Evangelical Pax Koreana crosses the line

By Andray Abrahamian

"Do you agree that the Republic of Korea can become a superpower, stamping on defeatism?" This is the question one must answer to be accepted into Pax Koreana's Internet cafe. Thus appears the online introduction to this group: a secular introduction to a blend of conservative politics and religion that has attracted a steadily growing 10,000 or so members.

It would be easy to dismiss the group as another hyper-patriotic or passionate religious group, if it weren't for the fact that it was involved with both Robert Park and Aijalon Mahli Gomes, the two Americans who separately crossed into North Korea to become evangelist martyrs in recent months.

Jo Sung-rae, Pax Koreana's spokesperson, claims that both men planned and executed their missions alone; the wealth of media attention he received and the detailed information he provided news outlets during Park's detention suggest otherwise.

Until the attention Robert Park garnered, Pax Koreana was mostly responsible for small street protests along various conservative themes. One held last September in downtown Seoul saw 10 protesters decry a national trade union and its political allies for "ruining the country".

Founded in 2009 on the anniversary of a North-South naval clash, Pax Koreana blends faith and politics toward two main goals: first, the reunification of Korea and the destruction of communism. Second, to develop Korea into a great power. Ironically, some of the language on the group's forum is reminiscent of the calls for unity and patriotism that one sees in North Korean publications - only with a god, rather than a terrestrial leader, at the center.

Since 2009's currency reform, if we are to believe most South Korean and US media, the end for North Korea's Dear Leader is just around the corner. It probably isn't, and even if Kim Jong-il's health does fail him, North Korea would not rapidly descend into chaos. With significant (if unknown) amounts of aid and investment from China, plus a track record of surviving significant adversity, Pyongyang's government isn't disappearing anytime soon.

Pax Koreana's rallies often call for an immediate end to the regime rather than some form of measured, gradual realigning of North and South. Oddly, in public prayer its adherents even "proclaim the end of Kim Jong-il's regime" and an end to ideological warfare; as if by invoking god, it becomes manifest.

However, Pax Koreana is exactly the kind of organization that would make its presence felt if there was a sudden change in the North. If a nation of people were overnight unable to depend on the form of political and social organization that permeated their entire lives and were quickly reunited with the culturally and materially very different South, the social stresses would be enormous. Race-based patriotism and the earnest faith of evangelical Christians could be expected to fill the void.

Pax Koreana, which has organized protests against national labor unions and progressive politicians in Seoul, would have Northerners exposed to the shock of an entirely different social system, with only the balm of religion to soothe the transition. Multiple Christian groups work with North Korean issues - its stubborn resistance to their message makes it the ultimate prize in the eyes of some evangelists.

Some groups provide aid to refugees escaping through China. Others smuggle literature into the country. One group, NK Missions, claims to be working towards collecting and storing a Bible for each household in North Korea and organizing a delivery system to distribute them within six months should North Korea open up.

Two things set Pax Koreana apart from these other groups. First, the contradiction between its universalist, Christian message and its exclusive, nationalist one. (One wonders if Gomes even understood the patriotic bent of the group - the superpower-patriotic part of its message is only in Korean). Second, the willingness to encourage the potential "martyrdom" of two Americans to wage a public relations campaign against Pyongyang.

Martyrdom is, after all, an extreme choice and makes for a powerful media campaign: the sudden media exposure of Pax Koreana's spokesperson, Jo Sung-rae, is testament to that. In his flurry of interviews during the internment of Park and then Gomes, the universalist Christian/human rights portion of the group's message was oft repeated. There was little mention of the nationalist side and it was claimed that the two men planned their trips alone.

Both Park and Gomes appear to be very devout Christians. Jo Sung-rae likes to compare Park to American civil rights activist Martin Luther King. Others have interpreted his actions as those of a "slightly unhinged Christian". His own pastor in Arizona has referred to him as "unusually serious" about his faith. Serious to the point that he walked into North Korea with a letter telling Kim Jong-il that God loves him and that he should resign. Gomes also appears to be deeply devout, with Jo reporting that he was seen in tears during prayer at a protest meeting against North Korea.

Pax Koreana has been understandably vague on the details of Park's and Gomes' entry into North Korea, but reports suggest that neither man arrived in Seoul planning to become a martyr. It appears they were both, to some degree, persuaded of the righteousness of and aided in the logistics of their missions. Park and Jo have been longtime associates - there is no record of Gomes being interested in North Korea proselytizing before he moved to the outskirts of Seoul to teach English.

Riding the wave of interest in both Americans' illegal entries, Pax Koreana's public relations campaign received the international attention it hoped for. The number of people at rallies connected to Pax Koreana grew to hundreds and the organization's online membership has continued to grow. This prompted one moderator to become suspicious of "commie infiltrators". The moderator exhorts the group's members to root them out ''in the spirit of Joe McCarthy'', the American politician who until his death in 1957 was the most visible public face of a period in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread communist subversion.

Furthermore, claims leapt on by various media outlets that Park was the victim of sexual torture in North Korea seem to have started with a radio interview given by Jo after Park's brief stay in a California mental hospital. News outlets dutifully reported this interpretation, though it seems entirely possible that the mental state that led him into North Korea also took him to the American hospital.

Encouraging religious infiltrators of dubious mental health accomplishes little positive. In fact, the crossings ironically work to strengthen the North. Pyongyang receives a potential domestic public relations gift and the governments of South Korea and the United States get even less leverage than usual. It's unclear if political capital was expended on Park's release. What is clear is that the timing and manner of Park's freedom was entirely at Pyongyang's discretion. On April 7, Gomes was sentenced to eight years hard labor and fined US$722,300 - again Pyongyang has the chance to use him as a goodwill gesture or to extract some kind of concession for his early release.

While Pyongyang receives an extra tool in its dealings with the United States, Jo and Pax Koreana are given an international forum for some of their message - the hyper-patriotic part remaining obscured in a Korean-language, members-only forum. But the internationalized message concerning human rights is nothing new and doesn't put any real pressure on policymakers he hopes in turn will pressure Pyongyang.

Several Christian leaders have spoken out against Park's and Gomes' illegal crossings into the North. However, if just a handful of believers are more inspired than frightened by the strategy of these two men, Pax Koreana will continue to grow.

Andray Abrahamian is a doctoral candidate at the University of Ulsan, South Korea.

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