South Korean Pastor Son Hyun-bo, a conservative activist in addition to religious leader, was arrested on September 8 for allegedly violating election law with a YouTube video and unauthorized prayer service.
His detention took on an added meaning after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, who met with him shortly before his assassination.
Son reportedly attended an event titled “Build Up Korea,” a convention gathering young conservatives in the country. Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA and a popular commentator among young conservatives, attended the event and spoke there. Kirk spent the last week before his assassination in South Korea and praised the country extensively for its cleanliness, low crime, and order. Kirk also attended and spoke at Build Up Korea.
Kirk was assassinated on September 10 during a Turning Point event at Utah Valley University. A shooter, who law enforcement officials later identified as Tyler Robinson, shot him in the neck during a debate with students. Kirk was on a tour of college campuses hosting events offering platforms for civil political debate and passionately encouraged Americans to engage in the civil and free exchange of ideas with those of differing opinions.
Son’s arrest follows several alarming comments by leftist South Korean President Lee Jae-myung calling for the censorship of Youtube and referring to conservative protests as platforms for “hate speech.” Lee became the president of the country after a special election in June called to replace conservative former President Yoon Suk-yeol, who was impeached after attempting to impose martial law on the country. Lee lost the 2022 presidential election to Yoon; conservatives in the country have denounced him as a radical leftist whose views are incompatible with South Korean voters and who is dangerously close to the government of China. They have also questioned his legitimacy as president.
According to the right-leaning South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo, Pastor Son was arrested on September 8 on “allegations of holding a ‘prayer service for victory’” for local candidate Jeong Seung-yoon. He is also facing charges of violating electoral law by uploading an interview with Jeong to YouTube.
In addition to being a pastor, Son was behind a movement called “Save Korea” that opposed Yoon’s impeachment. Save Korea reportedly ceased to exist in a formal manner after Yoon’s impeachment and ouster. He remains a regular fixture in conservative South Korean circles opposing Lee, Chinese influence in South Korea, and Marxism generally.
Following Son’s arrest, the pastor virtually disappeared. Authorities declared him a flight risk and kept him in custody but, as of this week, his family says they have no news of his status. International Christian Concern (ICC), a group that monitors Christian persecution around the world, issued a warning on Tuesday that “little information has been made public about his well-being or whereabouts,” alarming his family and supporters.
Son’s son, Chance Son, told the CBN network this weekend that the claim his father, a “senior pastor,” presents a flight risk “makes no sense.”
“I believe this is clearly political retaliation and religious oppression targeting Korean churches,” Chance Son declared.
CBN noted that Pastor Son has been politically actively for years and “first drew government scrutiny during the COVID-19 pandemic, when his church defied restrictions limiting gatherings to just five people. The church was fined and, at one time, shut down.”
Lee Jae-myung has repeatedly, in the three months since he became president, suggested speech limitations in the country. Referring to peaceful anti-communist assemblies organized by the conservative group Free University, Lee decried alleged “hate rallies” against communist China, calling the rhetoric there “hateful remarks that went beyond freedom of expression.”
Lee also suggested in August that the government should silence “fake news” on YouTube.
“There are too many instances where fake news is used to earn money,” Lee reportedly stated, during a cabinet meeting. “Resorting to illegal actions to earn money should be fundamentally prevented.”
Son reportedly attended the Build Up Korea event that Charlie Kirk was also a part of in early September. According to William Federer, a speaker at the event, Son met with Kirk offstage at the event. Federer described Son as a “courageous pastor who helped organize a million Koreans to fill the streets of Seoul to protest a pro-trans bill before their legislature.”
“While I watched, Charlie promised Pastor Son Hyun-Bo that if the Korean government arrested him, he would personally call President [Donald] Trump and let him and everyone in America, know about this weaponization in South Korea against Bible-believing Christians!” Federer narrated in an article eulogizing Kirk on September 13.
Son’s relationship with Kirk was well-known in Korea. The left-wing newspaper Hankyoreh identified Son as being responsible for Kirk’s ties to Build Up Korea, an event and movement organized by activist Mina Kim.
“Son Hyun-bo is the figure who directly links the two factions through Mina Kim’s Build Up Korea and Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA,” Professor Suh Myung-sahm told the newspaper.
Kirk specifically addressed the threat that Christians faced in the country from the leftist government during his remarks at Build Up Korea.
“It is very wrong what is happening to pastors in this country and the U.S. government is taking notice,” he declared on September 5.
The remarks in defense of Korean pastors were some of the only negative things Kirk said about South Korea in public during his stay there. On his program, Kirk praised Koreans for taking pride in their communities.
“As soon as you walk out of the hotel, there’s no bums, there’s no people asking you for money, they don’t really put up with graffiti at all… I walked 6 miles all the way throughout downtown Seoul, South Korea,” Kirk narrated, describing Seoul. “They take pride and responsibility over their public spaces… the amount of filth, crime, and violence that we put up with is insane.”
Conservative groups in South Korea organized vigils and erected memorials for Kirk throughout Seoul, including at the statue of Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Incheon which he visited at night to highlight the safety of the nation’s capital.
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