SEOUL, Korea — A recent memorial program for the pioneer member of the Church in Korea opened doors for future contacts between Church leaders and government officials in Seoul. On Oct. 22, Mayor Hyun Pung Kim of the Kangbuk District of Seoul invited the presidency of the Seoul Korea East Stake and bishops, President Brian Sellers and his wife, Sister Shirley Sellers of the Korea Seoul Mission, and members of the Seoul Area Public Affairs Council of the Church to a special dinner meeting with him and several members of his staff. The invitation came after the mayor attended an August memorial program for Dr. Ho Jik Kim, the first known member of the Church in Korea.
During the meeting with Mayor Kim, a member of the mayor's staff presented a video about the mayor's efforts to improve and redevelop his district and create a "happy neighborhood" and his visions and goals for the future. The Seoul Korea East Stake presidency gave a slide presentation prepared by the Seoul Public Affairs Council on the history, activities, and doctrines of the Church and its work to bring happiness into the lives of families.
Many good relationships were developed on that evening that will help open future doors for the Church in Korea. Mayor Kim invited a member of the public affairs council to assist him in a special translation project next spring.
The Aug. 29 commemoration for Dr. Ho Jik Kim was a special musical program produced and presented by the Seoul Korea East Stake and the Seoul Public Affairs Council of the Church. Several government officials and community and Church leaders attended, as well as many members of the Church. Dignitaries who attended the memorial program included the past mayor of Seoul, Bo Hyeon Yeom; former Minister of Education in the national cabinet and former president of Seoul National University, Wan Gyu Cho; the current mayors of the Seongbuk District, Chan Gyo Seo; and the Kangbuk District of Seoul, Mayor Kim. The Kangbuk District has a population of 360,000 and is located in the Seoul East stake.
At the memorial service a special guest singer, Brother Shin Hwan Kim, eldest son of Dr. Ho Jik Kim and professional operatic tenor, voice teacher, and Church member sang "Jehovah Is My Shepherd" and "Oh, Lord." Also performing were a chorus of children from the Seoul East stake, a Relief Society choir from the Seoul North stake, and opera singer Hyo Yang Yang, a student of Brother Shin Hwan Kim.
Area Authority Seventy and second counselor in the Asia North Area, Elder Won Yong Ko addressed the audience. "Dr. Ho Jik Kim's baptism showed that out of the suffering and ordeals of war the Lord intended to bless the people of Korea," said Elder Ko, "not only physically but spiritually."
Elder Ko encouraged those in attendance to live as Christ's people by following the example of Dr. Ho Jik Kim who, even though he was in a high position in Korean society, paid no attention to himself and lived a humble life.
Dr. Ho Jik Kim was a key person in establishing the Church in Korea during the 1950s. Baptized in 1951 while doing graduate work at Cornell University in New York, he was the first known Korean member of the Church. He returned to Korea during the Korean War and strengthened the early Korean members of the Church who were being taught and baptized by LDS servicemen. He later served as the first district president of the Church in Korea.
As vice-minister of education in the Korean national cabinet and an influential leader in education, Dr. Ho Jik Kim was instrumental in getting the government of Korea to officially recognize the Church and gaining permission for the first missionaries in the country in 1956. Revered by Korean Latter-day Saints worldwide, Dr. Ho Jik Kim died suddenly of heart failure in 1959.