South Korea's Catholic population passes 5 million mark.

The article reports on the increased population of Catholics in South Korea in 2008. The Catholic Bishop's Conference of Korea has reported that as of the end of the year, local Catholics numbered 5,004,115 or 9.9% of the total population of 50,394,374, which represents a 130,000 increase from 2007. It revealed that the growth was due to laypeople's strong mission spirit, the Legion of Mary and Focolare. It also noted the increased population of priests, seminarians and religious females.