THE KUKMIN DAILY

Rev. Rhee Syngman, “apostle of reconciliation” and dedicated Korean-American activist for reunification and human rights, died of bone marrow cancer on January 14 at 4:30 a.m. (local time) in Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, U.S.A. He was 84.

According to Rev. Rhee’s wishes, a family funeral will be held in Atlanta on the 16th, and his ashes will be divided and buried in South Korea, the U.S. and North Korea. He is survived by his wife, Elder Lee Haesun (80), a son and two daughters.

Rev. Rhee was born in Pyongyang in 1931, the son of Rev. Lee Tae-seok. Following his graduation from Pyeongyang Seonghwa Seminary, he and his younger brother escaped together to the South when the Korean War broke out, leaving behind their parents and four younger sisters. He was 19 at the time. In 1956 he went to the U.S. to study. He graduated from Yale University’s Theology Department, and completed his Ph.D. in Sociology of Religion at Chicago Theological Seminary.

Ordained as a pastor in 1960, he was serving as a chaplain at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, when he met Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and immediately became involved in the black civil rights movement. In 1978 he got in touch with his sisters in North Korea and heard the news that his mother had died eight years earlier, and that his father had been captured by Communist Party members and died a martyr in prison. His second and fourth sisters are still living in the North. His painful family history was what motivated his devotion to the movement for reunification, peace and reconciliation, and his more than 30 visits to the North.

In 1992, as president of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCCCUSA), representing 33 denominations, he acted as a messenger of peace and reconciliation. In particular, he actively expanded the movements for protection of the rights of minorities in the U.S., and for exchanges between the two nations and churches of South Korea and North Korea.

In June 2000, Rev. Rhee became the first Asian American to be elected Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA) (PCUSA) General Assembly, at its 212th Assembly. In 2010 he received the “E.T. Thompson Award” from PCUSA in recognition of his contributions as a “reconciler.” The award is granted to a church leader who has contributed to church and society.

Rev. Lee, who had fought bone marrow cancer since last year, was hospitalized this past December 28 when his condition suddenly worsened. In a telephone interview with Kukmin Daily on January 15, his younger brother, Elder Lee Seung-gyu (retired pastor of Daejeon Daedeok Presbyterian Church) said, “Just before his death, he expressed his wishes, saying, ‘I think my work is finished. I am thankful to have lived a life of love.’”

Reporter Jaechan Park (jeep@kmib.co.kr), with Marion Kim (marionkkim@icloud.com)


Click here for the original article in Korean