This paper proves differently:
https://nirc.nanzan-you.ac.jp/nfile/839
"He rejected Korean shamanism, just as other Christian missionaries rejected magic and wizardry in different mission fields. In the process of iconoclastic encounters with Korean folk religions, however, Anglo-Saxon missionaries took over the mudang role of casting out devils and “evil spirits.”
...Even though Protestant missionaries attacked shamanism, burned down fetishes and talismans dedicated to household spirits, and inspired people to abandon “superstitious” beliefs and behaviors, many Korean Christians retained their traditional animistic world view. In turn, the biblical literalism and field experiences of Protestant missionaries led them to accept a Christian version of exorcisms, although their rationalism and the constitutions of the churches did not acknowledge miraculous healing in modern times. In this sense, their field experiences overrode their backgrounds in modern science and theology.
...Burning fetishes and destroying devil houses When a Korean decided to believe in the “Jesus doctrine,” she was instructed to burn all fetishes dedicated to household spirits. Sometimes she took them to the edge of the village and threw them as far as they could be thrown. In the eyes of missionaries, new converts needed to cut themselves from the past in a symbolic manner—by destroying the fetishes, which the Christians associated with evil spirits and old beliefs (Moore 1896; Collyer 1901; C. A. Clark 1903; Hounshell 1905; Carroll 1906; Owen 1908). When one particular mudang in 1899 gave up her sorcery and decided to become a Christian, she gave the “spiritual garment and little brass implements” to female Korean evangelists in P’yŏngyang (Fish 1899).
...James s. Gale (1863–1937) arrived in Korea in 1888 as a volunteer missionary of the YMCA of the University of Toronto. He joined the Korea Mission of the PCUSA (Presbyterian Church, USA) in 1891. He married the widowed Mrs. Heron in Seoul in 1892. The couple then moved to Wŏnsan, an open port on the East Sea. In 1895 two Korean families became Christians because they heard that the name of Jesus was sufficient to save every believer from the attacks of evil spirits. Gale said, “The idea of possession and demon influence has a great place here in life. The Tonghaks, who had raised such a commotion in the south last year, professed to have power to cast out devils, and that was one cause of their popularity. We rejoice that the name of Jesus is sufficient” (Gale 1895, 230).
...In 1897 Hulbert began to publicize cases of demon possession and reported cases of exorcism through the prayers of Korean Christians (Hulbert 1897 and 1901a).
...Demon possession and christian exorcism: nevius and demon possession in shandong
John L. Nevius, who worked in China from 1854 to 1892, had experienced cases of demon possession from the beginning of his work in Shandong. He was absorbed by the question of whether demon possession still existed in the 112 | Asian Ethnology 69/1 • 2010 later nineteenth century.
He had carefully investigated these cases and gathered the facts and testimony of missionaries and Chinese Christians on the incidents in which they expelled spirits and set the victims free.
The result was his posthumous book, Demon Possession and Allied Themes. Not only was the “Nevius Method” adopted by the Korean missions, but his theory of demon possession and Christian exorcism also influenced the missionaries in Korea. The people of Shandong Province fully believed in demon possession; the belief was a part of Chinese animism or spirit worship. Physical suffering and violent paroxysms attended the victims’ ordeal. When the narratives of demonic possession given in the New Testament were read, therefore, Chinese Christians recognized the correspondence at once. Nevius and other missionaries proceeded with great caution in this matter. As
...Nevius argued that cases of demon possession actually existed in China. He describes those supposedly cured by Chinese Christians, not by the old methods that exorcists had used such as burning charms, frightening with magic spells and incantations, or pricking the body with needles, but by singing hymns and praying to God. Some missionaries testified that they felt themselves “transported back to the days of the Apostles” and were “compelled to believe that the dominion of Satan is by no means broken yet” (Nevius 1896, 71). Nevius insisted that the phenomenon on demon possession could be explained not by contemporary evolutionary and psychological theories, but only by the Bible. In 1930 Charles A. Clark mentioned Nevius’s book on demon possession: Exorcism of evil spirits by Christian workers caused much discussion and divided opinion among the missionaries and the church workers. It is mentioned in the 1895 Report about Wŏnsan particularly."
It sounds like missionary activity in Korea was full of spiritual warfare.
Here is the book by Nevius:
https://www.amazon.com/Demon-Posses..._0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1546095500&sr=1-3-fkmr1
Description: A study of demon possession, written by a veteran missionary to China who was initially skeptical of the phenomenon, until he began to study it himself. He begins with a series of cases in China which he personally investigated, followed by the results of a survey sent out to other missionaries in China, and then gives examples from India, Japan, etc. He finds strong correlations with the New Testament accounts, and with other accounts from the ancient world. This is considered by many the classic treatment of the subject. The author also interacts with the various alternative explanations of the phenomena.
