AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): There are not many Shia Muslims living in South Korea, a cleric and researcher said, noting that the total number of Muslims in the country is about 300,000.
Speaking to IQNA, Najaf Islamic seminary researcher Hojat-ol-Islam Meytham Jafari said most active Shia Muslims in South Korea are university students from India and Pakistan.
He said a Shia NGO was founded in the East Asian country in 2013 whose board has seven members from different countries.
He added that the NGO organizes ceremonies and programs for Shia Muslims in different countries.
According to the cleric, most such programs, including mourning ceremonies marking the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS), are held in the cities of Seoul and Daegu.
He also said there are no restrictions on Shia activities or women wearing Hijab in the country.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Hojat-ol-Islam Jafari said the population of South Korea is about 56 million and that some 30 percent of the country’s people are Christian and 23 percent are Buddhist.
He said there has been a growing trend of conversation to Protestantism over the past 60 years due to its propagation by American missionaries.
As for Islam, people in South Korea began learning about the 9th century when Muslim traders frequented the country, he stated.
But Islam began entering South Korea during the Korean War in 1955 when Turkish soldiers began propagating the religion, he went on to say.
Hojat-ol-Islam Jafari also said there are nearly 300,000 Muslims in South Korea, around 30,000 of whom are South Korean nationals.
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