Though allegations tying Noh Sang-won, former chief of the Defence Intelligence Command, to shamanism may seem unusual, in South Korea, politics and shamanism have frequently become intertwined—and presidents have often been rumored to be personally connected.
The Korea Herald
View all posts by Jung Min-kyung
This screenshot from YouTube shows the Chinese character for “king,” drawn in black ink, on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s palm, when he was a presidential candidate, during a televised debate between the conservative candidates of the 2022 presidential election aired in 2021. PHOTO: SCREENSHOT FROM YOUTUBE/THE KOREA HERALD
January 7, 2025
SEOUL – For nearly two years leading up to suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol’s sudden martial law declaration on Dec. 3, a former military intelligence chief reportedly visited a fortuneteller in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province.
Throughout the course of over 20 visits, he asked about the fate of different military officials, including now-detained ex-Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and several others who would later be accused of playing key roles in the botched imposition of military rule that night.
That customer was Noh Sang-won, formerly chief of the Defense Intelligence Command, according to Yonhap News Agency.
Noh was recently referred to the prosecution on insurrection charges and accused of helping Yoon devise his martial law plan. He has also since gained notoriety for initiating what has been nicknamed the “hamburger meeting,” in which he called former and current military intelligence officers to gather at a Lotteria fast food branch in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, to discuss details of the martial law plan, just two days before Yoon issued his decree.
But Noh was not only a frequent customer to the shamanistic fortuneteller — he is rumored to be a shaman himself.
Though allegations tying Noh to shamanism may seem unusual, in South Korea, politics and shamanism have frequently become intertwined. And presidents have often been rumored to be personally connected.
Yoon and feng shui
Soon after Yoon was inaugurated as president in May 2022, rumors began circulating in South Korea’s political circles. Yoon, who had announced a plan to relocate the presidential office as well as his residence, was doing so on the advice of a shaman, the rumors claimed.
The rumors were floated by current main opposition Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Boo Seung-chan, a Defense Ministry spokesperson at the time, who had said that a self-proclaimed “prophet” named Cheongong had visited Hannam-dong, an affluent neighborhood in Seoul, to inspect the site for the relocation of the presidential residence.
The presidential office officially denied the rumors, but it led to a police investigation that involved an analysis of surveillance camera footage of the supposed visit. Police later announced that it had not been Cheongong, who had visited the site, but Baek Jae-kwon, a local feng shui master, prompting another wave of controversy.
Though this incident may seem unusual, it was not the first time supposed shamans or prophets have been alleged to influence politics here.
“Historically, countries have relied on fortunetelling and prophecies when making important decisions, such as going to war,” Lee Jun-han, a political science and international studies professor at Incheon National University, said via phone.
“In the modern history of Korea, there were cases observed where presidential candidates relied on fortunetelling to run for office or not, and were suspected of listening to shamanistic advice in order to get elected,” he added.
Lee referred to the time in 2021 that Yoon had come under fire for displaying the Chinese character for “king,” drawn in black ink, on his palm, during a televised debate between conservative candidates for the 2022 presidential election. A spokesperson for Yoon’s campaign at the time explained that it was drawn by a supporter, but it drew criticism from both Yoon’s rivals and conservative politicians alike, with current Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo saying that the “intervention of shamans in the primary undermined the quality” of the election.
First lady Kim Keon Hee has allegedly been linked to shamanism as well, with local broadcaster MBC reporting on her phone calls with local liberal media outlet Voice of Seoul, in which she stressed she was a “spiritual person” who enjoyed having philosophical discussions with “dosa,” or gurus. The lawmakers of the Yoon’s People Power Party scrambled to explain the recordings, claiming the reports had been exaggerated for political purposes.
Fates, fortunes of former presidents
During the ill-fated 2013-2017 Park Geun-hye administration, Choi Soon-sil, a close confidant to the then-president, was accused of persuading her to wear accessories with shamanistic symbols.
Choi Soon-sil’s father, Choi Tae-min, had been a self-proclaimed pastor and founder of an obscure sect called the Church of Eternal Life, according to a report by what was then the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, drafted in the 1970s but not revealed until 2007. Choi Tae-min had claimed himself to be a psychic and a messenger of God. He became deeply involved with Park — who is also the daughter of longtime dictator Park Chung-hee — by asserting that he could receive messages from her mother, who had been killed in an assassination attempt on her father in 1974.
Due to her extensive meddling in state affairs coupled with her shamanistic background, Choi Soon-sil was often compared to Grigori Rasputin, the notorious monk who is believed to have played a major role in the downfall of Russia’s Romanov dynasty. Like Rasputin, her behavior was a key factor behind Park’s impeachment in 2017.
“We’ve spotted ties between shamanism and politics often during the former Park Geun-hye administration and the current Yoon Suk Yeol administration quite frequently, which could be considered unusual in the 21st century,” professor Lee noted.
Park Geun-hye’s own father, who was president from 1962-79, relied on fortunetelling to decide on the date to declare martial law, according to a recent article by Yonhap News Agency. He declared emergency martial law on Oct. 17, 1972, granting himself dictatorial powers, dissolving the National Assembly and suspending the Constitution. He claimed that the drastic moves were necessary to handle potential progress in inter-Korean dialogue.
The date of the declaration was reportedly based on the suggestion of Kim Sung-rak, a high-ranking official at the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, who was given the date from a famous fortuneteller based near Cheong Wa Dae, then the presidential office and residence.
Kim Dae-jung, president from 1998 to 2003, is likewise said to have relocated his father’s grave in the hope of winning the presidential election on a shaman’s advice. It was rumored that Kim relocated the grave after losing three presidential elections, before being elected on the fourth try.
