Blood Allies and Sacred Suffering: The Holocaust Museum and Christian Zionist Narratives in South Korea

In May 2025, the Korea-Israel Bible Institute, one of the oldest Christian Zionist groups in South Korea, inaugurated the Holocaust Museum in Paju, a border city next to North Korea. The city is marked by Korea’s collective trauma from Japanese colonialism, the Korean War, and the division of North and South Korea. This paper investigates the theo-political objectives of South Korea's Holocaust Museum—the first such museum opened in Asia outside Israel: to commemorate Jewish suffering as exemplified by the Nazi genocide of six million Jews; to combat antisemitism globally; and to honor the Jewish sacrifices made for South Koreans during the Korean War. This analysis shows how the Holocaust Museum of Korea serves to localize Christian Zionism and disseminate its theo-political visions for the future, reflecting a complex interplay of religious and political narratives with historical remembrance.