Theological Declaration of Korean Christians

May 1973 ¹

We make this declaration in the name of the Korean Christian community. But under the present circumstances, in which one man controls all the powers of the three branches of government and uses military arms and the intelligence network to oppress the people, we hesitate to reveal those who signed this document. We must fight and struggle in the underground until our victory is achieved.

The historical situation of the Korean people has been very grave since last October. President Park's consolidation of power has had certain demonic consequences for the life of the Korean nation and people. The Christian community, as an integral part of the Korean people, now stands up and speaks out on the present situation, compelled by the divine mandates of the messianic kingdom.

Since the second world war, our people have gone through trials and sufferings, of social chaos, economic deprivation, and especially the tragic Korean war and the resulting political dictatorships. It has been an ardent aspiration of our people that a new and humane community might be restored to Christian ministers in Korea grounds the struggle for their lives. However, the hopes of the people for such a restoration of humane community has been cruelly crushed by President Park in his absolutization of dictatorship and ruthless political repression. This is done in the name of the so-called October revitalization, a set of false promises which is only the sinister plan of some evil men.

We the Christians in Korea, are compelled to speak out and take accompanying actions on the following grounds

1. We are under God's command that we should be faithful to his Word in concrete historical situations. It is not a sense of confession of our sins before God; and yet we are commanded by God to speak the truth and act in the present situation in Korea.
2. The people in Korea are looking up to Christians and urging us to take action in the present grim situation. It is not because we deserve to represent them. We have often fallen short of their deeper expectations, and yet we are urged and encouraged to move on this course of action, not because we envision ourselves as the representatives of our people, but because we are moved by their agony to call upon God for their deliverance from evil days.
3. We stand in a historical tradition of such struggles for liberation as the independence movement by Christians against Japanese colonialism. We realize that our Christian community has often lacked the courage to take a decisive stand, and that the theological outlook of the official bodies of our Christian churches has been too pietistic to take up revolutionary roles. However, we do not feel disheartened by the weakness of some of our brothers; rather we are determined to seek our theological convictions from the historical traditions of our church.

The firm foundation of our words and deeds is our faith in God the Lord of history, in Jesus the proclaimer of the messianic kingdom, and in the Spirit who moves vigorously among the people. We believe that God is the ultimate vindicator of the oppressed, the weak, and the poor. He judges the evil forces in history. We believe that Jesus the messiah proclaimed the coming of the messianic kingdom to be subversive to the evil powers, and that his messianic kingdom will be the haven of the dispossessed, the rejected, and the downtrodden. We also believe that the Spirit is working for the new creation of history and cosmos, as well as for the regeneration and sanctification of individual man.

In this grave historical situation, we as a Christian community believe

1. that we are commanded by God to be representatives before God the Judge and Lord of History, to pray that the suffering and oppressed people may be set free
2. that we are commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ to live among he oppressed, the poor, and the despised as he did in Judea; and that we are summoned to stand up and speak the truth to the powers that be, as he did before Pontius Pilate of the Roman empire
3. that we are compelled by the Spirit to participate in his transforming power and movement for the creation of a new society and history, as well as for the transformation of our character; and that this Spirit is the Spirit of the messianic kingdom who commands us to struggle for sociopolitical transformation in this world.

Therefore, we express our theological convictions on the following issues

1. The present dictatorship in Korea is destroying rule by law and persuasion; it now rules by force and threat alone. Community is being turned into jungle. In fact, no one is above the law except God; worldly power is trusted by God to civil authority to keep justice and order in human society. If anyone poses himself above the law and betrays the divine mandate for justice, he is in rebellion against God. Oriental tradition, too, understands that good rule is carried out through the moral persuasion and virtue of the ruler. One may conquer people by the sword; but they cannot be ruled by the sword.
2. The regime in Korea is destroying freedom of conscience and freedom of religious belief. There is freedom neither of expression nor of silence. There is interference by the regime in Christian churches' worship, prayer gatherings, content of sermons, and teaching of the Bible.
   The Christian Church and other religious bodies must be the defenders of conscience for the people; for destruction of conscience is a most demonic act. In defending the freedom of religious belief against interference by the regime in Korea, Christian churches are also defending freedom of conscience for the Korean people.
3. The dictatorship in Korea is using systematic deception, manipulation, and indoctrination to control the people. The mass media have been turned into the regime's propaganda machine to tell the people half-truths and outright lies, and to control and manipulate information to deceive people.
   We believe that Christians are witnesses to truth, always struggling to break any system of deception and manipulation, for to tell the truth is the ultimate power that sets people free for God's messianic kingdom.
4. The dictatorship in Korea uses sinister and inhuman and at the same time ruthlessly efficient means to destroy political opponents, intellectual critics, and innocent people. The use of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) for this purpose is somewhat similar to the evil ways of the Nazi Gestapo or the KGB of the Stalin era. People are physically and mentally tortured, intimidated and threatened, and sometimes even disappear completely. Such treatments are indeed diabolical acts against humanity.
   We believe that God has created human beings in body and soul. Body as well as soul will be resurrected at the day of judgment of the messianic kingdom. We believe especially in the sanctity of the human body; therefore any violation of it is equal to killing a man. It is a murderous act.
5. The present dictatorship is responsible for the economic system in Korea in which the powerful dominate the poor. The people, poor urban workers and rural peasants, are victims of severe exploitation and social and economic injustice. So-called "economic development" in Korea turned out to be the conspiracy of a few rulers against the poor people, and a curse to our environment.
   We as Christians must struggle to destroy this system of extreme dehumanization and injustice, for we are witnesses to the ongoing movement of the messianic kingdom in history, in which the poor will be enriched, the oppressed will be vindicated, and peace will be enjoyed by the people.
6. The present regimes in the South and North are using the unification talks only to preserve their own power; and they are betraying the true aspirations of the people for the unification of their land.
   We believe as Christians that the people deeply yearn for authentic community on the basis of true reconciliation. Without transcendence beyond the past experiences of bitter conflict and differences in ideological and politicoeconomic systems, and without transformation of our historical conditions of oppression, true unification cannot be realized.

A call for action and support

1. To the people in Korea: Withdraw any form of recognition of the laws, orders, policies, and other political processes of dictatorship that have been wrought since October 17 1972. Build various forms of solidarity among the people to struggle for the restoration of democracy in South Korea.
2. To the Christians in Korea: As preparation for the above struggle. We Christians should renew our churches by deepening our theological thinking, by our clear stance and solidarity with the oppressed and poor, by the relevant proclamation of the gospel of the messianic kingdom, and by praying for our nation; and we should prepare ourselves for martyrdom, if necessary, as our forefathers did.
3. To the Christians of the world: Most of all we need your prayers and solidarity, and we ask you to express our common bond through actions of encouragement and support.

Conclusion

Jesus the messiah, our Lord, lived and dwelt among the stood in confrontation with Pontius Pilate, a representative of the Roman empire, and he was crucified in the course of his witness to the truth. He has risen from the dead to release the power of transformation which sets the people free.

We resolve that we will follow the footsteps of our Lord, living among our oppressed and poor people, standing against political oppression, and participating in the transformation of history, for this is the only way to the messianic kingdom.

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