SOUTH KOREAN HISTORY
The history of the Church in Korea to-date deals only with the political anomaly of South Korea. It is a sad fact that the Koreans, a people who share a common language and heritage, are currently a divided people. Throughout history, both the Chinese and the Japanese have controlled the Korean peninsula. The period of Japanese occupation lasted from 1910 until the end of World War II.
At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union entered Korea from the north and the United States entered the south to accept the surrender of Japanese troops. The peninsula was accordingly divided at the 38th parallel into two administrative zones. After attempts to hold nationwide elections failed, an independent government was established in the south with U.S. support.
In June 1950, North Korean troops invaded South Korea, triggering a three-year war. The United States and United Nations sent troops to help South Korea. Concerned that war might spill into Chinese territory, China sent troops to aid North Korea. The war ravaged the peninsula and ended in a stalemate (a peace treaty still has not been signed), with the original border virtually unchanged. Violent border incidents occurred over the years, and North Korean soldiers entered South Korean territory several times.
During its history, South Korea has risen from poverty to relative prosperity weathering the periods of rebuilding from war and the Asian economic crisis of the late 1990's. Today, most of South Korea's population of nearly 47 million people identify themselves as part of the middle class.
CHRISTIANITY IN KOREA
The history of Christianity in Korea is also unique. Christians account for a surprising 30 percent of the South Korean population.
Korea's first introduction to Christianity came in 1631, with a book written by a Jesuit missionary to China. Protestants began proselyting in 1832, but they did not obtain a permanent foothold until the 1880s. In 1889, the entire Holy Bible was published in the Korean language. In these early years, Christianity grew almost as much by word of mouth from Korean to Korean as through missionary efforts.
Unwittingly, during the period of Japanese occupation of Korea, Christianity was strengthened. Whereas in Africa and other parts of Asia, Christian missionaries were identified with colonialism, in Korea colonialism was instigated by Japan, a non-Christian, Asiatic power. In his book "A Global View of Christian Missions" J. Herbert Kane writes, "Not only were the missions not identified with colonialism, they took their stand against it. The vast majority of the missionaries were Americans, and the United States was the only Western power that offered even token resistance to Japanese encroachments on the continent." In short, the missionaries and Christianity were identified with nationalism, not colonialism.
This remained true after the Japanese annexation ended. When the Communists from North Korea invaded the south, Christians were again identified with the Korean nationalism, because they were persecuted by the Communists and because Christians were well represented in the ROK forces.
THE LDS CHURCH IN KOREA
Considering this, it is not surprising that American Mormon servicemen were well received by the Korean people. They were respected both as Americans and as Christians. During the Korean War, Pusan became the center for refugees. Here it was that many Koreans observed LDS servicemen as they lived lives of honor and devotion amidst the generally loose circumstances of war; here some Koreans attended meetings with the servicemen and learned of the restored gospel.
The preparation of the people, the example of LDS servicemen, and the spirit-inspired devotion of early converts were the seeds planted by which the Lord's work has grown in Korea. The vision of Church leaders, the direction of mission leaders, and the dedication of missionaries have moved the work forward at a tremendous pace. The strength of the Church in Korea, however -- like that of the Church worldwide -- is in the testimony of its members.
In an address to Mission Presidents on the growth of the Church from small beginnings, President Gordon B. Hinckley said of Korea: "I've seen the great struggles of our people in Korea . . . where a marvelous thing has come to pass." After recounting a time he was speaking to a handful of members in a high school gymnasium and a stovepipe fell, spewing ashes into the room and forcing the end of the meeting, he concluded, "Now there are stakes and missions and a beautiful temple. It's magnificent."
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GEMS is grateful to R. Lanier Britsch upon whose work this series is based. Much of the content, including the Kane quote, is drawn from his book "From the East: the History of the Latter-day Saints in Asia, 1851-1996" You can purchase your own copy online at www.deseretbook.com
Additionally, material in this article was drawn from CultureGram's "Japan CultureGram". CultureGrams publishes concise, reliable cultural reports on more than 175 countries. For more information on CultureGrams visit www.culturegrams.com
The President Hinckley quotation is found in the July 1, 2000 edition of "LDS Church News" published by "The Deseret News." The online archives of "LDS Church News" provide access to a wealth of information on current historical, doctrinal, and inspirational happenings of the Church. For information and to subscribe to the online archive go to: www.desnews.com/cn
Kim Ho Jik was born April 16, 1905 in North Pyongan Province, Korea (now in North Korea). As a young man he went south to attend school in Suwon where he graduated from the Agriculture and Forestry School. After receiving his bachelor's degree in biology, he held several positions including that of Director of the Suwon Agricultural Experimentation Station. His long-held desire to help improve the quality of life for his people was now focused on ways to improve nutrition in the Korean diet.
The work and desires of this young scientist came to the attention of South Korea's President Syngman Rhee, who sent Kim Ho Jik to the United States to learn more about how to feed the malnourished Korean people. So it was that he enrolled at Cornell University in 1949.
Kim Ho Jik was a devout Christian. Before leaving his homeland, the spirit whispered to him to sell his home, cars, and other possessions and give the funds to his wife to support his family while he was gone. This seemingly irrational prompting, made sense when, in his absence, the Korean War broke out, his former home was bombed, and the government confiscated all automobiles.
While at Cornell Kim Ho Jik shared an office with a Latter-day Saint doctoral candidate in physiology, Oliver Wayman. During their time at the university, the two men become good friends. One day Kim Ho Jik told his friend: "I have never seen you smoke or drink. I have never heard you use vulgar language or profane the name of God. You work harder and longer hours than any of the others, but I have never seen you here on Sunday. You are different in so many ways." He then asked, "I wonder if you would tell me why you live as your do?"
Brother Wayman explained that his action resulted from his beliefs and the he was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Brother Wayman gave Kim Ho Jik a copy of Talmage's "Articles of Faith" as well as a copy of "The Book of Mormon", both of which were read and believed by the earnest Korean.
On his final day at Cornell, Brother Wayman felt impressed to bear testimony to Kim Ho Jik that "the Lord had moved upon him to go to America in order that he might receive the gospel and take it back to his people in preparation for a great missionary work to be done there."
Kim Ho Jik was touched. He began to study the restored gospel with the missionaries. He believed and was baptized in the Susquehanna River on July 29, 1951. As he arose from the water, Brother Kim said he heard a voice saying, "Feed my sheep" -- an ironic admonition considering the purpose of Kim Ho Jik's attendance at Cornell.
From the time he returned home to Korea in September 1951, he never hesitated to use his power or influence to benefit the Church. Before his untimely death by a cerebral hemorrhage in 1959, he attained many high positions, including those of university president and vice-minister of education, under President Syngman Rhee. Politically he was undoubtedly the highest-ranked person the Church has had in Asia to the present.
