Son Jeong-do

Life

Son was born the eldest son of a Confucian family in Gangseo County, South Pyeongan Province. Sources differ on his year of birth, giving either 1881 or 1882. He is said to have undergone a conversion (coming to faith) to Christianity after meeting a minister while traveling to Pyongyang to sit for the civil service examination. At that time he cut off his topknot, which provoked his family's opposition and led him to leave home. With the help of J. Z. Moore, a Methodist missionary working in Pyongyang, he entered Soongsil School and graduated from Soongsil Middle School in 1908. His fellow graduates that year included Cho Man-sik.

While a student, he was influenced by the Pyongyang Great Revival and resolved to enter the ministry. He studied theology at the Union Methodist Theological Seminary (now Methodist Theological University) and began his pastoral ministry at Namsanhyeon Church in Pyongyang. In 1911 he was ordained a deacon, which at that time was the first stage of ordination in the Methodist Church.

Ministry and Work

After his ordination he was sent as a missionary to Manchuria. Because of his meetings with nationalist activists in Beijing, he was implicated in the so-called Katsura assassination plot. As a result, he was tortured and exiled to Jindo Island in South Jeolla Province.

After the March First Movement of 1919, he went to Shanghai and took part in establishing the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. He reportedly often handled practical affairs under an alias or anonymously, fearing that his identity would be exposed. He later served as speaker of the Provisional Legislative Assembly and as minister of transportation. In January 1923 he attended the National Representatives' Conference as a delegate from Pyeongan Province and served on its finance committee; this was his last activity connected with the Provisional Government.

He then moved to Jilin in northern Manchuria, where he ministered to the Korean community. He also founded the Farmers' Mutual Aid Society (Nongmin Hojosa), an organization centered on farmers, and carried out programs in rural education, the development of agricultural techniques, and public health and sanitation. During his years in Jilin, when the young Kim Il-sung was arrested by a Manchurian warlord, Son's family supported him throughout his imprisonment. In his memoir With the Century, Kim Il-sung wrote that he revered Son like a father.

Death and Aftermath

His health declined from the lingering effects of torture and from overwork, and he died in Jilin on February 19, 1931. For lack of funeral funds, no burial place could be secured for some time. In June of that year a memorial service was held at the Methodist Annual Conference in Kaesong, where District Superintendent Bae Hyeong-sik made the situation known, prompting a collection for the funeral expenses. His remains were buried at Beishan in Jilin; in September 1996 they were repatriated and interred in the section for Provisional Government leaders at the Seoul National Cemetery.

Influence on the Korean Church

Son belonged to the generation that entered the ministry after experiencing the Pyongyang Great Revival. He is remembered as a Methodist figure who combined pastoral ministry with the independence movement. He is often mentioned alongside Ahn Chang-ho, and the Methodist Church regards him as a representative example of the connection between faith and the nationalist movement. His son, Son Won-il, served as the first Chief of Naval Operations of the Republic of Korea.

Assessment

In 1962 the government of the Republic of Korea posthumously awarded him the Independence Medal of the Order of Merit for National Foundation. In April 2007 the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs named him its "Independence Activist of the Month." Some scholars regard him as a figure who united the various factions within the Provisional Government. He is honored as an independence activist in South Korea and is mentioned favorably in North Korea through Kim Il-sung's memoir, making him one of the rare figures recognized in both South and North. However, what is known of his relationship with Kim Il-sung rests mainly on Kim Il-sung's memoir.