Soongsil School

Background

The missionaries who came to Korea in the late nineteenth century opened schools as well as churches. William M. Baird (Korean name Bae Wi-ryang), a missionary of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (Northern Presbyterian), arrived in Korea in 1891 to begin mission work. In 1897 he moved to Pyongyang, where he founded a school. The school's name, "Soongsil" (崇實), is interpreted as meaning "to honor what is true." Unlike Ewha Haktang and Pai Chai Haktang in Seoul, which began with elementary-level instruction, Soongsil is said to have begun at the secondary level.

Development

• October 10, 1897: The school opened with 13 students in the guest room (sarangbang) of Baird's residence in Sinyang-ri, Pyongyang.
• 1901: A new two-story hanok classroom building and a dormitory were constructed, and the school was named Soongsil Haktang.
• 1904: The school's first three students graduated. Among them, Cha I-seok later served in the Korean Provisional Government in Shanghai, and Choe Gwang-ok became known as a patriot and a scholar of the Korean language.
• 1906: A college department was established within the school under the name Union Christian College (Hapseong Soongsil College). It is counted among the earliest modern institutions of higher education in Korea.
• 1912: The school received accreditation from the Japanese Government-General of Korea.
• 1919: Students and graduates took a leading role in the March First independence demonstrations in Pyongyang. A considerable number of the students arrested in Pyongyang at that time are said to have been from Soongsil. The school states that several dozen of its alumni have been recognized as independence patriots.
• 1925: Under Japanese colonial education policy, the college department was reorganized as Soongsil College (Soongsil Jeonmun Hakgyo, a specialized college). Some regard this reorganization as a "downgrade" from university to specialized-college status.
• 1931: The founder, Baird, died in Pyongyang.
• Late 1930s: The Japanese authorities forced even Christian schools to take part in Shinto shrine worship. Soongsil refused, decided in the autumn of 1937 to close voluntarily, and shut its doors in March 1938. Sungui Girls' School, also in Pyongyang, closed during the same period.

Outcome and Influence: From Pyongyang to Seoul

After liberation, the school could not be reopened in Pyongyang. Teachers and alumni who had fled south to escape the North Korean regime reestablished it. The middle school division was reestablished in Sindang-dong, Seoul, in 1948, and continues today as Soongsil Middle and High Schools. For the college, a reconstruction committee was organized around Youngnak Presbyterian Church shortly after the Korean War, and in 1954 the school received approval from the Ministry of Education and reopened as Soongsil College (Soongsil Daehak). The Rev. Han Kyung-chik, who had graduated from Soongsil College in 1925, led the reconstruction effort and served as its president. The college initially used space in the Youngnak Church building before moving to a new campus in Sangdo-dong in 1957. It became Soongjun University, a comprehensive university, in 1971, and regained the name Soongsil University in 1987. Soongsil University is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap). Notable Soongsil alumni include Cho Man-sik.

Assessment

Soongsil's voluntary closure is frequently cited as a case in which the preservation of faith and national resistance converged. Some regard it highly in comparison with other schools in Seoul that accepted Shinto shrine worship and remained open. Soongsil University observes the date of the closure as a commemorative day. Today's Soongsil Middle and High Schools and Soongsil University, however, belong to separate educational foundations. The two institutions also differ in how they describe their inheritance of the Pyongyang Soongsil tradition and in which year they take as their starting point.