THE KUKMIN DAILY

“Unexpectedly and lamentably, during my visit here, the first woman president of the Republic of Korea has had to step down. I want to question whether the Korean church has been functioning properly. From now on we Christians need to establish our faith ethics and become persons of faith with the ability of discernment in the Word. The Korean society and church are now a focus of world attention.”

Rev. Yu Chai-shin (85, photo, chair professor at University of Toronto, Canada), recipient of the “19th KBS Global Korean Award” (humanities, social sciences & education category), spoke these words on March 7, suggesting that the incident of the president’s impeachment should be used as an opportunity to enhance the maturity of Korean churches and society.

“In the early period of Korean Christianity, though there were relatively few church members, there were many respected church leaders and patriots such as Dosan Ahn Chang-ho, Namgang Lee Seung-hun and Wolnam Lee Sang-jae,” Rev. Yu said during his interview with Kukmin Daily on March 13. “But the Korean church these days apparently is not like that,” he added, his face showing disappointment. He advised, “The Korean church can revive and grow again if many respected church leaders emerge.” He repeatedly used the term “seonbi Christianity,” meaning that we need many church leaders who, following the spirit of the traditional Korean seonbi (virtuous scholars), do not covet wealth but cherish justice and principle.

“I think we should be upright Christians who think first of God and country, ahead of our personal interests or those of individual churches and pastors…For the church to be the church, we need the ‘seonbi Christian spirit,’ quietly sacrificing for our neighbors in the role of ‘good Samaritans,’” he said.

Rev. Yu revealed the fact that in 1988, when he was attending a meeting of the International Society for Korean Language Studies at Beijing University in China, he was invited by Prof. Chai Hui-guk of Kim Il-sung University, a North Korean expert on Goguryeo history, to join him in writing an English-language edition of Goguryeo history. North Korea was offering him a professorship and good treatment. Yu remarked, “If I had gone to North Korea then, I would have been in big trouble…How the North Korean regime must have exploited scholars who accepted such invitations!”

“In order to fundamentally cure the problem of distorted East Asian history in general, including the history of Goguryeo, military sexual slavery and the Dokdo issue, what is needed above all is the globalization of Korean studies. For this, I plan to devote my remaining years to making and introducing English translations of books related to Korean studies.”

Arrived in the U.S. in 1964, Yu has been at the forefront of research and publications in the area of Korean studies in the U.S. and Canada. He established Canada’s very first Korean Studies Department at the University of Toronto, and served as its first professor, while publishing many books on Korean culture and religion. He also established the first Korean Studies Center at University of Toronto, and created a Korea section of more than 65,000 books in the university’s Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library. Through these and other activities, he has continuously and systematically introduced Korea’s excellent culture to North American society.

Reporter Yeong Dae Yoo (ydyoo@kmib.co.kr), with Marion Kim (marionkkim@icloud.com)
Photo by intern reporter Bo Yeon Kim


Original Article in Korean:
유재신 목사 “말씀 안에서 분별력 있는 ‘선비 기독정신’ 필요한 때”: ‘KBS 해외동포상’ 수상 토론토대 석좌교수 유재신 목사