Will KPop Demon Hunters Open a Doorway to Satan?
Allowing a certain movie or book into your house will not automatically invite demonic oppression. Demons are not germs, and you cannot catch oppression like a cold. Paul indirectly addresses this myth in 1 Corinthians 8 when he says it is permissible to eat food sacrificed to idols. In 8:4, Paul says “‘an idol is nothing in the world,’ and that ‘there is no God but one.’” Yet two chapters later in 10:20 he says, “No, but I do say that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons!”
Paul does not contradict himself. He is saying that although the pagans worship demons represented by an idol, there is only one God. The real connection of demons to idols was not news to the church at Corinth. They lived among the pagans as neighbors and would have been very familiar with their demonic practices. Just as some modern Christians believe that lighting occultic candles or burning spellbooks will release a demon ready to attack, it is likely the church at Corinth believed something similar about eating food sacrificed to demonic idols. And yet Paul reminds them in 1 Corinthians 10:20 that demons only have power over them when they participate in worshipping them through sacrifice. Just as it was safe to eat food sacrificed to idols, so it is safe to watch a movie about demons so long as you are not worshipping them.
Common Grace or the Glorification of Demons?
KPDH is not only a film about hunting demons, but a story about a demon-like character who turns out to be human. The confusion Christians are facing with this film is understandable. In reality, we do not fight Satan with magical swords, and humans cannot turn into demons. So what are we supposed to think about this film?
The basic premise of the story is that the K-Pop band, Huntr/x, is a group of secret hunters who protect their fans from soul-stealing demons with their magical swords and songs. The Satan-type character, Gwi-ma, decides to send a demon boy band to fight back by stealing the hearts’ of Huntr/x’s fans as K-Pop idols. (And yes, the connection between demons and idols in their song, “Your Idol,” is overt and intentionally based on Christian hymns by singer and songwriter, EJAE).
With South Korea having roots in Buddhism and a considerable number of Christians (31% Christian and 17% Buddhist in 2024) KPDH serves up a buffet of religious syncretism and K-drama tropes. The premise of demon hunting with swords has been seen before in various animes and live action K-dramas. Yet this should be viewed as mythological and literary rather than a real religious practice. This aspect of the story portrays demons as entirely evil which is not at odds with Christianity.
What concerns more Christian viewers is the character of Jinu who is initially presented as a demon. When his backstory is revealed, it is clear he used to be human and became a demon after giving into temptation and listening to the voice of Gwi-ma. Ever since, he cannot loosen the hold that shame and guilt has on him. This human-turned-demon is also a trope used in K-dramas such as the series, My Demon.
From a human perspective, Jinu has a beautiful character arc that is full of biblical truth and common grace (as does the main female character, Rumi). It is the fact that he is referred to as a “demon” that confuses Christians. The key to understanding the literary nature of this word is the same as any word we are trying to understand in fiction and especially one from another culture: What is the context the word is placed in? The context determines how to define the word.
We see this in the New Testament with the phrase “signs and wonders” which is used for both supernatural acts from God (Acts 4:29–30) and demonic supernatural acts (Matt. 24:24). In C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the phrase “deep magic” is not referring to occultic magic but to the gospel. We cannot assume the meaning of a word until we have looked at the context of the whole story. In the case of Jinu, Korean mythology may call him a “demon,” but he is and always has been a human who has accepted his shame and sinful state as irreversible.
KPDH is certainly not perfect, but it overflows with biblical allusions and demons are not glorified. Parents do not need to fear Korean mythology but walk their children through it just as they would with the Greek myth of Hercules and Norse myth of Thor. The ending displays a gospel-like act of love between friends through which Gwi-ma is vanquished, sin acknowledged as real, and shame rejected as the enemy.
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