THE KUKMIN DAILY

Former Deputy Prime Minister Han Wan-sang (82) is the chairperson of the “Presidential Commission on the Centennial Anniversary of the March 1st Independence Movement and the Founding of the Korean Provisional Government,” which was inaugurated and started its activities in July this year. On September 13, I met Chairperson Han at his 3rd floor office in the Central Government Complex, located on Sejong Daero in Seoul, and listened to him explain the significance of the March 1st Movement Centennial and the role of the Korean church.



-You have returned to the government, as chairperson of the commission to commemorate the March 1st Movement and the founding of the Provisional Government.

“The March 1st Movement, which erupted 99 years ago, was a nonviolent, peaceful movement: Up until 1919 there had been no instance, in any country of the world including the advanced nations, of an anti-colonial, anti-imperial minjung (grassroots people’s) movement carried out nonviolently and taking a stand for peace. The Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 Russia was a bloody revolution that involved the killing of landlords and other such actions. But just two years later on the Korean peninsula, more than 2 million people, or 10% of the 20 million population, holding nothing in their hands but Korean flags, stood in front of the guns and swords of the Japanese police and shouted ‘Mansei (Hurray), Independence!’” Although they were shot, although they were dragged off to prison, they rejected violence as a way of confrontation. India’s nonviolent movement leader Gandhi and the poet Tagore, Gandhi’s follower Nehru and others extolled the Korean peninsula as the “lamp of the East.” Patriots who were inspired by the March 1st Movement crossed over to China, set up a provisional government in Shanghai, and adopted Asia’s first constitution based on the system of a democratic republic. A democratic republic, nonviolence and peace: These three are truly great values.”



-Christians, who accounted for just 1.5% of the population at the time, were the axis of the Mansei Movement. And 47 churches were burned due to the rule of Imperial Japan.

“Considering that Christianity had entered Korea full scale in the 1880s, Korean church history was short, about 30 years in length; nevertheless, Christians were the center of the nonviolent, peaceful movement. Cheondogyo also acted together with the Christian churches. Everyplace there was a church, there was a Mansei movement; and wherever there was a mission school, a Mansai movement arose. It will be good if today’s Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Holiness and other churches can follow that tradition properly. Actually, ahead of the March 1st spirit, what is needed is the mission spirit of Jesus of Galilee. That is, rather than hating our enemies, love our enemies, which will dissolve the evil inside them.”



-I understand that in the 1980s when you were a dismissed professor, besides your main profession of political sociology, you studied theology at Union Theological Seminary in the U.S. Please tell me about your faith.

“I’d like to start by talking about my parents. They were followers of the Holiness Church in Daegu, and though conservative, they were especially warmhearted believers. In January 1951, after the January 4 retreat caused by the intervention of the Chinese Communist army, the weather was extraordinarily cold. Our house was in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang-do, and one Sunday, father called us nine brothers and sisters together and told us to go to Gimcheon Station and bring back the refugee family that appeared to be in greatest difficulty. I think he had heard a sermon in church about the Good Samaritan. We went to the station, where we saw a couple in their 40s with three children who were coughing hard and looking miserable, so we brought them home. Escaping from war in the middle of winter, probably they had contracted TB. They were also spitting blood. Father, as the vice- principal of an elementary school, had an official residence with three rooms, and he offered one room to this family. They stayed three months, till the weather warmed up in April. We nine brothers and sisters had to stay in one room, so we pouted. In those days when the minister witnessed to the Word, our parents understood it as the Lord’s will, and put it into action. I would like to see many warm, comfortable conservatives who know how to share, and many churches and ministers with warm hearts sharing the pains of those in difficulty and acting to heal them. That is genuine conservatism.”



-Young Christians are continuously leaving the churches.

“In Mark chapter 5 there is the story of a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for 12 years. She was cast out by the people, who considered her dirty. When Jesus felt someone tugging on his cloak, he turned around and spoke to this woman, who was trembling with fear. ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.’ He called the unfortunate woman ‘daughter,’ took no personal credit but said it was her own faith that had healed her, and declared that, having touched the truth, she could now go in freedom and peace. This is mission and evangelism. I hope that restoration of the church will begin with recovery of the spirit of Jesus of Galilee, who served the poorest and most lowly among the people.”

*Photo: Centennial Commission Chairperson Han Wan-sang stands in his office at the Central Government Complex in Seoul, on September 13. Behind him is a photo taken together with President Moon Jae-in at the Commission’s inaugural ceremony this past July.

Article and photo by reporter Woo Sungkyu (mainport@kmib.co.kr), with Marion Kim (marionkkim@icloud.com)

Original Article in Korean:
[나와 예수-한완상] “가장 낮은 자 섬긴 갈릴리 예수 정신부터 회복할 때”: 대통령 직속 3·1운동 및 임시정부 수립 100주년 기념사업추진위원회 한완상 위원장