History of Korean Quakers By Bo-Kyom Jin
1. History of Korean Quakers
After the Korean War, some British and American Quakers came to Korea for rehabilitation programs. After the overseas workers had left Korea, some of the Korean assistants of the programs held the first Quaker Meeting in 1958 and some American Friends who worked at the international Cooperation Administration in Seoul supported them. Meeting began with silent worship for thirty minutes, and about an hour was given for study and fellowship.
FWCC encouraged Seoul Friends to build relationship with Japan Yearly Meeting or with Honolulu MM and two of the Koreans became Quakers whose membership belonged to Honolulu Meeting in 1958. Historically, Japan and Korea have had a difficult relationship since Korea was colonized and devastated by Japan. So it was difficult for us to intervisit for some time. The same year, AFSC energetically tried to bring some Koreans to the seminars and work camps in Japan and Korean Friends began to participate in the program. As the result of their visits, correspondence with Japanese Friends began taking place. In 1961, FWCC began sponsoring some visitors and Friends in residence in Korea and Seoul Friends requested a direct and official relationship with FWCC. The Meeting then had about thirty regular attenders and study programs were actively carried out and FWCC helped strengthen its links with overseas Friends.
In 1964, with the help of overseas Friends, a meeting place for the Seoul Friends was purchased after having had to change places of worship ten times in 6 years.“Seoul Friends Meeting Monthly Newsletter” was published in 1966. The Meeting decided to take up the leper village in Tandong as its main service project. The visiting Friends from Japan, USA, Australia and England, have strengthened us very much. Every Sunday, Bible study was led by Sok Hon Ham, who was a widely recognized spiritual leader in Korea.
In 1967, Seoul Meeting became a Monthly Meeting under the care of the FWCC. The visit of the Chairperson of FWCC, Douglas Steere and his wife Dorothy in 1967 and his public lecture at the YMCA with about one hundred people in the audience meant a great deal in Quaker outreach. At the same year, Sok Hon Ham left Korea for the USA to attend the Greensboro Gathering and the tenth triennial meeting of FWCC.
After the meeting, he attended the Pacific Yearly Meeting, studied at Pendle Hill and visited many Friends Meetings and Friends in the United States and Japan. International Quaker contacts such as work camps, travel and study abroad(at Pendle Hill or at Woodbrooke in England), participation in Quaker conferences, an inter-visitation program with Japanese Quakers, and numerous visiting friends contributed greatly to nurturing Korean Friends during the 1970s and 1980s and are still an enriching experience to us.
In 1980, SMM was active having a study group, outreach activities and raised a voice of conscience under the dictatorship of military government. Under the leadership of Sok Hon Ham, Seoul MM flourished with members and attenders at its height numbering close to fifty. In 1988, a second floor was added to the meetinghouse to meet the demand of the growing memberships. In 1990s, Seoul MM went through a dark period after the demise of Sok Hon Ham. Fortunately, since 2000, Seoul MM has revived some of its vitality.
2. State of the Meeting
Over the past year our number of members has decreased from 20 to 10. Some of the attenders are Americans who are married to Koreans In the past few years, a worshipping group began to meet regularly and more than 10 F/friends continues to gather every week in Daejon (a city 2 hours far from Seoul) They have established a vibrant, worshipping and studying community. We used to have a retreat annually but there were no retreats in 2007/8 because of the absence of initiatives or the decrease of members. Vocal ministries are rare in Seoul MM and sometimes I feel eager for vocal ministries in my Meeting. In addition, the financial situation of SMM has gotten worse mainly as monthly donations decreased.
Since 2007, AVP programs have been introduced by a Korean Friend (Jonghee Lee) and co-facilitated by her and German Friends (including Ute Caspers). Most of the participants were NGO activists. A Direct Education workshop facilitated by George Leakey from the USA was also held in Seoul last year. We are planning a Korea version of Faith and Practice. I know you have made your own Faith and Practice and hope that Australian Friends will give some useful advice to us.
Last year we had quarterly gatherings named Family gatherings. The intention is for us to invite our family members who are not Quakers and sing together and share food and fellowship. We have an annual gathering (business meeting and fellowship)
3. Committee activities
We have Peace Service committee, Learning committee, Outreach committee, library and website committee, Facilities care committee, Finance committee. Our committees are not fully functioning partly due to shortage of manpower but we are thankful that we could maintain this Meeting and carried out some service activities.
From the beginning of the Korean Quaker history, service work was emphasized. As a first step, medicines were supplied to two Tuberculosis patients beginning in 1961 for two years. Work camps for orphans and the blind, In 1964, a house for leper patients was built. Emergency food was supplied in 1960s. In 2003, the
Meeting participated in an anti Iraq War demonstration and actively raised funds to help anti Iraq War activists’ organizations. The meeting now supports Foreign Migrant Workers Center , Ssi-Al Women’s Center, and the Anti-Mine Association. Since the Korean War, landmines that were buried during the war have become a threat to civilians but those victims haven’t been cared enough by Korean government.
Our program consists of Business Meeting every 1st Sunday; George Fox Journal reading 2nd Sunday; Pendle Hill pamphlet discussion group every 3rd Sunday; Bible reading group every 4th Sunday.
4. Children in the Meeting
Child care issues emerged again during the 2008 annual meeting. At present, a few children attend the Meeting irregularly and SMM is going to assign F/fs to take care of them during the worship in case children come.
5. International Contacts
Sister Meetings :
Canberra/Australia,
Kapiti/ New Zealand,
JYM Hosted 2005 AWPS Section Gathering.
Korean Friends have attended international Friends gatherings including Bhopal, India gathering and Auckland and Dublin Triennials.
Epilogue :In December 2008, Seoul Friends had their annual meeting to review the past year and to think about and plan 2009. We are thankful that we could maintain this tiny meeting and that our worshiping group is getting more active.
