Page 185 - 영문 이성필성지순례여행

182 Jeolla-do Jeolla-do 183

167 Woohak-ri Church 168 Sorokdo Joonang Church

36 Usiran-gil, Nam-myeon, Yeosu-si 8 Yangjihoegwan-gil, Doyang-eup, Goheung-gun

Sorokdo National Hospital was opened on May 17, 1916, by the Japanese Government-
Martyrdom monument
General of Korea as a provincial self-help clinic in Jeollanam-do, and Arikawa, a Japanese,
was appointed as the first hospital director. When Hanai was the second director (June 23,
1921 - October 16, 1929) , Shin Saburo Tanaka, a preacher of the Japanese Holy Communion,
preached the gospel to Sorokdo on October 8, 1922 with the permission of the
Government-General.
Sorokdo Joongang Church held an inaugural service, led by Preacher Lee Chae-gwon at a
recreation room in Joongang Village, the most central area of Sorokdo, on January 1, 1938.
Pastor Oh Seok-ju, a circuit rider, periodically led the service of the church. At this time,
the church had to go through various years of persecution and hardship. It was forced by
the Japanese hospital staffs to attend the shrine and worship statue of a Japanese director.
However, despite the persecution, the believers kept their faith and prayed with tears, and
faced liberation.
The August 22, 1945 tragedy
“Sorok Island was a place where Japanese violated
occurred on the liberation day.
human rights of leprosy patients, forced them to
“We can't be a cat that catches mice, Many people were sacrificed
Woohakri Church work, and tortured them, thinking Hansen’s disease
but we can go after them by making a cat cry.” while demanding autonomy, and
was a divine punishment. “However, it is said that
- Pastor Lee Ki-poong’s among them, Joongang Church’s
people believed in Jesus and endured with the faith
first sermon at Woohakri Church – members, Lee Kyung-do, Jeong
of ‘Even if ’. Even if, we were grateful for all our
Hwan-soo, Kim Won-sik, and
lives, and even if, we confessed that we were happy
Lee Cha-ha were sacrificed.
The way to visit Woohakri Church to meet Pastor Lee Ki- However, the remaining people because of the Lord.”
poong is a long way off. Woohakri Church was the last kept the church by faith until
place of pastor Lee Ki-poong, who was sent to Jeju Island the end. On June 10, 1946, Kim
as the first missionary. At the age of 70, he was sent to Cha-dong was appointed as
the 4th pastor of Woohakri Church and was imprisoned for refusing to attend the shrine the first elder, and the church
under Japanese rule. After being tortured and interrogated several times, he was temporarily gradually stabilized, but during
released from prison due to illness, and on June 20, 1942, he was called by God from his the Korean War, Pastor Kim
private residence after completing his Sunday sermon. His ministry that started on an island Jeong-bok was martyred by the
ended on an island. Communist Party on September
In April 2006, Woohakri Church held a ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the 30, 1950. Those who lived with
church’s foundation, marking the completion of the “Lee Ki-poong Martyrdom Memorial the wishes in heaven make the
Hall.” visitors blush.
The building was restored as it was at the time of Pastor Lee Ki-poong’s ministry. At
that time, the church was built with architectural design and construction methods of
missionary John Fairman Preston. Sorokdo Joonang Church