gloii Recruiting Services

In South Korea, the Muslim population has been steadily increasing since the introduction of the faith shortly after the Korean War. The Muslim (both Korean and foreign born) community is centered around Seoul, where the first large 20th-century mosque was built in1976 using the funds of the Malaysian Islamic Mission and other Islamic countries.

There was a slow but evident growth of South Asian (Bangladeshi and Pakistani), Middle Eastern (i.e Iranian, Iraqi, Kuwaiti and Qatari) and Malaysian immigration to South Korea, the majority are Muslims, during the 1990s and 2000s, usually arrived as guest workers to the country.

Today

In 1962 the Malaysian government offered a grant of US$ 33,000 for a mosque to be built in Seoul. However, the plan was derailed due to inflation. It was not until the 1970s, when South Korea's economic ties with many Middle Eastern countries became prominent, that interest in Islam began to rise again. Some Koreans working in Saudi Arabia converted to Islam; when they completed their term of labour and returned to Korea, they bolstered the number of indigeneous Muslims. The Seoul Central Mosque was finally built in Seoul's Itaewon neighborhood in 1976. Today there are also mosques in Busan, Anyang, Gwangju, Jeonju and Daegu. According to Lee Hee-Soo (Yi Hui-su), president of the Korea Islam Institute, there are about 40,000 listed Muslims in South Korea, and about 10,000 are estimated to be highly active practitioners.

The Korean Muslim Foundation said that it would open the first Islamic primary school named Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Elementary School in March 2009 with the objective of helping Muslims in Korea learn about their religion through an official school curriculum. Plans are underway to open a cultural center, secondary schools and even university. Abdullah Al-Aifan, Ambassador ofSaudi Arabia to Seoul, delivered $ 500,000 to KMF on behalf of the Saudi Arabian government.

Many Korean Muslims say their different lifestyle makes them stand out more than others in society. However, their biggest concern is prejudice they feel after the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001, when many people showed an interest in Islamic ideas, but most are ignorant about it.