One Sunday, President Rhee decided that he urgently needed to consult with Kim Ho Jik. The President's secretary found Brother Kim teaching his Sunday School class and told him of the President's urgency. Brother Kim refused to leave until he had finished teaching his lesson. President Rhee, who was noted for being demanding, was irate until Brother Kim explained that he felt that nothing was more important than his Sunday School assignment. Inexplicably, the President patted the Sunday School teacher on the shoulder and said, "Well done."
Between 1952 and 1955 Dr. Kim and many servicemen combined their efforts to establish the Church in Korea. Brother Kim was ordained an elder on May 17, 1953 and set apart as a special counselor in the Korea Servicemen's Group presidency at about the same time. In February 1954, leaders decided to create a Korean Sunday School, with Kim Ho Jik as superintendent, thus the first truly Korean organization of the Church was created.
On the morning of August 2, 1955, President Joseph Fielding Smith, then President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, with a small group of priesthood holders, including Brother Kim Ho Jik, dedicated the land of Korea for the preaching of the restored gospel. On the day of dedication, President Smith set Kim Ho Jik apart as president of the Korean District of the Northern Far East Mission, a position that he held until his death.
The first missionaries to enter Korea did so because of the faith and influence of President Kim. In early April 1956, President Kim, as a respected citizen and vice-minister of education, guaranteed in writing to the Korean Foreign Ministry that the missionaries would not be a financial burden to the government and that they would do no harm to the Korean people. Because of his guarantee, the missionaries were allowed entrance to the country. Before the missionaries' arrival President Kim searched out and made arrangements for living quarters for the missionaries. Again, because of his prominence, landlords -- that otherwise may not have been -- were cooperative.
In 1957, the Korean government had not yet officially recognized the Church, which meant that among other things that the Church could not own real property in Korea. It was decided to proceed to incorporate the Church under Korean law. Again President Kim put his reputation on the line and personally presented a proposal for the Church's incorporation. With his endorsement, it passed. This action paved the way for the work in Korea to move forward.
Elder Han In Sang, the first Korean who served in the Second Quorum of the Seventy, said of President Kim, "It was vital that such a politically and socially powerful person be involved in the establishment of the Church in Korea. Without Dr. Kim, [it] would have been delayed for several decades."
On August 31, 1959 Brother Kim Ho Jik experienced a massive stoke and died at the age of 54. Brother Kim was a student and a teacher of the gospel, he was a friend to the Church and its members, and he was a stalwart example of a believer in Jesus Christ. Although his service in the Church lasted only eight years, his impact on its establishment in Korea is immeasurable.
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GEMS is grateful to R. Lanier Britsch upon whose work this series is based. Much of the content is drawn from his book "From the East: the History of the Latter-day Saints in Asia, 1851-1996" You can purchase your own copy online at: www.deseretbook.com
"Kim Ho Jik: Korean Pioneer" an Ensign article by Denny Roy was used as a source in Brother Britsch's book as well as this message in the GEMS-WWS: Korea Series. The article appeared in the July 1988 Ensign and is available in its entirety in the magazine portion of the Gospel Library located at www.lds.org
GEMS is also indebted to Paul Andrus who served from 1955-1962 as President of the Northern Far East Mission that included Korea. Brother Andrus, who worked with and was a friend to Brother Kim, contributed his insights on the life of this pioneer.
"An Ensign to the Nations," a Church-produced video on the pioneering legacy of the Church includes a biographical sketch on the life and impact of Brother Kim Ho Jik. The segment includes photograph and interviews beyond the scope of this message. This excellent video can be purchased online from the Church Distribution Center at www.ldscatalog.com
In July and August 1955, President and Sister Joseph Fielding Smith visited East Asia. President Smith expressed a strong desire to visit the small congregation of Latter-day Saints in Korea. While in Korea, President Smith flew to many places to meet with servicemen and in the process became acquainted with a number of local converts.
On the morning of August 2, 1955, President Smith told his traveling companions that he believed it was time to dedicate the land of Korea for the preaching of the restored gospel. Accordingly, eight men, including President Smith and Kim Ho Jik, climbed a hill overlooking the war-torn city of Seoul, and President Smith offered the prayer that turned the key to the preaching of the restored gospel in Korea. Korea Servicemen's Supervisor Rodney W. Fye, who was present, reported, "President Smith literally commanded Satan to free the land from his chains that it might become choice through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ." President Smith further blessed the Korean members that they could prepare well for leadership responsibilities in the future. He also promised that stability would return to the country.
On the day of dedication, President Smith set Kim Ho Jik apart as president of the Korean District of the Northern Far East Mission. He suggested that the servicemen's district and the local Saints be separated in preparation for the coming of full-time missionaries. Under Smith's direction, branches were organized in Seoul and Pusan. At the time of the dedication there were sixty Korean members of the Church.
In December 1955, Paul C. Andrus, one of the first postwar missionaries in Japan, began his nearly seven years as mission president over the Northern Far East Mission. As soon as he could obtain a visa, he went to Korea to investigate the possibility of assigning full-time missionaries there. President Kim, the local Saints, and the leaders of the LDS servicemen were strongly in favor of this idea. But several problems had to be solved before missionaries could come, including arranging for housing for the elders and acquiring visas to enter the country. President Kim leased a house, and persuaded Korean bureaucrats to issue visas for missionaries to enter the country.
Two elders, Richard L. Detton and Don G. Powell, arrived in Korea in April 1956. During the following summer six other missionaries joined them, and four of them moved to Pusan. Although the Korean Saints and the LDS servicemen did their best to make the missionaries' lives pleasant, conditions were difficult for them during the first few years. Korea was in a period of reconstruction. Food, clothing, building materials, and other supplies were hard to obtain, and health conditions were poor. During the summer of 1958, five of the ten elders in Korea were stricken with hepatitis, but they insisted that the missionary cause was worth the sacrifice and continued on.
Possibly more serious than health and housing problems was the difficulty of the language. Aside from the help President Kim and other Korean Saints gave them, the missionaries were on their own in learning Korean, one of the world's most difficult tongues. They had no translated materials such as tracts, The Book of Mormon, and hymnbooks for over a year after full-time missionary work began. President Kim translated the Articles of Faith and the sacrament prayers, but communicating with non-member Koreans proved to be a strenuous task for the missionaries. Finally, in September 1957, the first missionary pamphlets printed in Korean came off the press. These seven new tracts and pamphlets replaced materials in the Japanese language. (One wonders how the elders convinced anyone that they should read the Japanese materials, considering the general feeling of animosity the Koreans held toward the Japanese.)
But in spite of harsh living conditions and language difficulties, the Korean District of the Northern Far East Mission produced remarkable results. "In Korea," commented President Andrus, "we were getting about eighteen converts per missionary per year. If Korea had been a separate mission at that time they would have had the highest rate of conversion of any mission in the world. . . ."
