CV NEWS FEED // South Korea’s National Assembly in Seoul now includes an astonishing new record number of 80 Catholics among its 300 deputies.
News regarding the Assembly, which is slated to have its first meeting on May 30, comes in the aftermath of the Catholic Bishops Conference in Korea’s strategic move to survey leading political parties ahead of the April 10 election.
“It is the highest quota of Catholic deputies ever recorded in Seoul’s parliament,” AsiaNews stated in its April 23 report, noting that the number is “more than double the 11.3% which, according to data released by the Korean Church’s statistical office, is the percentage of Catholics today among the 52.62 million inhabitants.”
The report continued:
It should also be remembered that South Korea has already had two Catholic presidents in its history: Kim Dae-jung between 1998 and 2003 and Moon Jae-in between 2017 and 2022.
Among the Catholics who will sit in the new parliament, 16 were elected from the conservative People’s Power Party, 53 from the Democratic Party and 11 from the New Reformist Party.
The election results indicate a definitive shift in favor of the Democratic Party, South Korea’s current opposition party, spelling a difficult road ahead for President Yoon Suk-yeol’s People’s Power Party.
Notably, in their responses to the Bishops’ survey, the Democratic Party indicated a strong desire to investigate the Itaewon crowd crash, abolish the death penalty, and limit the expansion of nuclear power plants. The country’s past presidential elections saw Yoon’s party taking power by a mere 0.8%.
“The Catholic Church has always taught that the laity should never refuse to participate in politics,” the Bishops said in a statement upon the publication of the survey results. Rather, they continued, Catholics “are called to promote the common good in an organized manner and in institutions in many areas: economic, social, legislative, administrative, cultural and other.”
