Somang Presbyterian Church is a

Presbyterian Church of Korea Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK) was a Protestant denomination based in South Korea; it is currently separated into many branches. History The first Korean Presbyterian church was founded by Seo Sang-ryun in Hwanghae province in 1884. Short ...

(PCK) church located in

Gangnam-gu Gangnam District ( ; , ) is one of the 25 local government districts which make up the city of Seoul, South Korea. Gangnam translates to "South of the (Han) River". Gangnam District is the third largest district in Seoul, with an area of . A ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. It is considered one of the largest churches in South Korea. The former South Korean President,

Lee Myung-bak Lee Myung-bak (; ; ; born 19 December 1941) is a South Korean businessman and politician who served as the 10th president of South Korea from 2008 to 2013. Before his presidency, he was the CEO of Hyundai Engineering and Construction, and the ma ...

, also serves as the elder of this church.

Relationship with the Lee Myung-bak Government

The Somang Presbyterian Church is

's main source of socio-political connections. Many prominent figures of the

Lee Myung-bak government The Lee Myung-bak government (, RR: ''I Myeong-bak Jeongbu'') was the fifth government of the Sixth Republic of South Korea. It took office on 25 February 2008 after Lee Myung-bak's victory in the 2007 presidential elections. Most of the new cabi ...

attend the Somang Presbyterian Church.

Controversies

On January 3, 2011, three ministers fought violently inside the church allegedly due to their conflicting theological differences. This resulted in a facial injury to the head minister. It is later revealed that the two subordinate ministers were threatened that they couldn't assign time slots to their service. There had been two more violent incidents before this. Choi Seung-ho, the producer of MBC's investigative journalist program called

PD Notebook ''PD Note'' (Korean language: PD수첩) is an investigative journalism program on MBC in South Korea. ''PD Note'' is noteworthy for its role in stimulating the US beef protest and raising questions regarding the subsequently-discredited Hwa ...

was suddenly replaced by another staff on early March 2011 after investigating the Somang Presbyterian Church. There were concerns whether the South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was involved in this censorship-like action. The staffs from MBC criticized this action as "an intention to purge the journalists who are pursuing critical investigative journalism" and took actions against it. The producer of KBS's investigative journalist program called Chujeok 60 Bun was also later found out that was suddenly appointed to the International Department to stop any investigation towards the church. On April 8, 2011, a former subordinate minister of Somang Presbyterian Church was arrested for

banking fraud Bank fraud is the use of potentially illegal means to obtain money, assets, or other property owned or held by a financial institution, or to obtain money from depositors by fraudulently posing as a bank or other financial institution. In many ins ...

. Park Tae-kyu, the representative lobbyist of

Busan Savings Bank Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...

, once affiliated with the Somang Presbyterian Church. Park Tae-kyu was responsible for bribing the now-resigned Senior Secretary of Public Relations of the

Blue House Cheong Wa Dae ( ko, 청와대; Hanja: ; ), also known as the Blue House, is a public park that formerly served as the executive office and official residence of the president of South Korea from 1948 to 2022. It is located in the Jongno distr ...

, Kim Du-woo.

References

External links

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Somang Presbyterian Church Official Website

Somang Presbyterian Church Official Website

Church and state merge at politically powerful Somang
Churches in Seoul Buildings and structures in Gangnam District Presbyterian churches in Seoul {{Korea-reli-stub