Korean Diaspora Church in Siberia

The meeting of Siberia missions, September 26-28, 1923, was held in Rong Jung, North Kando, in northern Manchuria, bordering what was at the time the Soviet Union. 

My grandfather was a Methodist pastor in North Korea before the Korean War.  He was a refugee who fled to South Korea years before the Korean Civil War because he was persecuted so severely by the North Korean Communists.  When I tell people that the Christian church in Pyongyang was referred to as the "Jerusalem of the East," they are often completely surprised.  Tragically, most people have no historical awareness of Methodist missions in North Korea, Manchuria, and Siberia because the Communist autocratic leaders of these regions were systematic in destroying the Korean Christian Church. 

Another reason why this history has been ignored is that the missions in North Korea and Sibera was led by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.  However, there are recent efforts to uncover this critical, but forgotten history of Methodist missions.  

Examining the Journal of the Third Annual Meeting of the Siberia Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South is part of a renewal of historical interest in recovering the lost memories of Korean Christian church in Siberia.  The meeting of Siberia missions was held in Rong Jung, North Kando, in northern Manchuria, bordering what was at the time the Soviet Union.  The dates of the meeting were September 26-28 in 1923. The gathering included Korean and American mission reports from Manchuria and Siberia.  

American missionaries who served with Bishop Hiram Abiff Boaz. 

Increased Korean Leadership in Missions: Rev. J.S. Ryang, Superintendent of the Korean Dept, Prof. H.W. Jenkins, Superintendent of the Russian Dept.

The journal specifically addressed the growth of overseas missions by both American and Korean Protestant leaders.  There is a picture of the American missionaries who served in Russia with Bishop Hiram Abiff Boaz.  However, the next page includes a picture of two superintendents of the Siberia Mission: Rev. J. S. Ryang, the superintendent of the Korean Department and Professor H. W. Jenkins, Superintendent of the Russian Department. Rev. Ryang specifically is a missionary sent by the Korean Annual Conference of the Korean Methodist Church sent to serve as the superintendent of Manchuria and Siberia.  The inclusion of a Korean superintendent reveals an increase in the leadership of Korean clergy on the mission field in the 1920’s, as argued by Dae Young Ryu in A History of Protestantism in Korea. The “Korean Mission” in Siberia is also specific to the rise of the Korean diaspora and church in Russia. 

Group Photo of "Third Annual Meeting of Siberia Mission"

The photo of the "Third Annual Meeting of Siberia Mission," taken in 1923, shows that there were 25 Korean church leaders and only a few American missionaries, again emphasizing the increase in Korean indigenous leadership in foreign Methodist missions. Most of the Koreans living in Siberia and Manchuria had left Korea because of poverty and seeking new opportunities that were offered for them as farmers. Another motivation for leaving Korea was to escape the oppression of the Japanese occupation.

For Korean farmers, the promise of land ownership in Siberia was a significant pull for Koreans.  Recent historical research has shown that there were more than 200,000 Koreans living in 160 Korean villages in Siberia, also referred to as the Far East of Russia.   The Koreans were successful in the agricultural economy, much more than the Russians. The villages had Korean newspapers, 380 schools and 2 technical colleges that taught in Korean, which indicate an active community of Soviet citizens (Martin 2001, 32).  

“Our Vladivostok Korean Church” in 1923, prior to the forced deportation by Joseph Stalin of all Koreans living in the Soviet Union, but especially targeted in Siberia.  

The use of the pronoun “our” in the photo of the Korean Church in Vladivostok reflects an affection and emotional connection to the church.  The picture of the church in 1923 strongly reflects the history of the Korean diaspora as a vibrant and spiritual community that was connected to the Methodist Church, through the MEC South and the Korean Annual Conference.  In 1922, the Southern Methodist claimed 6,800 adherents and 129 churches in the Russian Far East (Ryu 2022, 127). The picture in the journal is from 1923, at the height of the missions in Russia. Despite the difficulties, the diaspora church in Siberia continued to grow, meeting the spiritual, cultural, and social needs of the Koreans. Although there were 160 other Korean villages, Vladivostok was the largest city with Koreans, as is reflected by the large church building in the photo.

However, in the next few years, the Soviet authorities “vigorously suppressed Christian propagation and persecuted Christians” (Ryu 2022, 127). Many of the Korean Protestants had their possessions taken and they subsequently fled to Manchuria.  By 1932, the Korean Protestant Church’s mission to Russia ceased to exist - but the Korean diaspora and the church remained.

Picture of Soviet Koreans being deported from Vladivostok to Central Asia by train, 1937

In the fall of 1937, Joseph Stalin forcibly deported the entire population of the Korean diaspora throughout Russia and sent them to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Stalin had identified all Koreans living in the Soviet Union, including those in Siberia, as an “enemy nation."  The expulsion  of Koreans is the first total deportation of an ethnic group by the Soviet Union, and was a shift from the “liquidation” of kulaks who resisted collectivization to the “liquidation” of an entire people (Gelb 1995, 411). The photo is of Korean Soviets from Vladivostok, retrieved from Victoria Kim's article in The Diplomat.  

Dream of God United Methodist Church in Vladivostok, Russia. Founded in 1992. 

Church members dancing to "Arirang" during the 30 anniversary celebrtion. 

It is uncertain what happened to the Vladivostok Korean Church, but it is assumed that it was destroyed. What does remain is this precious journal from 1923, which captures the vibrant ministry of Siberia. The 1923 picture of the Korean Vladivostok Church is haunting today because in the present time, we know that the church was most likely destroyed and lost.

In 1992, only one year after the fall of the Soviet Union, a new United Methodist Church was established in Vladivostok, Russia. With a collaboration of indigenous Christians and foreign Methodist missionaries, the "Dream of God" church was planted.  The pictures are from the 30 year anniversary celebration of the congregation, led by Pastor Anatoly Kim, who is a descendant of the Koreans who were deported in 1937.  

The women in the next picture are dancing to "Arirang," the most beloved Korean traditional folk song.  Both Russian and Korean women are singing and dancing, celebrating both the past and the present history of the Korean diaspora who struggled but remained faithful in Siberia.