In comparison with other non-Christian areas of Asia, the restored gospel was well accepted in Korea. The Latter-day Saints reaped the benefits accrued by other Christian missions. In addition, however, were several other reasons for LDS success. The Korean people, because of the influence of Confucianism, have maintained some of the best genealogies of any people in the world. Mormon doctrines concerning the eternal nature of the family, and especially temple work, have had much appeal to Korean Saints. Education, too, is highly important to the Korean people. Beyond education 's civilizing effects and financial benefits, Korean Latter-day Saints take literally the scriptural statement, "It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance." (D&C 131:6.)
President Paul C. Andrus (who happens to be a GEMS subscriber) sent us an account of his stewardship as President of the Northern Far East Mission over Korea and the early work of the Church in Korea. His account has been most useful in preparing the messages in this series.
Among President Andrus's recollections was the following summary: "From December 9, 1955 to July 8, 1962 it was my great privilege to preside over the church in Korea. My wife Frances and I were set apart for our service by Elder Delbert L. Stapley. Elder Stapley counseled me to move ahead in Korea as soon as I felt I should. From that time, I felt a burning desire to establish the church in Korea as rapidly as I possibly could."
"For all the six years and seven months I presided over Korea, I exerted my greatest possible efforts to that end. The Lord blessed us greatly and by the time I was directed to organize the Korean Mission, the church had grown from about sixty Korean members converted by LDS servicemen, with no property owned by the Church, to a membership of over 1,500 Koreans organized into five branches each with meetinghouse property owned by the Church. All this was accomplished in the immediate aftermath of the Korean War while the cities and the economy lay in devastation."
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GEMS is grateful to R. Lanier Britsch upon whose work this series is based. Much of the content is drawn from his book "From the East: the History of the Latter-day Saints in Asia, 1851-1996" You can purchase your own copy online at: www.deseretbook.com
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KOREAN MISSION
During the summer of 1962, President Andrus completed nearly seven years of service as President of the Northern Far East Mission. At the time of his release, the First Presidency divided the mission and created the Korean Mission. Gail E. Carr, who had served as a missionary in Korea from 1956 to 1959, was called as mission president. He and his young family arrived in Korea in July. At the time of the Carrs arrival, there were 1,603 Korean members, five branches, and nineteen missionaries in Korea.
President Carr found a suitable piece of property and by mid-October 1962 the mission was in its new headquarters. In addition to the headquarters complex, President Carr also purchased land for chapels in Seoul, Pusan, and Taegu. Before long, construction work on one of the first LDS chapels on the Asian continent, the Seoul East Branch, had begun.
President Carr also encouraged translation work. In 1963 the mission published a hymnal with 130 hymns and efforts were made to have the The Book of Mormon translated into Korean. In 1964, President Carr assigned Han In Sang, the first Korean called to serve in the new mission, to complete the translation work. Han concluded his work in February 1966. The Book of Mormon in Korean was published in Seoul in March 1967.
When President Carr completed his mission in July 1965, the foundations of the Church in Korea had been suitably laid. The Church was a legal religious corporation, missionaries were in the country, the Church had acquired property, local Saints administered most organizations, and translation work was progressing.
CHURCH EFFORTS EXPAND
Beginning in 1965 the Church in Korea entered a period of maturation and naturalization. The three succeeding mission presidents, the local leaders and the missionaries did much to solidify and strengthen local organizations and to improve the public image of the Church.
At President Carrs release, Spencer J. Palmer, then a professor at BYU, who had served in Korea as a chaplain and had earned a Ph.D. in Korean History from UC Berkley, was called as president of the Korean Mission. He served in that capacity from 1965 until 1968.
President Palmer initiated contacts with the major radio and television stations and with the Korean press. Through personal appearances, interviews, missionary choir performances, and weekly translated broadcasts of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir program, the name of the Church became well known throughout the peninsula. President Palmer hosted numerous social gatherings at the mission home in which government and academic leaders, as well as diplomatic officials from other countries, learned something of the goals, principles, and aspirations of the Church in Korea.
During his service, President Palmer bought a piece of property in Seoul, that he envisioned would one day be the site of Koreas first temple. The property, now the site of the Seoul Korea Temple, is situated on a hill overlooking three prestigious Universities and the Kimpo International Airport.
In 1968, Robert H. Slover, also a BYU professor who had a Ph.D. from Harvard University, who had served as LDS Servicemens Coordinator in Korea and was present when President Joseph Fielding Smith dedicated Korea for the preaching of the gospel, was called to replace President Palmer as president of the Korean Mission. Koreans greatly respect educators and now two mission presidents in a row had the title of paska or Ph.D.
President Slover gave many speeches to civic and social groups. He strengthened organizational and administrative aspects of the mission and the local church structure. From two districts he created five. He also supervised the growth of the number of missionaries from 75 to approximately 125.
When President Slover was released in 1971 L. Edward Brown was called to serve as the President of the renamed Korea Mission. President Brown had been one of the early missionaries to Korea. President Brown concentrated the efforts of the mission on building stronger branches in the major cities, thus paving the way for the creation of stakes and wards.
Presidents Palmer, Slover and Brown shared a concern for naturalizing the Church. They were uncomfortable about the Churchs transplanted American tone and wanted to make it more truly Korean. They made a conscious effort to call Korean men and women to leadership positions. President Palmer, for example, called Korean counselors in the mission presidency and Koreans to lead the two districts and seven branches that existed in 1966. These Korean leaders were, according to Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, men and women of genuine ability. President Slover and President Brown further emphasized the move to strengthen the Korean leadership at all levels of church organization.
TEMPLE EXCURSIONS TO HAWAII
In Korea in 1970, going to the temple was fraught with difficulties. More than a year of planning and preparation was required to get the first temple group ready. President Slover conducted a series of temple preparation seminars. The Korean Missionary Association, under former mission president Spencer Palmer raised enough money to pay two-thirds of each participants transportation costs. Great efforts were expended by Brother Palmer to have the temple ceremony translated and recorded into Korean.
The biggest obstacle, however, was the Korean government. Immigration department policy did not allow couples to leave the country except in extremely unusual circumstances. For over a year President Slover and the Church legal advisor, Brother Koo Jung-shik, met with virtually everyone with any authority to plead for permission for the six temple-bound couples to leave the country. Finally, the restrictive policy was relaxed, and the couples flew to Hawaii on July 31, 1970.
In the following years, under the leadership of President Brown, a second and a third group were allowed to leave Korea and travel to Hawaii to receive temple blessings. It was not until years later, however, that the policies restricting couples traveling together finally changed.
