Do In-gwon (都寅權; January 17, 1880 – February 28, 1969) was an independence activist, Methodist minister, and educator who served as head of the Military Affairs Bureau and as chief of the Shanghai Korean Residents' Association in the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.1 He served six years in prison for his involvement in the Anak Incident of 1911. He devoted himself to independence activism and missionary work in Shanghai, Siberia, and other regions. After liberation, he was active in the Ongjin Church in Hwanghae Province. When the Korean War broke out, he fled to Jeju Island, where he continued his pastoral work, and he is known as the "father of Jeju missions."2 He also served as a secretary to Kim Gu, became sworn brothers with him, and played a leading role in the March 1st Movement in Pyongyang.3
Life
Do In-gwon was born on January 17, 1880, in Yonggang (龍岡), South Pyongan Province. From an early age he received strict education in etiquette and Chinese classics. Unfortunately, he lost his father at the age of ten, when he should still have been growing up under his father's love. After losing his father, Do moved to Pyongyang at the age of fourteen. At that time, in response to public opinion that the village headman should conduct the funeral with village honors, the funeral ceremony was held on a grand scale. In 1904, during the Korean Empire, he entered the Military Special Course of the Military Academy. After graduating, he was appointed an instructor, but when the army was disbanded in 1907, he devoted himself to the education movement. He established Chungil School in Yonggang and worked as a teacher at Munchang School in Jaeryong (載寧), Hwanghae Province, and at Yangsan School in Anak (安岳). It was there that he met Kim Gu (金九), and he became more actively involved in the independence movement. When the national sovereignty was lost in 1910, he converted to Christianity and was baptized by the Presbyterian missionary F.S. Miller (Korean name: Min No-ra). In December 1910, when the fundraising scheme for independence funds led by Ahn Myeong-geun's (安重根) cousin Ahn Myeong-geun (明根) was exposed, he was imprisoned together with Kim Gu and leaders of the Haeseo Education Association. At this time he was sentenced to ten years and served six years in Seodaemun Prison. While he was in prison, a Japanese police officer built a Buddhist hall (佛堂) and held a dedication ceremony, ordering all prisoners to burn incense and bow. Do alone refused, insisting that he believed in Jesus, and he was beaten repeatedly for it. When he was offered parole, he insisted that he would not leave unless he was released outright, and he was released only after completing his full sentence. Kim Gu recorded this in Baekbeom Ilji as follows:
<He is a quick-witted and upright man. Sentenced to ten years of penal servitude, he firmly believed in Jesus while performing forced labor. When the Japanese chaplain ordered all prisoners to bow their heads and worship before a Buddha statue on Sunday, the prisoners, though silently cursing the Emperor of Japan, outwardly bowed their heads. Yet among several hundred, only Do In-gwon sat without lowering his head even slightly. When the guards questioned him, Do said that he was a Christian and would not bow to idols. The Japanese, angered, forcibly pressed down Do's head, and Do resisted, causing a great commotion. Do said: <Japanese national law guarantees freedom of religion, and the prison regulations contain no article requiring prisoners to worship only Buddhism. On what basis are you being so disrespectful? By Japanese standards Do In-gwon is a criminal, but by God's standards it may be the Japanese who are the criminals.> This caused a major dispute, and in the end the warden decided that the matter of worship during the chaplain's services would be left to the freedom of the prisoners. Later, when they offered him so-called parole, he said: <Now that you have realized I am not guilty, cancel the sentence and release me completely. The word "parole" (假出獄) is unpleasant to my spirit, so I will wait until the term is over and then leave.> The Japanese did not know what to do, so they waited until the term was completed and then released him.>
After his release, he continued his independence activities centered on Pyongyang Church, and in 1918 he went into exile in Shanghai (上海).
He then went into exile in Shanghai [上海] and served as head of the Military Affairs Bureau of the Provisional Government, instructor and student corps commander at the Military Academy, vice-chairman of the Provisional Legislative Council, and chief of the Shanghai Korean Residents' Association. In 1921 he joined the Korean Revolutionary Committee, went to Siberia, and carried on independence activities in confrontation with communists.
From October 1922, he belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and began his ministry by taking charge of the Oesucheong (外水淸) district, devoting himself to missionary work in the Siberian region. In 1929, to escape religious persecution under the Soviet communist regime, he fled with church members to Dongheung-jin in Hunchun, China, where he established six churches and five schools. While serving as pastor of Dongheung-jin Church, he achieved great success in both spiritual and material terms. During the Manchurian Incident of 1931, he was seized by bandits and even sentenced to death, but was later released. While waiting for death day after day, on the twentieth of the following month a punitive force arrived, and the bandits either fled or surrendered, bringing relief to the people. The church sent a letter of thanks to Takemoto, the military police commander of the punitive force, who had saved Rev. Do. Furthermore, as a Japanese Methodist believer, he received 600,000 won for the reconstruction of the destroyed chapel from Kidagiri, deputy consul of the Japanese consulate in Hunchun, and rebuilt the church sanctuary.
