Choi Heung-jong

Life

Choi was born in Gwangju in 1880. His birth name was Choi Yeong-jong; he changed his given name to Heung-jong when he was baptized in 1907. According to tradition, after losing his parents at an early age he drifted aimlessly and was known by the nickname "Choi the Hammer." For a time he also worked as a sungeom, a low-ranking police officer of the Korean Empire period. When the Southern Presbyterian Church (U.S.) established a mission station in Gwangju in 1904, he encountered Christianity through the missionary Eugene Bell.

In 1909 the medical missionary Wiley Forsythe found a Hansen's disease patient collapsed by the roadside, placed the patient on his horse, brought the patient back, and cared for the patient. Witnessing this is said to have been the turning point in Choi's life. In 1912 he became the first elder of Bukmunan Church in Gwangju (now Gwangju First Church). He later studied at Pyongyang Theological Seminary and became the first minister from Gwangju. He took part in the March First Movement and was imprisoned for it. In 1922 he volunteered to go to Siberia as a missionary but was expelled by the Soviet authorities.

Obang

On March 17, 1935, Choi sent acquaintances a "notice of death" announcing that he had died, and he adopted the pen name Obang, meaning "letting go of five things." It is commonly interpreted as withdrawing from family affairs, social standing, economic gain, politics, and sectarian activity, though some writings explain it as renouncing five desires. He is said to have undergone castration surgery at Severance Hospital around this time. In 1937 he withdrew to Mount Mudeung, where he was living when Korea was liberated. In February 1966 he began a fast on Mount Mudeung; he was later moved into the city, and he died on May 14. His funeral was held at Gwangju Park as a South Jeolla civic funeral.

Ministry and Achievements

• Relief for Hansen's disease patients: In 1912 he donated about 1,000 pyeong (roughly 0.8 acre) of his own land in Bongseon-ri to provide a site for the Gwangju Leprosy Hospital. In the 1930s he took part in founding the Korean Leper Relief Association and the Association for the Eradication of Leprosy in Korea. He is said to have led patients on a march on foot all the way to Seoul and to have obtained a promise from the Governor-General of Korea to expand the facilities on Sorok Island.
• Care for the poor and tuberculosis patients: After liberation he founded Hohyewon (1953), a self-supporting settlement for people affected by Hansen's disease, in Naju. He went on to found the tuberculosis sanatorium villages Songdeungwon (1956) and Mudeungwon (1963), as well as Samae Academy, which trained rural leaders.
• Social and national movements: He participated in founding the Gwangju YMCA and served as head of the South Jeolla branch of the Singanhoe. Immediately after liberation he chaired the South Jeolla committee of the Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence.

Influence on the Korean Church

Choi was a leading figure of early Protestantism in the Honam region of Korea. He is frequently cited as an example of the church serving the sick and the poor. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap) designated the Sinnim Prayer Retreat on Mount Mudeung (now the Obang Retreat Center), where he lived among beggars, as Korean Christian Historic Site No. 35. Nam District of Gwangju established the Obang Choi Heung-jong Memorial Hall in Yangnim-dong.

Assessment

Choi is known as "the saint of Mount Mudeung" and "the father of Gwangju." The South Korean government awarded him a decoration in 1962 and posthumously conferred the Order of Merit for National Foundation in 1990. His decision in the mid-1930s to send a notice of death and withdraw from public life is generally regarded as a resolute renunciation of worldly desires. Some writers, however, note that the church and social reform activities he had led until then came to an abrupt halt. Sources differ on his birth date, the length of his prison sentence, the duration of his final fast, and the grade of his decorations.