SEOUL STAKE ORGANIZED
Stakehood was first seriously talked about in Korea during Robert H. Slover 's brief return to Korea as Regional Representative in the area during 1972. He established a target date of 1974 for the organization of the Seoul Stake. Although President Brown was working steadily on matters of organization and administration, he did not know the stake would be created so soon. Nevertheless, in February 1973 President Brown received word from Church authorities in Salt Lake City that Elder Spencer W. Kimball, President of the Council of the Twelve, would be coming to Korea in early March to organize the stake.
After President Kimball interviewed a list of candidates, he selected Rhee Honam as stake president. The Seoul Stake was created on March 8, 1973. President Rhee, who had served as counselor to four mission presidents and who was seminary and institute director for Korea, chose Kim Chang Sun, a doctor of psychiatry, and Choi Wook Hwan, a dentist, as counselors. The new stake consisted of seven wards and two branches. Because of his years of apprenticeship under excellent leaders and because he knew the gospel well, President Rhee led his stake with vision, authority, and love.
PUSAN MISSION CREATED
Korea is small geographically, but the population in the mid 1970s was approximately 33 million people. Because the Church was growing rapidly, the Church Missionary Committee sent increasing numbers of elders and sisters (lady missionaries first came to Korea in 1972, an indication that health conditions had improved greatly) to Korea during Brown's time and continued to do so after Eugene P. Till became president in July 1974.
In April 1973, President Brown received notice that the mission was going to be divided. But because of visa problems the plan to divide was suspended until the problems with the Korean government could be worked out.
President Till chose to counter the problem by using several public relations approaches to establish the image of the LDS Church as a "family" church, a concept that he rightly supposed would appeal to the government. He did this through the use of bumper stickers, a new device in Korea, and through performances by a missionary quintet, the New Horizons, and a choir of orphan girls, the Tender Apples. These singing groups performed frequently on radio and television and did much to enhance the image of the Church and to make the name of the Church familiar to the Korean people.
After Till's public relations campaign of 1974-75, he had no more visa problems. When President Till began his period of service, he found that around 10 percent of the people in Seoul recognized the name of the Church. At the end of his three years in Korea, "more than 70 percent of the people in Seoul recognized the Church's name."
In the spring of 1975, the First Presidency called Han In Sang to be the first president of the soon-to-be-created Korea Pusan Mission. President Han was the first native Korean to serve as a mission president. On July 1, 1975, President Han officially opened the new mission. Under his leadership the districts and branches grew, and the missionaries brought many people into the Church.
FIRST AREA CONFERENCE HELD
Of great significance to the Korean Saints was the first Area Conference, held in Seoul on August 15-17, 1975. Ko Won Yong, executive secretary in Seoul Stake, was assigned to organize the performance events to be held on Friday, August 15, in the Changch'ung Gymnasium. A thousand members participated in a two-hour performance. According to Brother Ko, the program included a traditional Korean fan dance, a farmers' dance, and others. The 9,000 people who attended the cultural program and other sessions were well taught by the thirteen General Authorities of the Church who were there.
In one of his talks, President Spencer W. Kimball announced plans to build the Tokyo Temple. He had already revealed these plans while in Japan a week before, but his request for the Korean Saints to raise money to help build it met with mixed reactions. The reason for hesitation was the Korean government's policy of not allowing married couples to leave the country together. The question of their ever being able to go to the temple as husbands and wives coursed through many Korean minds.
Knowing of the government's policy, however, President Kimball promised the Saints that if they would send their children on missions, pay their tithes, attend their meetings regularly, keep the commandments of the Lord, and contribute to the temple fund, the Lord would provide a way for them to go to the temple when it was completed.
According to Brother Park Byung Kyu, who was in attendance, on the final day of the area conference President Kimball stood at the door of Changch' ung Gymnasium and warmly greeted the audience members as they arrived. He shook hands until moments before the session was scheduled to begin. Such acts permanently endeared President Kimball to the Korean Saints.
Whang Keun Ok has devoted her life to serving and educating the less fortunate in her beloved Korea. Born in what is now North Korea, she was one of those who fled the troubles of the Korean War. She became a refugee in Pusan, where, by finishing her education, she began her life's work, a work that started with a fervent prayer the she might serve Christ.
As a young girl, and a devout Presbyterian, during the Japanese occupation of Korea she had been expelled from school for refusing to worship the Japanese emperor. Facing the situation, she promised Heavenly Father that she would learn his will and serve him if he would grant her the opportunity to study.
Persisting against the local customs discouraging the education of women, Whang Keun Ok continued her studies. At both junior and high school, she studied hard and was an honor student. After graduation she enrolled in nursing school. Then came the Korean War and the refugee camp in Pusan.
As a refugee in Pusan, she finished her college education, qualifying herself to teach high school. She taught for six years, still hungering for a way to help the poor and to further her own education. In time, she accepted an invitation to study in the United States. This opportunity eventually led her to 3 years at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. After returning to her homeland in 1962, she was baptized a member of the Church.
In 1965 she was appointed superintendent of the Songjuk Orphanage. Her life was now fully tied to Christ and to the downtrodden. She loved both. At the orphanage she organized a children's choir, calling it the "Tender Apples," a name that would become known all over Korea.
Eventually the girls learned that Sister Whang was a Latter-day Saint. Some of the girls began going to the nearby mission home to hear the missionary discussions; several were baptized. When the orphanage's sponsor found out, Sister Whang was told she would either have to change her religion or find a new job.
She chose the Church and resigned her post. The year was 1969. Sister Whang decided to start an orphanage of her own -- The Tender Apples Home. She received permission to invite those girls who had been baptized or were interested in the Church to come and live with her.
At their new home, the girls had prayer, scripture study, and family home evening. They learned to work and serve. They attended Church meetings on Sunday and through their choir were given a significant opportunity to spread the gospel.
When Eugene Till arrived in Korea in 1974 to serve as president of the Korea Seoul Mission, he learned from a survey that only 10 percent of the people in Seoul were aware of the name of the Church President Till chose to counter the problem using public relations approaches. President Till assigned several elders -- who formed a singing group known as New Horizon -- to work directly with the Tender Apples choir to put on a musical show that would introduce the people in Korea to the gospel. At the end of three years, more that 70 percent of the people in Seoul recognized the Church's name.
One of Sister Whang's major goals was to place for adoption as many of her girls as possible with Latter-day Saint families. Of the eighty-four children she brought up over a period of nearly twenty years, thirty-three were adopted into Latter-day Saint homes. Many have served full-time mission and married in the temple and are now raising their own families.
In time, Sister Whang grew too old to keep up with the demands of running the orphanage and closed it. For almost 20 years, Sister Whang ran the Tender Apples Orphanage. But even though her girls are no longer at home, her caring hasn't stopped.
