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EVERY YEAR, RESEARCHERS VISIT THE PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA TO ACCESS OUR EXTENSIVE KOREA MISSION COLLECTIONS. Many are individual scholars and family historians. But the groups from South Korea seem most moved by the history we have preserved and now share - a history of the hospitals, churches and schools founded in Korea by Presbyterian mission workers and nurtured by Korean Christians into institutions that thrive today. Without the U.S.-based archival programs of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the Presbyterian Church in the U.S., much of that early history would have been lost during the wars and conflicts that marked life on the Korean peninsula during the 20th century.
Prior to the 1880s, Korea maintained a closed face to the world, earning the name "Hermit Kingdom" in some western circles. Catholic missionaries started venturing into the country in the late 16th century, but had little sustained success.
Korea signed its first international treaty in 1876 with Japan, and six years later signed its second with the United States. This opening to the outside world made Korea an attractive new field for foreign mission work, especially for the Protestant denominations that had wellestablished missions in neighboring China and Japan.
Starting with the "two Horaces"
Horace Allen, a medical doctor from Ohio, was the first U.S. Presbyterian missionary to arrive in Korea. The Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. initially assigned Allen and his wife, Frances, to China in 1883. But as attention turned to Korea, Allen was able to use his medical credentials to secure appointment as a doctor to the foreigners staffing the new legations in Seoul. At the time, existing treaties did not sanction mission work in the country. Allen arrived in September 1884 officially as a medical doctor, not a missionary.
Internal politics soon played out in Allen's favor. At the time, Korea was divided between pro-Japan progressives who favored modernization and pro-China conservatives who wanted the kingdom to remain isolated. At a banquet in December 1884, the progressive faction attempted to assassinate conservative members of the government. In the resulting melee, Prince Min Yong Ik, the queen's nephew, was wounded. Summoned by the secretary of the U.S. legation, Allen arrived at the prince's bedside and advised court physicians not to...