Kim Cha-suk: Edit history

Life

Kim Cha-suk is said to have come from Gijang-myeon, Dongnae County, South Gyeongsang Province. Her dates of birth and death, as well as any schooling she may have received, have not been confirmed.

She is reported to have married Han Sang-dong, a native of Gimhae, on May 31, 1921. At the time, Han was a teacher at a private school in Dadaepo. In 1924, a few years after the marriage, he embraced the Christian faith through the witness of an evangelist from Dadaepo Church. It therefore appears that the couple established their household outside the church and that the husband came to faith first. When and how Kim Cha-suk herself came to faith is not known.

Ministry and Contributions

Han Sang-dong is regarded, together with Rev. Ju Gi-cheol, as a leading figure in the movement opposing Shinto shrine worship (the compulsory obeisance at Japanese Shinto shrines) during the Japanese colonial period. As his wife, Kim Cha-suk shared in his sufferings while he was imprisoned for refusing shrine worship.

The principal record in which Kim Cha-suk's name appears directly in church history dates from immediately after liberation. On August 18, 1945, a service of thanksgiving for liberation and of welcome for the released prisoner-saints (believers who had been imprisoned for refusing shrine worship and were freed at liberation) is reported to have been held in the yard of the rented house in Pyongyang where Kim Cha-suk was living. The service was led by Han Sang-dong, and some one thousand people are said to have attended. On that occasion, Han reportedly urged those present to follow the example of faith set by the martyred Ju Gi-cheol and to pray together for his family.

Influence on the Korean Church

No record has been found of Kim Cha-suk holding a church office or carrying out ministry in her own right. As a family member of a leader of the movement opposing shrine worship, she kept the household together while her husband was in prison. She is remembered for opening her home, immediately after liberation, to the first large worship gathering of the released prisoner-saints. Han Sang-dong is regarded as having played a central role in the formation of the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Kosin) after liberation. Accordingly, Kim Cha-suk is also mentioned as a figure connected with the early history of the Kosin denomination.

Assessment

Virtually no research or assessment devoted specifically to Kim Cha-suk has been identified. Most records concerning her appear only briefly in chronologies and biographies of her husband, Han Sang-dong. In church-historical accounts of the movement opposing shrine worship, she is sometimes mentioned in connection with the view that the sufferings endured by the families of imprisoned ministers, especially their pastors' wives, should also be remembered. No critical assessments of her are known.