Jini Roby, now a professor of social work at BYU who lived in the Songjuk Orphanage from 1965 to 1968 tells of Sister Whang's great capacity to love. "She has a heart big enough for the whole world. She can accept and love anybody." In 1988, when Jini went to Korea and found her long-since separated brother; he was mentally and physically ill, an alcoholic who had to be institutionalized. Having to return to her home, but needing to provide for her brother's needs, Jini called Sister Whang. Sister Whang went the second mile to show compassion for this man. She traveled weekly to visit him. She took time from her busy schedule to bake treats, to ride the bus, and to sit with him and hold his hand, even though he could give her little response.
In August 2000, at BYU's summer commencement exercises, President Merrill J. Bateman presented Sister Whang with the university's Presidential Citation and Medallion for the value she has placed on education for herself and for her tireless efforts to promote human welfare and gospel principles in the lives of children. Prior to the presentation, President Bateman commented, "Is it possible to say that one person makes a difference? Indeed, it is. One has only to look at Sister Whang to see that a person can influence lives and lift others. In her quiet but determined way she has brought joy and light into the lives of children who otherwise would not have experienced such blessing."
Sister Whang Keun Ok is a Latter-day Saint pioneer who has made a difference.
KOREAN PIONEER: BROTHER HAN IN SANG
When Elder Han In Sang spoke in General Conference in April 1992, he taught the Church a Korean phrase -- "Kam sa ham ni da." He said, "Kam sa ham ni da is a unique Korean honorific expression of gratitude." Elder Han then went on to express his gratitude to Heavenly Father, to his parents, to members of the Church, and to President Gordon B. Hinckley.
It was a long journey from Korea to the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City for the first native Korean Latter-day Saint General Authority. Han In Sang made the journey with faith--contributing to the Lord's work, especially in his beloved Korea.
Han In Sang was born close to Seoul, Korea in 1938. His childhood memories are of a loving family in destitute circumstances due to the Japanese occupation of Korea and World War II. In an interview with the "LDS Church News" following his 1991 call to the Second Quorum of the Seventy, he reluctantly related memories of those times:
"According to Korean tradition, the eldest son assumes responsibility for the family livelihood if something happens to the father. My father was hiding from his enemies in a cave in the mountains. I didn't have any shoes, so twice a week in my bare feet, I walked through the snow to take food to my father. It was a real struggle to get up the mountain. I still have scars on my feet and legs. . Sometimes I had to fight bigger and older boys for a head of cabbage in a field. I chased fish in freezing streams with my bare hands. ."
From the Tabernacle pulpit he said: "During the desperate times of difficulties and throughout the war, I wandered to the very edge of my life and felt most helpless. There was no hope and no future for me. I thought I had been completely thrown out and left out by everything. Heavenly Father, through my loving parents, worked out miracles for me. I was able to stand up and move forward."
Among the miracles in Han In Sang's life was a Latter-day Saint friend in high school, with whom he attended MIA (Mutual Improvement Association). He immediately sensed a difference with these people, saying, "They talked about life, happiness and eternal families."
He was baptized in 1957 and was influenced much by the example and leadership of Kim Ho Jik. Han In Sang attended college and then began serving his mandatory military obligation to his country. In 1964, he was called to serve a full-time mission in his homeland. As a missionary, Elder Han baptized his mother. Later all of his brothers joined the Church. He served in Taegu as presiding elder, branch president, seminary teacher, and Korean language teacher for other missionaries.
Elder Han's mission president, Gail E. Carr, assigned him to complete the unfinished translation of the Book of Mormon into Korean. The translation was finished in February 1966 and was published after his release in March of 1967. He described translating the Book of Mormon as the most difficult task he'd ever done, but said it was also "a privilege and choice blessing."
After completing his mission, Han In Sang married. He and his wife Lee Kyu In are the parents of five children.
In the spring of 1975, the First Presidency called Han In Sang to be the first president of the soon-to-be-created Korea Pusan Mission. President Han was the first native Korean to serve as a mission president. Under his leadership the districts and branches grew, and the missionaries brought many people into the Church.
From 1978 to 1981 Brother Han served as Regional Representative in Korea. This was a time of growth and organizational stabilization for the Church in Korea.
Ten years later on June 1, 1991 Han In Sang was called to the Second Quorum of the Seventy. Shortly after his call, Elder Han said "I am still scared. . . . But there is no question that I will do my honest best." And he did, serving his Lord and his Church in various places and ways in this position.
Following his service in the Seventy, Brother Han and his wife were called to serve as president and matron of the Seoul Korea Temple--a position in which they served until 1999.
Brother Han is quoted as saying of the Church in Korea: "The quality of leadership is high and the commitment of the people is great." His words apply equally well to himself.
"Kam sa ham ni da", Brother Han.
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GEMS is grateful to R. Lanier Britsch upon whose work this series is based. His landmark book "From the East: the History of the Latter-day Saints in Asia, 1851-1996" can be purchased online at: www.deseretbook.com
Elder Han's sermon "Take Up His Cross" (Ensign, May 1992) and a "Friend to Friend" article (Friend, Jan 1996) were used is compiling this Part. These articles offer more on Elder Han and are recommended for additional reading. Both articles are available to read and print from the Gospel Library section of www.lds.org , the Church's official web site.
An article titled "His Shoulders are used to Heavy Tasks" from the July 6, 1991 edition of "LDS Church News" published by "The Deseret News" contains information and an interview with Elder Han at the time of his call to the Seventy.
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NEW STAKES CREATED
The growth of the Church in Korea during the decade of the 1970s was impressive. Church membership at the end of 1978 stood at 12,971, up a thousand from the year before. Approximately 300 missionaries were in the two missions. Growth in the Seoul area continued to be the greatest. Because of the growth of the Seoul Korea Stake, it was necessary in May 1977, only four short years after its creation, to create the Seoul Korea West Stake from the original unit. President Kim Chang Sun was called as the new stake president.
By 1978 Korean Saints filled nearly every leadership position including those of Mission President, Stake President and Regional Representative. (In fact, F. Ray Hawkins, president of the Korea Seoul Mission was the only non-Korean serving in Korea in one of these positions.)
The Church in Korea continued to grow and mature in every way-more members, more wards and branches, more stakes. Four new stakes were created between 1978 and 1980, bringing the total of Korean Stakes to six. The new stakes were: the Seoul East Stake (formed April 18, 1979 with Ko Won Yong as president); the Pusan Stake (created on September 6, 1979 with Chang Jae Hwan as its first president); the Seoul North Stake (organized September 9, 1979 with Hong Moo Kwang as its leader); and the Kwangju Stake (constituted on October 25, 1980 presided over by Pak Byung Kyu).
SEOUL WEST KOREA MISSION CREATED
In conjunction with growth in membership and church units a new mission was created on July 1, 1979. With the addition of the Seoul West Mission, Korea now had three missions with a total of more than 300 missionaries including a growing number of native missionaries.
MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR TOURS
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir made its first visit to Japan and Korea in September 1979. The impressions left by this great musical organization were deep and lasting. Music is an important cultural tradition. The quality of the music performed in the National Theater touched the hearts and lives of many non-members as well as Korean Later-day Saints. When the choir returned a year or so later the effect was equally positive. The second tour came shortly before the second Area Conference.
AREA CONFERENCE OF 1980
In March 1980 the First Presidency announced a second series of conferences to be held in various Asian nations, including Korea. The Area Conference in Seoul was held on October 25 and 26, 1980. A hall large enough to hold the expected crowd could not be arranged, so the conference planners, hoping for good weather, opted to hold the general sessions outside at Ch' ngun-dong Church grounds.
In "Go Forward with Faith: The Biography of Gordon B. Hinckley," Sheri L. Dew described the event in these words:
"The temperature . . . plummeted to 28 degrees F., forcing the first session of conference inside the Seoul 4th Ward chapel. Thousands of members who couldn't find seats in the building sat outside and listened to the message over a public address system. The afternoon session was moved outdoors so that those who couldn't squeeze into the building could see President Kimball and the other visiting leaders, all of whom sat huddled on the stand in heavy coats and blankets.
In spite of the weather, the crowd of nearly 6,000 conference goers was grateful and happy to be in the presence of the Lord's Prophet and many other General Authorities and leaders of the Church.
The culmination of the 1980 Asia Area Conferences was the dedication of the Tokyo Japan Temple on October 27, 1980. During the Area Conference held in Korea "many people were in great anticipation that the revelation for the building of the Seoul Temple would be given, [but] it was not."
Immediately following the Korea Area Conference, a number of Korean Church leaders traveled to Tokyo for the dedication of the temple. Elder Han In Sang, Regional Representative, gave the benediction at the first dedicatory session. In his prayer he asked the Lord for a temple in his land so that the Korean members might also be able to enjoy the blessings received therein.
Because of a restrictive policy regarding married couples traveling outside Korea, only 100 of the nearly 20,000 Korean church members had been endowed in the temple and only 20 couples had been sealed. The Korean saints were encouraged to continue in faithfulness and preparation for the day when the blessings of the temple would be more readily available to them.
In the months following the dedication in Tokyo, the stakes began conducting temple preparation classes and numerous articles appeared in the Korean Church magazine, encouraging Korean members to prepare themselves spiritually for the day when they could have a temple in their own land.
They did not have to wait long. Less than six months later, a few days before General Conference, on April 1, 1981, President Kimball announced plans for nine new temples, including one in Seoul, Korea. The Korean priesthood brethren who were in Salt Lake City for the announcement and conference were deeply grateful for the announcement of their temple. Joy and gratitude were the universal responses among the Korean Saints.
SEOUL KOREA TEMPLE ANNOUNCED
On April 1, 1981, President Kimball announced plans for nine new temples, including one in Seoul, Korea. At the time, the Church News made an interesting observation regarding temple building in the Church: The first nine temples of the Church took 97 years to construct, the second nine 47 years. The third nine were announced within seven years, and the last nine in one news conference.
Following the announcement, the Korean members began to prepare to enter the temple. As General Authorities visited for stake and regional conferences and other training meetings, temple preparation became the common theme in their talks and lessons. The Korean members felt a renewed spirit as they strived to make themselves worthy to enter the house of the Lord. The rise in Church membership witnessed the increased dedication and spiritual growth.
Faithful Korean members had been asking for a temple since the earliest days of the Church in Korea. It is reported that Brother Park Jae Am asked, on separate occasions, both Harold B. Lee and Gordon B. Hinckley when Korea would have its own temple. At a servicemans meeting in 1953, long before there was any Church organization or missionaries in Korea, Elder Lee answered Brother Parks question with, When you are ready for it. In 1960 or 1961 Elder Hinckley promised Brother Park that if the members stayed close to the Lord and were obedient there would one day be a temple in the Land of the Morning Calm. Interestingly, when the Seoul Korea Temple was dedicated, Park Jae Am was called to serve as first counselor in the temple presidency.
The site chosen for the temple is known as the Shinchon property. It had been acquired in 1965, during Spencer J. Palmers mission presidency. Since its purchase by the Church it had been well used for other Church purposes; a mission office and chapel had to be razed to make way for the new building. Other buildings were converted to fit the needs of the new temple; the mission presidents home became the temple presidents home, and the seminary and institute building later became apartments for temple missionaries.
Early in the morning of May 9, 1983, Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Quorum of the Twelve conducted the groundbreaking ceremonies. In his prayer Elder Ashton asked: May this temple be an ensign of truth, a beacon of peace and security.
Just over two years later, the building was completed. The architecture reflects distinctively Latter-day Saint lines and purposes while manifesting the beauty of Korean granite and a traditional 100 year black tile roof. The temple has four ordinance rooms and three sealing rooms surrounding the Celestial Room. The completed edifice was appointed with furnishings built in Korea and reflected Korean traditional arts and culture. President Hinckley selected the white lacquer and pearl furniture that adorned the temple.
Over thirteen thousand visitors toured the sacred structure between November 26 and December 7.
TEMPLE DEDICATED AND WORK BEGUN
December 14 and 15, 1985, had been planned for many months as the days for the dedication. During the previous month, however, President Spencer W. Kimball had passed away and President Ezra Taft Benson had been ordained the President of the Church. President Benson decided to send President Hinckley to Seoul to preside and conduct the ceremonies, as previously planned.
President Hinckleys love for the Korean Saints was open and obvious. At the time, he had been coming to Korea for twenty-five years, and, as he said, had grown old while coming there. The words he fashioned for the dedicatory prayer reflected his deep love of Korea and his appreciation for the history of the Church there. In the dedicatory prayer, he said:
Our hearts are filled with gratitude for this long awaited day. This is the first such house of the Lord ever constructed on the mainland of Asia. . . .
The seeds of thy work were planted in Korea only a third of a century ago, when amidst the thunders of war, a few of thy faithful sons in military service exemplified the teachings of the gospel in their lives and shared them with a few of those they met. Then thou didst touch the heart of a great and good scholar and leader, Kim Ho Jik, while he was studying in the United States. When he returned to his native land, having experienced the inspiration of the Book of Mormon, and having received a testimony of the prophetic call of Joseph Smith, he shared with others the beauty of his newly found treasure. Missionaries were invited to Korea, and here they taught with faith and inspiration, finding one soul here, another there.
From those times of small beginnings and serious privation thy work has moved forward, its numbers have increased many fold, and it has prospered under thy Church, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and has become firmly rooted in the soil of this beautiful land, and become the spiritual home of many thousands of good people in Korea.
Thou has smiled with favor upon thy work here. The government of this nation has been hospitable to thy servants. Now, crowning all, is this beautiful edifice in which we meet and which we dedicate to thee.
