White Heaven Palace and Huh Kyung Young: Political Peacemaker of a New Religion in Contemporary Korea

Abstract

A common purpose of religious organisations is promoting global or regional peace perspectives through their teachings and practices. Native religious groups in Korea emerged owing to the social transformation of internal security. The ruin of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) and the colonial repression by the Japanese Empire (1910–1945) and Korean War (1950–1953) resulted in the growth of new religious movements. Korean contemporary society (post-1980s) also witnesses the emergence of unique religious leaders. Do any groups promote the socio-political policy of a peacemaker? This paper explores the new religious movement of Huh Kyung Young (1947– ) and his adherents through the perspectives of military-economic environment, mystical prophecy, popular culture, politics, election, new religion, and suspicion. The paper not only demonstrates the historical process of a pop singer and politician becoming a new religious leader, but also argues that the contemporary group of Haneulgung (‘While Heaven Palace’) attempts to establish a permanent peace through the sacred-political domination of the so-called, ‘the God Man’ rather than depending on secular powers.