A 90,000-Member Megachurch Built a Chapel Under a Public Road. The Supreme Court Says It’s Unlawful

• South Korea’s Supreme Court annulled a 10-year lease of public space to Sarang Church
• The church’s underground chapel sits beneath a public road in Seoul
• The church paid about 400 million won a year for the space
• Restoring the site could cost an estimated 39 billion won ($33 million)

South Korea’s Supreme Court has ruled against one of Seoul’s biggest megachurches over a chapel built beneath a public road, the Korea Times reported on 23 October 2019. On 17 October the court annulled a 10-year lease that Seocho District had granted to Sarang Church, siding with residents who argued that officials had abused their power by leasing public space illegally.

The chapel sits under Chamnari Road behind the church’s main building. Built in 2013, it has 9,380 seats and was recognised by Guinness World Records in 2015. The disputed underground area covers 1,077 square metres. The church had been paying around 400 million won a year in rent, and the cost of restoring the site was estimated at 39 billion won, or about $33 million.

The lease was granted in 2010 by Park Sung-joong, then head of the district office and later a Liberty Korea Party lawmaker. The lawsuit was brought by Hwang Il-geun, a former Seocho council member. Sarang Church, founded in 1978 as a small community congregation, now has about 90,000 members. In a statement, it said: “We would not have built the chapel in the first place if the district office had not authorized the lease.”

The ruling means a vast worship space built with members’ money now rests on shaky legal ground, because the church never owned the land beneath the road; it relied on permission from a local authority that the courts have now found was unlawfully given.

Jamaican churches will recognise the lesson. Many congregations here have built on land held under informal arrangements, verbal promises or permissions from public bodies rather than registered title. The Seoul case shows how quickly that can turn into a liability when a court or a new administration takes a different view. Before pouring money into a building, whether in Jamaica or in a diaspora city, churches should secure clear title or a lease that has been properly checked by a lawyer.

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