Speaking of the Korean Church members, President Hinckley voiced the following request in the dedicatory prayer:
May their numbers constantly increase, and may their faith strengthen. Wilt Thou encircle Thy strong protecting arm about them. May there be peace, love, and harmony in their homes. May their children grow in faith and loyalty to Thee.
May this be a house of sacred ordinances performed in the authority of the everlasting priesthood. May understanding of Thy divine purposes grow in the minds of all who are here instructed. May the covenants they make with Thee be engraven upon their hearts and the light of eternal truth be reflected from their countenances. May each come to recognize, in a new and remarkable way, not only the blessings that come of living the gospel in mortality, but of a continuation of these blessings in life beyond the veil of death.
And then extending his pleas beyond the membership of the Church, President Hinckley said:
Dear Father, bless this land and its people. May this nation remain free from bondage and servitude.
Observers and participants in the unfolding of the Church in Korea testify that this prayer has been, and continues to be, answered.
The first president of the temple was Robert H. Slover, who had served as mission president in Korea from 1968 to 1971 and before that as a serviceman in Korea in 1953 and 1954. His wife, Rosemarie W. Slover was called to serve as temple matron.
The first endowment session was held on December 17, 1985. Unlike other temple districts that had adequate numbers of endowed members to officiate in the temple, because so few couples had been allowed out of the country to obtain their endowments, it was necessary to first endow couples who had been called to serve in the temple. Regular sessions commenced in February 1986.
The Seoul Korea Temple has now been in continuous operation for 16 years. After President Slovers term, other temple presidents have been: Spencer J. Palmer (1988-1990), Pak Byung Kyu (1990-1993), Bae Yun Chun (1993-1996), Han In Sang (1996-2000), and Ronald K. Nielsen (2000-present).
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GEMS appreciatively acknowledges the contribution of Brother Robert H. Slover to this Part in the series. A participant in the dedication of Korea for the preaching of the gospel, Brother Slovers involvement in the Church in Korea now spans nearly fifty years from serviceman following wars devastation, to early mission president, to first temple president! Additional historical information and remembrances provided by Brother Slovers are available on the GEMS Worldwide Saints Korea archives.
GEMS is grateful to R. Lanier Britsch upon whose work this series is based. His landmark book "From the East: the History of the Latter-day Saints in Asia, 1851-1996" can be purchased online at: www.deseretbook.com
Two additional articles from LDS Church News published by The Deseret News are worth reading. No burning bush, but Spirit burns brightly (January 3, 1998 edition) by former Seoul Korea Temple President Pak Byung Kyu, and Temple is the most peaceful place in the world (December 26, 1998 edition) by Earnest and Berna Jones. See www.desnews.com/cn
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GROWTH AND STABILIZATION
With the dedication of the Seoul Korea Temple, the Church in Korea entered a period of stabilization amidst continuing growth. The growth of the Church between 1979 and 1985, when the temple was dedicated, was impressive. The number of members grew from around eleven thousand in 1977 to over forty thousand in 1985, a 270% increase. Eleven new stakes were created in Korea between 1979 and 1983. In April of 1986 another new stake was added. Two more stakes were created in 1992, bringing the total then to sixteen, at which number the total remained for several years.
EXPANDING MISSION EFFORTS
In 1986, the Korea Taejon Mission, Korea's fourth, was organized with Hong Moo Kwang as its first president. Ever since President Kimball encouraged young priesthood holders throughout the world to serve missions, numbers of Korean missionaries have grown. Local missionaries have a tremendous advantage over American and other foreign elders and sisters because they understand the language, culture, beliefs, and persuasions of their own people. By 1996, over 25 percent of the missionary force in Korea was native, and since the 1970s, most of the presidents of Korean missions have been native members.
All young Korean males have a three-year military obligation that often delays their availability to serve a mission until they are twenty-five or twenty-six years of age. Nevertheless, many Korean Saints still serve missions. A growing number of Koreans who serve missions are second generation members of the Church.
In 1986, as part of the growing pattern throughout the world, the Church organized a Missionary Training Center in Seoul. By 1989, an average of 15 Korean elders and sisters were trained every month.
In 1991, the one-millionth copy of The Book of Mormon in Korean was distributed. With nearly 225,000 copies distributed in a single year, the Korean language edition was at the time the fourth largest edition behind English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
PRESIDENT HINCKLEY ON THE CHURCH IN KOREA
In the fall of 1987 a series of regional conferences were held throughout Asia. President Hinckley, then First Counselor in the First Presidency presided at the meetings. Known as "Mr. Asia" to the people and friends of the Asian missions since his appointment as supervisor of the Asian missions in 1960 (a position he held until the late `60s and again in the 1970s) President Hinckley has never lost interest in or concern for the Asian Saints.
Korea received parent-like attention from this great leader. Elder Hinckley visited Korea numerous times during those two decades and every leader in the country felt his personal concern.
The 1987 trip to Asia was different for President Hinckley in that his wife, grown children, and their spouses, accompanied him. President Hinckley's son Clark summarized what the family witnessed in Korea as follows: "Dad knew everybody-their names, their history, when they were baptized, what positions they had held, who they had married, and what their children's names were. The Orient has been such a big part of his life, and of ours vicariously. So much of what we grew up with around the dinner table focused on Asia. To meet the people and see the sites he had talked about for decades was the experience of a lifetime."
In October General Conference of 1987 President Hinckley reported on his recent trip focusing much on the Church in Korea. He said:
"In 1960, only twenty-seven years ago, I was given an assignment by the First Presidency to work with the mission presidents, the missionaries, and the Saints in Asia. The Church was weak and small in that part of the earth. The seed had been planted in Japan, Taiwan, and Korea by faithful Latter-day Saints in military service. But it was tiny and unstable. We had no buildings of our own. We met as small groups in rented houses. In winter they were cold and uncomfortable. Converts came into the Church. But some, lacking faith, soon left. However, there remained a residual of strong and wonderful men and women who looked beyond the adversity of the moment. They found their strength in the message, not in the facilities. They have remained faithful to this day, and their numbers have been added to by the tens and tens of thousands.
"[I]n Seoul, Korea, my heart was touched as we entered the largest hall in that great city to find every seat taken by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their invited guests. A magnificent choir of 320 voices opened with the strains "Oh, how lovely was the morning". It was a moving expression of the first vision of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
"I had known South Korea in its days of poverty and reconstruction following the terrible war. When first I went there, we had six missionaries in Seoul and two in Pusan. Some were ill with hepatitis. Today there are four thriving missions in that land, with some six hundred missionaries. Many of the missionaries are sons and daughters of Korea. They include bright and beautiful young women in whose hearts burns the light of faith. They include young men who leave schooling for a season in order to serve missions. These young men are under tremendous pressures because of military requirements as well as educational demands, but they have faith in their hearts.
