South Korea is to enact laws to discourage its people from engaging in illegal activities overseas, a move seen by Christian groups here as an attempt to curb missionary work.

The South Korean government has been trying to deal with the growing dangers of Christians working as missionaries in Islamic nations, especially after a young missionary was kidnapped and killed by insurgents in Iraq in 2004.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry announced that new laws will forbid passports for people who have been punished or banished from a foreign state for conducting illegal activities there. Under the revision, a wrongdoer will not be issued with a passport for one-three years depending on the gravity of the offense and the penalty, the ministry said.

The government decided to legislate on these issues ? previously carried out under Foreign Ministry guidelines ? for transparency and to notify more people of the regulations, the ministry explained.

Although the government has not specifically stated the term “missionary work” in the category of illegal activities ? while including words such as murder, drug trafficking and illegal entry in the regulations ? Christian groups claim there is only one real purpose behind the move.

Continues…http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20110216-263756.html