Top Stories 26/06/27 Korean Catholics pray, protest against new nuclear power plants

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As of 2025, the country has 26 active nuclear power plants and two under construction

South Korean activists are seen during a rally opposing new nuclear power plants in the national capital Seoul on June 27. (Photo: Catholic Times of Korea)

By UCA News reporter

Published: July 03, 2026 11:17 AM GMT

Updated: July 03, 2026 11:29 AM GMT

South Korean Catholics joined Masses and street protests to oppose the government’s plan to construct new nuclear power plants to meet energy demands, terming the move risky and misguided.

Catholic environmental groups, including diocesan ecological commissions, Catholic Climate Action and the Catholic Alliance for Conservation of Creation, organized a series of programs in various dioceses, including the Archdiocese of Seoul.

The groups organized a street Mass for hundreds of participants at Bosingak in Jongno-gu in the national capital Seoul on June 27.

It was concelebrated by four priests – Father Paul Moon Kyu-hyun, a senior priest from the Diocese of Jeonju, Father Stephen Yang Ki-seok, secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Ecology and Environment, and Jesuit Father Francis Kim Jeong-dae.

During the sermon, Father Yang criticized the government’s continuation with nuclear power policy despite well-known risks.

He urged Catholics to become “ecological apostles” in the transition to a nuclear-free society.

Following the Mass, the participants marched on the streets chanting slogans.

Maristella Kim Kyung-mi, a Catholic from Seoul Archdiocese, who joined the Mass and later marched with her husband and two children, said her children read books about the Fukushima nuclear accident and know that nuclear power plants are dangerous.

“I participated to let my children know how dangerous it is to build additional new nuclear power plants,” she added.

Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster occurred on March 11, 2011, due to a tsunami and earthquake that caused electrical grid failure and damaged almost all of the plant’s backup energy sources.

The failure to cool the nuclear reactors sufficiently after the shutdown reportedly compromised containment and led to the release of radioactive material.

No deaths or cases of radiation sickness were reported while the government evacuated more than 100,000 people as a preventive measure.

The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation regards the Fukushima accident as the worst nuclear incident since the Chornobyl disaster of 1986.

Earlier, on June 22, Andong Diocese Social Pastoral Council organized a ‘Mass for Life and Peace for a Nuclear-Free World’ at Yeongdeok Cathedral.

Father Peter Kim Si-yeong, chairman of the Andong Diocese Ecology and Environment Committee, presided over the Mass and criticized the government’s push for nuclear plants.

During the Mass, the Social Pastoral Council released a statement criticizing the administration of President Lee Jae-myung’s continuation of nuclear power plants instead of phasing them out.

The participants also visited the office of the Yeongdeok County Governor and handed over a statement seeking immediate withdrawal of plans for new large-scale nuclear power plants and small modular reactors.

The Church's actions against nuclear power plants came after state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) selected Yeongdeok-gun in North Gyeongsang Province and Gijang-gun in Busan as sites for setting up such nuclear facilities.

Church leaders and environmental activists slammed what they called the hasty nature of the site selection process.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, South Korea has 26 active nuclear power plants, with two more, Saeul-3 and Saeul-4, under construction.

As per official data, nuclear power plants supplied 31.7 percent of the country’s electricity demands in 2024.

This report is a translated and edited version of an article first published by Catholic Times of Korea on June 29, 2026.