The World Evangelical Alliance has urged South Korea's National Assembly to reconsider a proposed Civil Code Amendment Bill that would grant administrative authorities broad powers over religious organisations, including the ability to investigate, suspend, and dissolve them without judicial warrant. In a detailed two-page statement signed by Secretary General Rev. Adv. Botrus Mansour and Ambassador for Religious Freedom Godfrey Yogarajah, the WEA warned that the bill employs imprecise language — including undefined terms such as "political involvement" and "violation of the separation of church and state" — that could compel religious communities to self-censor their public witness.
Bill No. 2215932, introduced in January 2026, would permit compulsory administrative inspections of religious premises, summoning of religious leaders for questioning, revocation of legal status for religious bodies, and the transfer of religious assets to the national treasury. The WEA argued these provisions appear "directly at odds" with South Korea's own Constitution, which guarantees religious freedom in Article 20 and protects against warrantless intrusions in Article 16. The Alliance also cited South Korea's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, particularly Article 18 on religious freedom and Article 22 on freedom of association, which require any restrictions to be narrowly prescribed by law, necessary, and strictly proportionate — a standard the WEA contends the current bill fails to meet.
Godfrey Yogarajah, the WEA's Ambassador for Religious Freedom, stated that religious freedom is not a state-granted privilege and warned that regulating faith communities as "a matter of administrative convenience" undermines the pluralism essential to democracy. The WEA acknowledged legitimate governmental interests in preventing abuse of corporate structures for criminal purposes, but argued that existing criminal law, electoral regulation, and civil oversight mechanisms already provide accountability with proper standards, judicial supervision, and due process. The Alliance recommended that South Korean lawmakers instead pursue more narrowly tailored measures subject to independent judicial review and engage in open dialogue with religious communities, including mainstream Korean Christian bodies, before proceeding further with the legislation.
Source: World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) — worldea.org
