Somang Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK) church located in

Gangnam-gu Gangnam District (; ) is one of the 25 districts of Seoul, South Korea. The term ''Gangnam'' translates to "South of the Han River". Gangnam District is the third largest district in Seoul, with an area of . As of the 2024 census, Gangna ...

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. 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), often referred to by his initials MB, is a South Korean businessman and politician who served as the tenth president of South Korea from 2008 to 2013. Before his presidency, he was the CEO of Hyundai Engi ...

, 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 Cabinet of Lee Myung-bak () was the fifth government of the History of South Korea#Sixth Republic (1988–present), Sixth Republic of South Korea. It took office on 25 February 2008 after Lee Myung-bak's victory in the 2007 South Korean presid ...

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 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 A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. As ban ...

. Park Tae-kyu, the representative lobbyist of Busan Savings Bank, 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 (), also known as the Blue House in English, is a public park that was the former Office of the President of South Korea, executive office and residence of the president of South Korea. Located in Seoul's Jongno District, directl ...

, Kim Du-woo.

References

External links

*
Somang Presbyterian Church Official Website

Somang Presbyterian Church Official Website
* Churches in Seoul Buildings and structures in Gangnam District Presbyterian churches in Seoul {{Presbyterian-church-stub