The Empire of Mt. Sion: A Korean Millenarian Group Born in a Time of Crisis

This paper is about a Korean Millenarian group called Sion-san cheguk (the Empire of Mt. Sion). Contrary to anthropological studies of “millenarian” movements in non-European societies, the study here shows that this Korean millenarian group is neither post-millennial in outlook, nor was it anti-European although it was anti-colonial. More importantly, this paper indicates that it is fundamentally wrong to assume that “millenarian” movements are principally movements of political protest, and not inspired fundamentally by religious beliefs.