Guide to the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Korea Mission Records

Presbyterian work in Korea commenced in 1884 when Dr. and Mrs. Horace Allen of the Shanghai station were transferred to Korea, then referred to as Chosen. Early mission work centered in Seoul and Pyengyang. Eventually nine stations were established. The others were: Taiku (1899); Syenchyuin (1901); Chairyng (1906); Chungju (1908); Kangkai (1908); Andong (1910); and Hingkin in Manchuria (1918). Mission work in Korea was done in cooperation with several other denominations, including the Methodist; Southern, Canadian, and Australian Presbyterian; Baptist; Anglican; and Methodist Episcopal churches. The Presbyterians and Methodists were the two largest groups in Korea. The first Protestant Church was organized in 1887 in Seoul. In 1907, all four Presbyterian denominations established the Union Presbyterian Church of Korea.

Medical work played a prominent role in the Presbyterian Church's missionary efforts in Korea. A hospital was established in Pyengyang in 1896 in conjunction with the Methodists. In 1885, Dr. Horace Allen founded the Royal Korean Hospital in Seoul that eventually became the Severance Union Hospital, Medical College and Nurses Training School. The Church's educational work commenced rather late and was complicated by a variety of difficulties, one of which was language. Primary schools, academies for boys and girls, a theological seminary and several colleges (in Seoul and Pyengyang) eventually were developed. The theological seminary in Seoul was operated in cooperation with the Methodists and represented only one example of denominational cooperation. Others included the Pierson Memorial Bible School, the Christian Literature Society and the Union Language School.

Mission work in Korea was complicated by several factors not common to others missions. The presence of the Japanese after 1910 until 1945, did much to undermine the work of the missionaries, especially during the 1930s. The Shrine Issue, for instance, though superficially a patriotic concern, reduced the role of the Church in Korea to the will of the Japanese Emperor. The divisiveness that it caused was clearly manifested both before and after the Second World War. Likewise, the Korean War caused a period of retrenchment for the Church.