Han Seok-jin

Han Seok-jin (韓錫晋, 1868 – 1939) was a Presbyterian minister. He was one of the first seven Korean ordained ministers, and during the Japanese colonial period he served as moderator of the Gyeonggi-Chungcheong Presbytery, as the 6th moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Korea, and as president of the Federal Council. He was also a social activist.¹

Life

He was born in 1868 in Uiju-eup, North Pyongan Province. His father was Han Ji-un (韓祉云). Born into a traditional Confucian scholar family in the Seobuk region, he learned Chinese characters from an early age, but while feeling disillusioned with the formal moral concepts of Confucianism, he received evangelism from Paik Hong-jun and Seo Sang-ryun, among others. Then, in 1891, he was baptized by Samuel Austin Moffett (S. A. Moffett), a missionary of the American Presbyterian Mission who visited Uiju. He later went to Seoul, where he studied the Bible and doctrine in the theology class of Underwood (H. G. Underwood). In 1893, together with Samuel Austin Moffett, he was dispatched as a pioneer of the Pyongyang mission and began meetings at Neodari-gol, inside Daedong Gate in Pyongyang, which later became Jangdaehyeon Church. He also evangelized outside Pyongyang and established Yungjin Church, Jadeok Church, Namchang Church, Sowumul (Jangcheon) Church, Gudongchang Church, Chubinri Church, Mijeongri Church, and Mujin Church. In 1898, he served as a regulation committee member of the Independence Club's Gwanseo branch, and it is said that Ahn Chang-ho (Dosan) converted to Christianity after hearing his "patriotic" speech (sermon).

In 1903, he was ordained as an elder of Sowumul Church. From 1904 he received theological training, and in June 1907 he graduated as part of the first class of the Pyongyang Presbyterian Theological Seminary, together with Kil Sun-ju, Bang Gi-chang, Seo Gyeong-jo, Song In-seo, Lee Ki-poong, and Yang Jeon-baek, among others. He was then ordained as a minister by the Independent Presbytery of the , which was organized that September. He subsequently served as pastor of Sowumul Church and Mirim Church in Daedong County, and Icheon Church, among others. In 1909, he went to Japan and established a Korean united church centered on Korean students in Tokyo, and in February 1910 he founded and published the interdenominational joint newspaper (『예수교회보』). Afterward, he served as pastor of Ahn-dong Church in Seoul in 1911, Munchang Church in Masan in 1917, and Sinuiju First Church in 1921. He became moderator of the Gyeonggi-Chungcheong Presbytery in 1912 and the 6th moderator of the General Assembly of the in 1917. As General Assembly moderator, he resumed the Shandong mission, which had been in danger of being discontinued. In 1918, he actively promoted the establishment of the interdenominational joint body the "Joseon Jesus Church and Methodist Joint Council" (renamed in 1924 as the ""). In 1926, he was elected president of the Federal Council, and around that time he led a movement against the "Religious Organizations Act" that the Imperial Diet of Japan was pushing to legislate.