South Korea
The Republic of Korea is known for its precarious proximity to China and North Korea, its evangelical church, and its missionary-sending heart. The church needs firm grounding in the Bible amid a materialistic culture.
Population: 48.8 million; Density: 497 per sq km
South Korea is one of the most ethnically homogeneous countries in the world. The country has no racial or linguistic minorities other than 20,000 Chinese people. The capital, Seoul, is densely populated with around 12 million people.
Religions: Non-religious 35%; Christian 31.7%; Buddhist 23.9%; Indigenous religions 8%; Other 0.8%; Chinese 0.5%; Baha’i 0.08%; Muslim 0.07%
There is complete religious freedom. The government has been favorable to Christianity, seeing it as an ideological bulwark against communism.
Confucianism [more a moral philosophy than a religion] and Shamanism have a powerful effect on all Korean life and religion, although very few people follow these exclusively.
