The South Korean Nation Not Only Survives, but Thrives After a Furnace of Much Affliction

Some 30 First Nations delegates from Canada visited South Korea between April 17 and 25 under the invitation of the Korean North American Aboriginal Mission, a group of Koreans who live in both Korea and in Canada, and who sense that there is a special call upon the First Nations of Canada.  Therefore, they invited these First Nations delegates to witness firsthand what God has done for their nation in transforming it from the ashes after their very painful history under the Japanese occupation from 1910 to 1945, the Communist occupation and Korean War from 1950 to 1953, and then their involvement in the Viet Nam War after that.  Both North and South Korea lent material and manpower support to their respective ideological allies during the Vietnam War, though the number of South Korean troops on the ground was larger.  The net result of this colonization, wars and oppression left Korea as the second poorest nation on earth by the 1960s.

A transformation has occured since then, but in order to appreciate that transformation, it is important to realize the depth to which the nation of South Korea has experienced pain, exploitation, injustice and cruelty.  It became clear that the people of South Korea can understand very well the pain and the afflictions that the indigenous peoples of other lands have experienced, including the First Nations of Canada.

This is the rebuilt Church of Jeam-ri, near Hwaseong City in the province of Gyeonggi-do in South Korea, about an hour south of Seoul.  At this site, local villagers of Jeam-ri used to pray for liberation from Japanese rule after Japan began occupying Korea in 1910, and continued oppressive colonial rule until 1945.  When Korea was forcibly annexed into part of the Japanese Empire, independence movements began to break out in the Korean peninsula.  When the March 1st movement erupted nation-wide in an attempt to recover sovereignty from the colonialist regime, the Jeam-ri villagers participated in the national resistance movement actively.

Right before March 1st in 1919, the Christians and the Cheondogyo believers of Jeam-ri planned a series of demonstrations in association with the regional independence movement groups, and took the initiatives of the movement in the region with students, merchants, farmers and labourers. 

This monument for the victims of the Jeam-ri (Cheam-ri) Massacre states:  "This monument is dedicated to the 29 persons brutally killed by the Japanese in the area of Jeam-ri during the March 1 Independence Movement of 1919.

"Here at that time, there was a church where Jeam-ri villagers used to pray for liberation from the Japanese rule.  On April 15, 1919, upon the outbreak of the nation-wide independence movement, the Japanese police raided the village, herding 23 villagers into the church.  They then set the church afire to massacre them.

"A monument was erected at this scene of the brutality in 1959 in memory of the victims and six others killed by the Japanese at the nearby Koguri Village during the movement.  The monument was renovated afterwards by the Ministry of Culture and Information during the purification of the area, which has been designated as Historical Site No. 299."

The massacre in Jeam-ri is the most remarkable oppressive incident done by the Japanese imperialists while suppressing the March 1st movement. The incident was committed by the regular Japanese army trying to suppress the movement.  On April 15, 1919 Japanese police raided the village and herded villagers into the church…and set it on fire. 

The Japanese ordered selected adults (men of age 15 and over) of the village to assemble at the village church. The Japanese had a list and went after those who failed to appear on their own. As soon as all the adult male villagers were inside the church, the Japanese locked the doors and closed all windows, after which they began to first torture and then to shoot the victims from the windows.

After the shooting ended, the Japanese piled up straw, poured kerosene on it, and set the church on fire in an apparent effort to hide the evidence. 

As well as setting fire to the Jeam-ri Church, the Japanese set fire to 31 homes, and this is one of the only houses left standing at Jeam-ri on April 15, 1919. 

It should be noted that the power of love and forgiveness is still greater than the worst atrocities imagineable.  Nor can it ever be said that all of the people of any one race are all bad, or that all the people of any one race are without blemish.  As Alexandr Solzhenitzyn once said of life in the Siberian concentration camps, that he "came to see that not all of the guards were bad guys, and not all of the prisoners were good guys, but that the line between good and evil is not a line which can be drawn between races, nations, social classes or political parties, but it is a line which is drawn deep within every human heart."

Not all the Koreans were non-violent during the resistance, even though their frustration was understandable, but not all Japanese are in the same category either.  As a testament to that, the new Jeam-ri Church which was rebuilt on this same site was done with the help of the Japanese to express their contrition, and desire for a form of restitution.  Today, the Korean Church seems to have by-and-large been able to rise above the past, to let go, and to release forgiveness, and there has been reconciliation sufficient to allow South Korea to break with their demons from the past, to break the curse of past generations, and to move into their destiny without illwill, rancor or bitterness. 

On May 24, 1949, March 1st was designated a national holiday in South Korea, and how the Korean nation has responded to incidents like this has becoming a defining moment in their nation's history.

The Korean/First Nations delegation moved on from Jeam-ri to the southernmost part of South Korea, to the Leprosy Station on Sorokdo Island.  To get to this site, one has to cross a huge bridge, which is a sign of the advanced technology and feats of engineering that are prominent on South Korean highways today.  Many bridges and tunnels have been contructed over the past 40 years to make access to remote areas possible.