The Korean Methodist Newsletter (〈조선감리회보〉) reported on the farewell ceremony when Rev. Do left Dongheung-jin. It states that although Rev. Do had been seized by bandits and sentenced to death during the Manchurian Incident, he persistently worked for the salvation of souls amid hardship and persecution, gaining seven or eight hundred believers in that time. He also worked diligently in education, and in particular Dongheung School was steadily maintained and developed, producing many graduates, and it then had several hundred enrolled students. It is said that Rev. Do's ten years of work achieved great results in both spiritual and material terms. The 〈Methodist Newsletter〉 (〈감리회보〉) reports the situation of the brothers and sisters of Dongheung-jin who saw him off as follows:
"Having been dispatched to Yanji this time, he left Dongheung-jin on June 30 of last year. Not only all the members of this church, but also Presbyterian church members, students and their parents, and in particular officials of various government offices and organizations, came out to the station, some five or six hundred men, women, young and old, to see him off. Moreover, leaders of society regretted his dispatch and presented him with precious farewell gifts, so that the members of the sister church were deeply grateful."
In June 1939, he was dispatched to the Yanji district of Gando, where he established Yanji Church and a kindergarten and served there until liberation. After liberation, he returned to Korea in October and organized the March First Comrades Association (3.1동지회), serving as its president. He then went down to Ongjin in Hwanghae Province, where he took on leadership responsibilities in the Ongjin branch of the Korean Independence Party, served as director of the Ongjin office of the National Unification Headquarters, and as head of the Ongjin branch of the Korean National Association for Independence Preparation. He also founded Ongjin Middle School. In 1947 he served as pastor of Ongjin Eup Church, where he established a kindergarten and carried on other activities. During the Korean War (June 25, 1950), he fled south to escape communist oppression. When the Methodist missionary work on Jeju Island began, he served as its administrator. From then until April 1957 he served there, establishing nine churches, and he also served as district superintendent of Jeju. In particular, he resolved a dispute over the site of Jeju Central Church and built the memorial sanctuary of Bishop Ryu Hyeong-gi, which was dedicated in 1956. While serving as district superintendent of Jeju, he also published an article in the 〈Methodist Newsletter〉 titled "Cherish the Time, for the Days Are Evil," looking back on the past years.
"My New Year's celebrations have now reached the seventy-seventh. Looking back on the days I have lived, I am truly overwhelmed with emotion. Over these seventy-seven years, how much time have I actually spent working and living with a spiritual purpose? Until I was seventeen I was a minor, so I lived in the world, wearing new clothes and receiving New Year's greetings. Until I was twenty-six, I lived in luxury and heroic dissipation. From the age of twenty-seven, with thoughts for the nation, I have survived by a hair's breadth for fifty years. Of the twenty-four hours in a day, three are spent on meals and rest, so only one third of the day is left for work. One third of fifty years comes to sixteen years and eight months, and when illness and other factors are subtracted, it comes to sixty days a year. Though it is said that seventy is rare in life, it is hard to live even seventy-seven years, and when I calculate that the time I have actually worked amounts to only 5,025 days, I cannot help but be astonished. ...... To one who has fought the good fight and run the race to the end, the thought that every moment is more precious than a precious jade comes to mind. When I speak to young co-workers whose futures are bright, the only words I can offer are these: 'Cherish the time, for the days are evil.'"
He founded seven churches on Jeju, including Jeju Central Church. Moreover, while he was serving as district superintendent of Jeju, his children donated a bell to the Jeju church, which was recorded among those around them as a beautiful deed. It is said that the children of Superintendent Do, who was struggling to lay the foundation for missionary work on Jeju, were moved by their father's labor and donated a special bell to the Jeju church. People in the church community have been greatly moved by this, saying that such gifts from the children of ministers are rarely seen. A memorial stone commemorating Rev. Do's pastoral ministry stands in one corner of the garden of Jeju Central Church in Oraebeol, Jeju City.
Works
- Work: 〈Records of Do In-gwon〉 (〈도인권 선생의 기록〉), 1962 (unpublished)
References
- Do In-gwon [都寅權] (Doosan Encyclopedia, Doopedia, Doosan Corporation)
- Do In-gwon [都寅權] (Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, Academy of Korean Studies)
- Paper: "The Mission of Our Methodist Church for Manchuria," 〈Methodist Newsletter〉 (〈조선감리회보〉), June 16, 1938.
Notes