Guide to the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations Secretaries' Files: Korea Mission

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 and eventually nine stations were established. The others included: Taiku (1899); Syenchyuin (1901); Chairyung (1906); Chungju (1908); Kangkai (1908); Andong (1910); and Hingkin in Manchuria (1918). Mission work in Korea was done in cooperation with several other denominations that included Methodists; Southern, Canadian and Australian Presbyterians; Baptists; Anglicans. The Presbyterians and Methodists constituted the two largest groups operative in Korea. The first Protestant Church was organized in 1887 in Seoul. In 1907, all four Presbyterians groups 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 being 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 other missions. The presence of the Japanese from 1910 until 1945, for example, 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 as well as after the Second World War. Likewise, the Korean War caused a period of retrenchment for the Church from which the effects are still being felt.