WCLC joined Korean Clergy Leadership Conference prayer services in Seoul

Hannah Arthur, administrative assistant for the World Christian Leadership Conference (WCLC), describes a gathering of international and Korean clergy in Seoul for a World Clergy Prayer Meeting focused on religious freedom and the release of Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon.

Representatives from WCLC joined members of the Korean Clergy Leadership Conference (KCLC) for prayer services and a public press conference at King Sejong Square in the heart of Seoul. The event featured bishops, archbishops, and monks from various religions and denominations standing together in solidarity.

What makes this gathering particularly significant is a symbolic “handcuff ceremony” that echoes a similar demonstration from 1984, when American Christian leaders united during Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s imprisonment at Danbury Federal Prison.

Then, as now, religious leaders from diverse backgrounds donned symbolic handcuffs to express the principle that “if one of us is persecuted, then all of us are.” Arthur explains that Dr. Han’s release represents something larger - “the release of the chains that are on all religions.” The ceremony served as both a historical callback and a present-day declaration of interfaith unity.

When clergy from different faiths and nations recreate a 40-year-old act of solidarity for a new generation, does it signal that the fight for religious freedom is cyclical - or that the lessons of history remain unlearned?