The remains of the first Korean Catholic martyrshave been recovered, church officials said Wednesday, 230 years after they were executed and seven years since they were beatified.
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Religious belief is widespread in South Korea, with churches dotting the country’s cities, towns and villages.
But the Joseon dynasty, which ruled the Korean peninsula for over 500 years until its annexation by Japan in 1910, ruthlessly persecuted Catholic believers after the religion was introduced in the 18th century, seeing Catholicism as a threat to its hierarchical social system, which was rooted in neo-Confucianism.