Kim Pil-rye

Life

Kim Pil-rye was born in 1891 in Sorae Village, Songcheon-ri, Jangyeon County, Hwanghae Province, the youngest daughter of Kim Seong-seom and An Seong-eun. Sources differ on her date of birth, giving either November 19 or December 19. Her elder brother Kim Pil-soon was a physician and independence activist, and her elder sister Kim Soon-ae and her niece Kim Maria were also active in the independence movement. She is said to have received baptism as a child from the missionary Horace Underwood.

In 1907 she graduated in the first class of Yeondong Girls' School (later Chungshin Girls' School), which had been founded by the mission of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (Northern Presbyterian). In 1908 she went to Japan as a government-sponsored student, enrolled at Joshi Gakuin in Tokyo, and completed its upper division in 1916. Returning to Korea that same year, she became a teacher at her alma mater, Chungshin Girls' School. In 1918 she married the physician Choi Young-wook (half-brother of the Rev. Choi Heung-jong) and moved to Gwangju, where she taught at Speer Girls' School. In the mid-1920s she studied in the United States, earning a bachelor's degree from Agnes Scott College in Georgia and a master's degree from Columbia University in New York.

After Korea's liberation, she became the first principal of Speer Girls' Middle School when it reopened in December 1945. In March 1947 she became the twelfth principal of Chungshin Girls' School, which had been closed after refusing to take part in Shinto shrine worship, and reopened the school. Her husband, Choi Young-wook, served as governor of South Jeolla Province under the U.S. Army Military Government in Korea but died after being captured by the North Korean People's Army during the Korean War. Kim later held positions including chair of the board of the Chungshin Educational Foundation and principal emerita. She died in 1983.

Ministry and Accomplishments

Founding of the YWCA

While studying in Tokyo, she stayed in a Japanese YWCA dormitory during school vacations. There, it is said, she saw the Bible put into practice in daily life and resolved to establish a similar organization in Korea. In 1921, through an introduction by Alice Appenzeller, principal of Ewha Haktang, she met Helen Kim (Kim Hwal-lan). In March 1922 she and Yu Gak-gyeong, among others, organized a preparatory committee for the founding. Together with Helen Kim, she attended an international Christian student conference and sought the cooperation of leaders from various countries, but they were told that the approval of the Japanese YWCA was required first. She then met in person with Michi Kawai, general secretary of the Japanese YWCA, and secured her cooperation. The Korean YWCA recognizes Kim Pil-rye, Helen Kim, and Yu Gak-gyeong as its three founders. As the first general secretary of the national association, Kim traveled throughout the country, including what is now North Korea, establishing local chapters; she also served as general secretary of the Gwangju YWCA.

Women's Education

Serving as teacher, vice principal, and principal at Chungshin Girls' School and Speer Girls' School, she devoted her life to secondary education for women. She is regarded as having seen women's education as the foundation for the nation's self-reliance and independence.

Influence on the Korean Church

• She laid the groundwork for the YWCA, a channel through which church women could carry their faith into social engagement.
• She led two Presbyterian mission schools, Chungshin and Speer, through the difficult years of the late Japanese colonial period and the period surrounding liberation, helping to sustain the tradition of Christian schools.
• During her years in Gwangju, she also took part in the Women's Auxiliary (the forerunner of today's Women's Missionary Society).

Assessment

In 1972 she received the Order of Civil Merit, Moran Medal. After her death she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Commendation for National Foundation (Geonguk Pojang) in recognition of her contributions to Korean independence and nation-building through women's education and education for national self-reliance. She is regarded as a figure who emphasized education and enlightenment rather than armed struggle or political activity. Although she was less well known than her fellow YWCA founder Helen Kim, she drew renewed attention in 2019 with the publication of a biography and a sourcebook, Kim Pil-rye: Reading and Remembering Her. No significant criticism of her is widely known.