Today, we remember the Martyrs of Korea, a group of 103, who were persecuted and killed between 1839 and 1867 (although there were serious waves of persecution before that time as well).

Here’s a page on the history of the Church in Korea

and here’s an article by Ann Ball. Note how the most rabid period of persecution was prompted by the episcopacy’s reluctance to get involved in foreign relations and politics:

In In 1843, a new Vicar Apostolic, Bishop Ferreol, along with another French priest and Father Andrew Kim Tae-gon, the first Korean priest, entered the country by sea. Father Kim was arrested and beheaded a year later.

     Father Ch’oe Yang-ob Thomas, the second Korean priest, entered Korea in 1849 after many previous attempts. Other priests from France were able to enter in 1856 and 1857.

     There was a small persecution in 1860, and a major one in 1866. Now the Catholics numbered 23,000.

     In 1866, the Lord Regent had trouble with a threatened invasion by Russia. He attempted to get Bishop Berneux, the fourth Vicar Apostolic, to influence France to come to his aid. The Bishop did not want to be involved in the political matter, and he wrote the Lord Regent that although he wanted to help, he had no influence with the Russians.

     Frustrated in his attempt to use France to repel Russia, the Lord Regent decided to use the Catholics as scapegoats to suppress nationwide complaints. The French missionaries and leading lay Catholics throughout the country were arrested. The persecution continued for six years. Whenever foreign ships appeared in Korean ports, the persecutions broke out anew.

     The exact number of martyrs killed for their faith during this long persecution will never be known. According to one report of the Paris Foreign Mission Society, 8,000 suffered hardship and death by 1870, excluding those who starved to death. This persecution was one of the most severe of any in any country throughout the centuries.