Suh Byung-ho

Life

Suh Byung-ho was born in 1885 in Jangyeon, Hwanghae Province. His clan seat was Daegu, and his pen name was Songam (松嵒). His father, Suh Kyung-jo, was one of the first seven ministers ordained in the Korean Presbyterian Church. Suh Byung-ho was born the second son of Suh Kyung-jo and is said to have been adopted by his uncle, Suh Sang-ryun. The brothers Suh Sang-ryun and Suh Kyung-jo founded Sorae Church, regarded as one of the earliest Protestant churches established by Koreans themselves.

It is said that when Suh Kyung-jo was baptized in Seoul by the missionary Horace Underwood, the young Suh Byung-ho was baptized with him. Underwood later visited Sorae in 1887 and baptized believers there. For this reason, Suh Byung-ho is known as the first person in Korean Protestantism to receive infant baptism (baptism administered to young children who are not yet able to profess faith for themselves). Sorae Church offered modern education alongside religious instruction, and Suh is counted among those who grew up receiving this education. He married Kim Gu-rye, who had studied at the Jeongsin Girls' School; her younger sisters included Kim Soon-ae, the wife of Kim Kyu-sik, and Kim Pil-rye.

He returned to Korea in 1947, after liberation, and died in 1972. Records indicate that he was initially buried in the Mangu-ri Public Cemetery in Guri, Gyeonggi Province.

Ministry and Achievements

In Shanghai, China, Suh organized the New Korea Youth Party together with Lyuh Woon-hyung, Kim Chul, Cho So-ang, Cho Dong-ho, and others. After the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea was established in 1919, he served in the Provisional Legislative Assembly. He is also said to have secretly entered Korea to maintain contact with fellow activists and to raise funds for the independence movement. In addition, he took part in founding the Korean Red Cross Society. Using funds raised in Nanjing, the Americas, and Hawaii, he aided the families of independence activists in the Jiandao (Gando) region.

He also devoted himself to education and to the Korean expatriate community. In 1923 he founded the Namhwa Academy in Shanghai, and in 1933 he served as chairman of the board of the Inseong School in Shanghai. He also chaired the boards of the Korean Young Men's Christian Association of Shanghai and the Korean Residents' Association. From 1926 onward, his father, Suh Kyung-jo, also lived in Shanghai and spent the rest of his life with his son.

After returning to Korea, Suh served as an elder of Saemunan Church. He was a director of the Seoul Central Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA of Korea) and of the Kyungshin School, becoming chairman of the Kyungshin School board in 1950. Some records also state that he served as principal of Kyungshin Middle School.

Influence on the Korean Church

The Suh family illustrates the early Presbyterian lineage that began at Sorae Church and continued to Saemunan Church in Seoul. Suh Byung-ho belonged to the first generation born into an indigenous Korean community of faith and baptized by missionaries. He went on to devote his life to the independence movement, Christian education, and church service. For this reason, he is frequently cited in the history of Korean Protestantism as an example of how the faith of early Christian families carried over into the nationalist movement and education. His son, Suh Jae-hyun, was also an independence activist and received the Order of Merit for National Foundation.

Assessment

Korean studies resources and regional cultural encyclopedias present him as a Presbyterian elder, independence activist, and educator. His name also appears in the register of independence patriots maintained by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs. No significant criticism of him or controversy surrounding him is widely known.