.39%
Capital: Seoul
Urbanites: 81.9%
HDI Rank: 26 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)

Peoples

Official language: Korean    Languages: 4 All languages

Religion

Largest Religion: Non-religious

Religion		Pop %	Ann Gr
Christians	15,010,972	30.95	0.4
Evangelicals	8,164,977	16.8	0.7
Non-religious	15,025,522	30.98

Answer to Prayer

Praise God for the unique Korean Church. It was founded on sound indigenous principles, blessed with a succession of revivals, refined by persecution and is now one of the foremost Churches in the world for missions vision. It has one of the highest proportions of evangelicals in Asia. Korea’s Church presence is highly visible; Korean society has been impacted on many levels by it, and a number of high-profile leaders of politics and industry are Christian. From the first Protestant church planted in 1884, South Korea now has possibly 50,000 Protestant congregations.

Challenge for Prayer

Society and culture in Korea saw great change in the last generation. Pray for the following issues:
a) Economic growth has been remarkable in the last 50 years. But the global success of some Korean brands has exposed corruption in politics and industry. The economy is highly dependent on exports, and inequity between rich and poor is accelerating. Pray for wisdom for leaders and justice for those most vulnerable.
b) Moral foundations appear to be eroding. This traditionally conservative society must face increasing materialism, a growing generation gap, greatly increased suicide rates, Internet addiction and, as with most developed nations, a rapidly rising sex industry, a vanity-driven cosmetic surgery industry and decreased sensitivity to violence in the media.
c) Traditional religious faiths increasingly co-exist with Christianity and modern-day agnosticism. A spectrum of Buddhism, Confucianism, Korean shamanism and New Religions (usually a blend of Christianity, Buddhism and Eastern mysticism) accounts for most of the population, although the majority do not faithfully practice. In recent years, however, there has been an awakening of religious sentiment among non-Protestant faiths, which has happened to coincide with a relative decline in Protestant growth.

More Information

The Operation World book, CD-ROM, and DVD-ROM provide far more information and fuel for prayer for the people of Korea, South.