International Law

Why No Scientology Center in Korea?

I am not a member of the Church of Scientology, nor do I believe I ever will be interested in joining simply because of Tom Cruise’s membership. (I’m still angry he married Katie Holmes, a project I had been reserving to myself. Plus, they’re crazy.)

But I find it interesting and a bit disturbing that the Republic of Korea (South Korea) shares with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the People’s Republic of China a complete absence of Scientology Centers—you can verify this at the Scientology website. (Don’t ask—I can’t remember how I got there.) Scientology appears to be big in Taiwan, and also present in Japan and the Russian Far East. The ridiculously overproduced Scientology website helpfully offered driving directions from Seoul to the Vladivostok center. (Step one: Fly to Vladivostok. Step two: Buy a car.)

I feel like I have a connection to the Church of Scientology, because one of my favorite University of Washington School of Law professors, Meade Emory, in the 1980s apparently helped craft the legal framework for the Scientologists to control their assets and incidentally to harass dissenters with copyright claims. Prof. Emory was a real colorful character when I knew him in law school and a great teacher (he made tax tolerable for goodness’ sake, and we all could tell he loved the subject). I don’t know if he is, or was, a Scientologist, or whether Prof. Emory is still part of their power structure, but a lot of the dark conspiracy stuff you can find from a Google search for the name “Meade Emory” is amusing.

So, if anyone knows, why aren’t the Scientologists in this country? At the very least there should be a Scientology Center. A free society like Korea’s ought to be able to accommodate these characters too. All manner of non-mainstream (okay, nutjob) religious groups are active in Korea, including the Raelians and, of course, the Unification Church. Creepy or not, it is and always should be people’s free choice to join or not to join any religious group they want. If the conduct of the group is wrongful, the conduct can and should be sanctioned. But they should all be allowed to exist in free countries.

Full post as published by Korea Law Blog on April 28, 2008 (boomark / email).