The group was taken to the site of the Leprosy Station where human experiments were performed on leprosy (also known as Hansen's Disease) patients.  Again, the First Nations delegation from Canada saw how that the weakest and most vulnerable parts of Korean society also know what it is like to be exploited, mistreated, and taken advantage of when helpless.

This plaque at the site of the Leprosy Station reads: "As a place where the Japanese performed vasectomies and autopsies on leprosy patients during the colonial period (1910 - 1945), this lab embodies the sad history of Sorokdo Island where leprosy patients' human rights were violated.  Regardless of the families' intentions, an autopsy had to be carried out on the dead before the funeral, and the bodies were cremated in the crematories located on the seashore behind Gubuk-ri.

"With an operation table, an autopsy table, and cleaning facilities preserved inside the building just as they were in the past, this lab gives a glimpse of the grim situation at the time."

The barred windows give more the appearance of a jail-house than that of a hospital designed to give human care to those who suffered from leprosy.

This was just another dimension of Korea's painful past, a past which they have risen above through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Extreme poverty was another part of South Korea's painful past after the Japanese Occupation (1910-1945), the subsequent Korean War (1950-1953), and the subsequent Viet Nam War (1959 until 1975).  South Korea was completely ravaged, as was attested by this city slum.   In 1960, right around the time that this picture was taken, South Korea was one of the poorest nations on the earth, with their per capita GNP at about $80.00 U. S.  As recently as  40 years ago, it was still said to be the second poorest nation on the earth. 

Today, Sorokdo Park is a beautiful garden, indicating that the nation is displaying beauty for ashes, glory for shame, and loveliness for ruin.

This guide to the Sorokdo Park reveals that this beautiful park was built with the leprosy patient's toilsome labour, but yet out of that has come beauty.  As the plaque reveals, "The construction of a strolling ground for Hansen's Disease (leprosy) patients into a recreational garden was initiated in 1934, and completed on December 1, 1936.  Thereafter, an expansion of the garden into a large public park was planned and the reconstruction was commenced on December 1, 1939.  For aesthetic pleasure, Wando Island and Deuk Ryang Bay provided various rocks and stones for the park, and trees were imported from Japan and Taiwan to create a visual harmony.

"In addition, a lotus pond built in the corner of the park became occupied with fishes of all sorts.  With the patients' toilsome labour for four long months, the construction of Sorokdo Park was successfully accomplished on April 1, 1940.  The park then measured approximately 20,000 square metres.  Finally, in 1962, a 4000 square metre-wide lot including the ruins of a brick kiln, was also incorporated, and the expanded park exists as of today."

The beauty of Sorokdo Park today is a reminder that good does eventually triumph over evil, and that beauty does eventually emerge out of the ashes of burned out lives.  The land is being transformed from a wilderness into a garden as the nation of South Korea gets it roots down into a faith that is based on eternal values that outlast temporary troubles and injustices.

When the people of the land invite the Holy Spirit to do a work through prayer, He comes to both the people and to the land "to comfort those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified.  And they shall rebuild the old ruins.  They shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations" (Isaiah 61:2-4).

Today, the natural beauty and the beauty of human architecture, such as this magnificient bridge, connect in such a way that reflects the Creator's image, beauty and design.

Presently, in 2013, South Korea has transformed itself from one of the poorest countries in the 20th century, especially during the1960s, to an economic giant in the early 21st century!

Korean society has undergone a major transformation since the 1960s.  Nothing short of an economic miracle has taken place.

Profound changes have been noticed in every field of life since the 1960s. The per capita GNP rose from $80.00 in 1960 to $1,600.00 in 1980.

The number of registered motor vehicles increased 360 times over, from 31,000 to 11,134,000 between 1960 and 1999.

After the end of the Japanese occupation in 1945, only about 2% of South Korea's population were Christian.  A rapid growth of Christianity ensued, and today, magnificient church buildings with a cross on top of the building have proliferated in cities all over and across the nation.  The influence of the Christian faith on education has been decisive as Christians have started 293 schools and 40 universities, including three of the top five academic institutions.  Protestantism is seen as the faith of the middle class, youth, intellectuals, and urbanites, and has been central to South Korea's pursuit of modernity.

In recent years, Protestantism has seen somewhat of a decline in South Korea due to scandals involving church leadership, including some conflicts and divisions. It is a reminder that when a nation becomes prosperous, that we must never lose sight of where all blessings flow from. Nevertheless, the influence of the Christian faith upon the nation is still significant.

"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach (a shame or a disgrace) to any people"  (Proverbs 14:34).

The next four posts will convey something of the story of the church's role in the transformation of South Korea, and the combination of prayer and teaching that brings prosperity and blessing to a nation.  This was the message that was brought home to the First Nations delegation from Canada to South Korea between April 17 and 25, 2013, a delegation which included Elijah Harper, who has since gone home to heaven.  The following posts convey some of the keys in rising above the pain and the ruins of the past into a more glorious destiny in the future.