"I felt a spirit in that congregation three weeks ago that touched me to the depths of my soul. I saw the sweet fruits of faith. I knew of the early struggles in establishing an unknown church. I knew of the poverty of the people. Now there is strength. There is an undreamed-of measure of prosperity. There is a warm spirit of fellowship. There are families of devoted husbands and wives and good and beautiful children.
"These are people I love, and I love them because of their faith. They are intelligent and well educated. They are hardworking and progressive. They are humble and prayerful. They are an example to others across the world. ("Lord, Increase Our Faith," Ensign, November 1987, p. 53.)
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GEMS is grateful to R. Lanier Britsch upon whose work this series is based. His landmark book "From the East: the History of the Latter-day Saints in Asia, 1851-1996" can be purchased online at www.deseretbook.com
"Go Forward with Faith: The Biography of Gordon B. Hinckley" includes much on the history of the Church in Asia as it relates to the life of President Hinckley and can be purchased online at www.deseretbook.com
The address from which the President Hinckley quote comes is titled "Lord, Increase Our Faith" and was printed in the November 1987 Ensign. The entire address can be read and printed free of charge from the gospel library section of the official LDS Church web page: www.lds.org
THE CHURCH IN KOREA TODAY
The following almanac information of the Church in Korea today comes primarily from the "Deseret News 2001-2002 Church Almanac"
The Church in Korea
Members: More than 71,000
Stakes: 17 (Anyang, Chong Ju, Inchon, Jeon Ju, Kwang Ju, Ma San, Pusan, Seoul, Seoul Dong Dae Mun, Seoul East, Seoul Kang Seo, Seoul North, Seoul West. Seoul Yung Dong, Suwan, Tae Gu, Taejeon)
Wards: 105
Districts: 6
Branches: 70
Missions: 4 (Pusan, Seoul, Seoul West, Taejon)
Temples: 1 (Seoul)
HINCKLEY QUOTE ON INFLUENCE OF KIM HO JIK
Because an understanding of the past provides perspective and hope for the future, we will finish this series where we began, with a tribute to the beginnings of the Church in Korea.
The year 2001 is a year of jubilee for the Church in Korea. In July of 1951, Dr. Kim Ho Jik was baptized, marking the beginnings of the Church in Korea. Throughout the year members of the Church in Korea will commemorate contributions of Brother Kim and the growth of the Church in the 'Land of the Morning Calm.' GEMS has been pleased to contribute to this commemoration through this series on the history of the Church in Korea.
In 1977 Elder Gordon B. Hinckley addressed the students of BYU on the subject of missionary work. Included in that address was the following tribute to Dr. Kim Ho Jik and the Church in Korea:
"One able thinker . . . said that every great institution is but the lengthened shadow of a great man. I have thought . . . of the status of our work in Korea, where today we have two strong missions and a strong stake of Zion. All of this is the lengthened shadow of Dr. Kim and the two young men who taught him the gospel while he was a student at Cornell University-Oliver Wayman and Don C. Wood.
"They stirred within their associate student an interest in reading the Book of Mormon. Their interest in him, their activities with him were entirely separate from the reasons for their being at Cornell. Each of the three was there working on an advanced degree that could have consumed every minute of his waking time, but they took the time to teach and to learn; and when the Korean Ph.D. returned to his native land, he took with him his love for the Book of Mormon and for the Church whose services he had attended in Ithaca, New York.
"American servicemen involved in the Korean War had also shared the gospel with some of their associates, and the presence of Dr. Kim, man of learning and man of responsibility in the nation of Korea, became a catalyst that led to the establishment of the work, including the sending of missionaries from Japan.
"Dr. Kim is dead, but the work lives on in splendor, touching for eternal good an ever-increasing number of lives in the "Land of the Morning Calm." ("Forget Yourself," Speech at BYU March 6, 1977, quoted in "Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley," p. 589)
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND LINKS
If you wish to know more about the history of the Church in Korea, the following list is recommended. Many of these sources were used in the preparation of this series. The links given provide access to either purchase or view the referenced material.
Britsch, R. Lanier, "From the East: the History of the Latter-day Saints
in Asia, 1851-1996," Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1998.
www.deseretbook.com
Deseret News, "2001-2002 Church Almanac," Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret
News, 2000.
www.desnews.com/cn
Dew, Sheri L., "Go Forward With Faith: The Biography of Gordon B.
Hinckley," Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1996.
www.deseretbook.com
Ensign articles -- all Ensign articles are available in the Gospel
Library portion of the Church's official web site at www.lds.org
* Adams, Kellene Ricks, "Korea, Land of the Morning Calm," Ensign,
July 1992.
* Han, In Sang, "Take Up His Cross," Ensign, May 1992.
* Hinckley, Gordon B., "Lord, Increase Our Faith," Ensign,
November 1987.
* Palmer, Spencer J., "Pioneering in South Korea," Ensign,
October 1997.
* Roy, Denny, "Kim Ho Jik: Korean Pioneer," Ensign, July 1988.
* Saunders, Shrleen Meek. "Whang Keun-Ok: Caring for Korea's Children,"
Ensign, October 1993.
* Taylor, Rebecca M. and Han In Sang, "Friend to Friend," Friend,
January 1996.
"Ensign to the Nations" (video cassette), Salt Lake City, Utah:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
www.ldscatalog.com
Hinckley, Gordon B., "Forget Yourself" (audio or video tape), Provo,
Utah: Brigham Young University Speeches
speeches.byu.edu
Hinckley, Gordon B., "Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley," Salt Lake City,
Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1997.
www.deseretbook.com
"The Korean Saints: Testimonies of Faith" (video cassette), Provo, Utah:
Brigham Young University.
creativeworks.byu.edu
LDS Church News articles -- published by "Deseret News," Salt Lake City,
Utah are available online.
For more information see www.desnews.com/cn
* Avant, Gerry, "His Shoulders are Used to Heavy Tasks,"
"LDS Church News," July 6, 1991.
* Jones, Earnest and Berna Jones, "Temple is the Most Peaceful Place
in the World," "LDS Church News," December 26, 1998.
* Pak, Byung Kyu, "No Burning Bush, but Spirit Burns Brightly,"
"LDS Church News," January 3, 1998.
* Weaver, Sarah Jane, "Orphanage Founder's Life Spent Serving,"
"LDS Church News," August 19, 2000.
Palmer, Spencer J. and Shirley H. Palmer, comps. and eds., "The Korean
Saints: Personal Stories of Trail and Triumph, 1950-1980," Provo, Utah:
Religious Education, Brigham Young University, 1995.
(Currently out of print.)
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GEMS is grateful to R. Lanier Britsch upon whose work this series is based. His landmark book "From the East: the History of the Latter-day Saints in Asia, 1851-1996" can be purchased online at: www.deseretbook.com
GEMS thankfully acknowledges the contribution and support of Paul C. Andrus, Mark A. Peterson, Robert H. Slover, and others who have greatly assisted in this series.