By Jeongnam Kim
(Former Senior Presidential Secretary for Education·Culture·Society, World Korean News advisor)
It is not known when exactly the religion of Islam was introduced to our country. However, in consideration of the fact that our Sill Dynasty exchanged with the Persian cultural area before the Islam was formed in the 7th Century and China had officially had a contact with the Arab Islam in the year 651, the introduction of the Islam region is likely earlier than our assumption.
Probably the full-scale contact with the Muslim was made in the Goryeo period under the rule of the Mongols. After erecting the Won state, the Mongolians ruled their empire, appointing the color-eyed Turks and Persians to important positions rather than the Han Chinese in China. The second class color-eyed helped the first class Mongolians control the third class North Song clan and the four class South Song clans.
Under the rule of the Mongols, it is assumed that the Goryeo, too, could not be free from this periodic situation. The presence of the color-eyed in Gaesong, the capital city of the Goryeo has its trace left in the lyrics of some Goryeo folksongs. But with the beginning of the Chosun Dynasty with the new Confucianism as its state policy, not only the exchanges but also the tolerance were presumably very narrowed.
On documents, a change in the attitude of generosity for the Islam religion arose in 1427, the 9th year of King Sejong. The Chosun Dynasty Royal Court Annals has this entry on April 4: "The costumes of the Islam are so different that our people notice they are not our compatriots and therefore they are ashamed of marrying them. If they are our naturalized people, they'd rather follow our costumes, and then a mingled marriage would be possible. At the same time, it is appropriate to have their morning blessing rites be abolished."
It was known that the court all followed this recommendation at the time. Ever since no other reference to the Islam is found in the Court Annals except for entries about the gray green color pigment for celadon from time to time. It seems that the costumes of the Muslim were particular in the past as well as the present. The blessing rites referred to here is presumed to be a recitation of the Quran.
The Islam which seemed so disappeared began to return to the Korean people during the Korean War. Among the Turkish soldiers, who were dispatched to Korea as a member of the United Nation's Forces, there were some Muslims, and some of them who were very devoted to the civil services for Korea left a deep impression on some Korean people. In particular, the Rev. Abdulgafur Karaimailoglu, a Muslim military Imam, exerted tremendous efforts to sow seeds of the Korean Muslim community.
The Muslim community in Korea, which barely continued its presence to a contribution from the Islam missionaries, made an external progress thanks to the Korean government's policy to embrace the Islam positively in the wake of the first gasoline crisis in 1973. During this time, the Teheran Boulevard was opened in the Kangnam area of Seoul and the Central Islam Mosque was erected in Itaewon.
The number of Korean Muslims has made a significant increase when the boom of the Korean construction businesses took place in the 1970s. For the countries who placed orders for the construction projects in the Middle East issued visas only to the Muslims. Thus, the Korean Islam made a progress within the big frame of our national economic interest. However, the naturalization of the Islam in Korea has a long way to go. The naturalization here means the psychological acceptance of the Korean people for the Islam religion.
