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If you ask your average waeguk (외국인), or non-Korean, about the religious practices of South Korea, he or she likely would guess that South Koreans are primarily Buddhist. In the south of South Korea — in Busan, for example — the majority of the religious population is Buddhist; but in Seoul, Christianity actually is the dominant religion. Of course, as it is in much of the world, the majority of South Koreans do not practice a religion at all.

Nevertheless, if you spend even a couple of days in Seoul, you are bound to notice that the city has a lot of churches. From the top of Namsan (남산공원), or even from your hotel room or apartment, you may be able to spot a number of neon crucifixes glowing across the horizon in the evening.

The World's Largest Church

Without some effort, though, you're unlikely to discover that Seoul is the home not just of a large number of churches, but of the largest megachurch in the entire world — Yoido Full Gospel Church (여의도 순복음 교회).

Yoido isn't a tourist attraction per se, but travelgasm.com proposes that it is worth visiting for a better understanding of the sheer scale of Christianity in Seoul and its influence on a significant percentage of its people.

Established in 1958, and now located on the the island of Yeouido (여의도) near the Korean National Assembly Proceeding Hall (국회의사당) — the home of the South Korean legislature — Yoido is a Pentecostal (Assemblies of God) church that preaches a "Fivefold Gospel." Along with other aspects of the religion, Yoido promotes that faith can provide physical healing and greater wealth, a not uncommon theme of megachurches.

Yoido has many services each week and has drawn weekly total attendance numbers of as many as 450,000 parishioners. No other church even comes close in attendance. Yoido achieves these numbers by hosting as many as 21,000 attendees in the sports arena-inspired main sanctuary with "thousands more watching [the service] broadcast in adjoining buildings or satellite branches." The church offers seven services in Korean on Sunday alone — translated into as many as 16 languages — as well as separate services presented in English and other languages such as Spanish and Japanese. Yoido even has some services in the middle of the night.

Unfortunately, as seems to be far too common for megachurches, Yoido's founder David Yonggi Cho was convicted of embezzling US$12 million from the church as well as evading US$3.2 million in taxes in an illegal stock scheme with one of his sons in 2014. He received a suspended sentence rather than jail time and paid a fine of US$4.7 million. Since the criminal conviction, Yoido admits there has been a "slowdown" in attendance, but it still remains the largest megachurch in the world.

Where to Eat Around Yoido

To eat nearby, there are a variety of restaurants to choose from. Of these, three restaurants that are convenient to the church — and well-reviewed by locals — include Jeongin Myeonok (정인면옥) for Korean noodles, Jinjin Manduguk (진진만두국) for Korean soup, and a branch of the Cafe Mamas (카페마마스) chain for sandwiches and salads.

The walk could be more pleasant, but we've mapped out the most straightforward route from National Assembly Station to Yoido below.

How to Get Here: Take the Light Brown Line (Line 9) to National Assembly Station (국회의사당역), Exit 1. Go straight from Exit 1 on Yeouiseo-ro (여의서로). In six small blocks, Yoido Full Gospel Church (여의도 순복음 교회), will be on your right.

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