South Korea Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Its First Stake

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South Korea are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the organization of the Seoul Korea Stake — the first stake in mainland Asia and the third on the continent.

The Seoul Korea Stake presidency designated 2023 as the “Seoul Stake 50th Anniversary Year,” and Church members commemorated the anniversary with several events, including the Korea Church History Symposium.

President Spencer W. Kimball, then of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, created the Seoul Korea Stake on March 8, 1973, assisted by then-Elder Gordon B. Hinckley.

Today, Seoul is headquarters to multiple stakes, including the Seoul Korea West Stake, Seoul Korea East Stake and the Seoul Korea South Stake.

Korea Church History Symposium

During the symposium “A Banner to the Nations” June 9-10, attendees heard from both past and current Church leaders. (Watch on YouTube.)

“We can celebrate the sacrifice and history. We can give honor and respect to those who have gone before so they are never forgotten,” said Elder John A. McCune, a General Authority Seventy and Second Counselor in the Asia North Area Presidency. “We learn from the past so we can celebrate the future.”

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Several early members of the Church in Korea shared stories of sacrifice, such as traveling long distances to worship together, meeting in rented buildings and getting up early to attend seminary.

“Sacrifice is key to building faith. That’s why our pioneers are so strong,” Elder McCune said.

People often don’t want their children to suffer the way they did. But a balance is needed between making sacrifices too easy where children don’t build a foundation of faith, he said, and making sacrifices too hard.

“If we require no sacrifice of our youth, they won’t have faith sufficient to withstand temptations of today,” Elder McCune said. Competing interests facing teens and young adults in Korea include events and activities on Sundays and the decision to delay an education to serve a mission.

“We’re seeing some wonderful examples of faith,” he said, noting that the number of people from Korea putting in their missionary papers is rising.

Other speakers at the event included Wook-Hwan Choi, who served as a counselor in the first stake presidency; Jong-Yeol Kim, who was the first bishop in the Seoul 3rd Ward; Young-Sook Kim, the daughter of Ho-Jik Kim, who was baptized in the United States and returned to South Korea in 1951 and began working with servicemen to preach the gospel there.

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On June 10, speakers included Yeon-Soon Park, wife of Ho-Nam Rhee, the first stake president; Dae-Yeon Kim, adviser to the Korean Church History Committee; and Jong-Gyun Kim, the stake’s first patriarch.

Choi talked about the stake’s creation and growth of the Church in the 1970s and 1980s. He and his wife were one of six branch presidents and their wives who visited the Laie Hawaii Temple in the early 1970s, where they received the endowment and were sealed as couples.

“After receiving our first endowment in the temple, we had a testimony meeting at the visitors’ center. Then I made a decision to dedicate my whole life to serving Christ with all my heart,” he said.

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Korea Pioneers

Choi and Jong-Yeol Kim were two of several early leaders and “pioneers” who attended a luncheon on March 8. “I am deeply moved when I think of the time when the first Seoul Stake presidency was called and ordained by Elder Kimball,” Choi said. “I am grateful to those who have served together for the Seoul Stake of Zion, and I hope that we will be able to serve happily in the future.”

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More than 200 members gathered at a fireside on March 12 heard a recorded testimony from the late President Rhee, who was the stake’s first president.

President Rhee’s testimony included what he learned from then-Elder Kimball: Elder Kimball “asked me to teach to strengthen my testimony and faith through personal scripture study and to strengthen my relationship with God. He told me to encourage them to be Saints who endure to the end.”

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President Rhee concluded, “I pray that we not only know the gospel as knowledge, but also lead a life of faith where we experience spiritual things every day.”

Current Seoul Korea Stake President Kil-Hwan Baek said at the event: “It is important to keep moving forward with a vision for the future, rather than just focusing on the past.”

Other speakers included Dae-Yeon Kim, Church History adviser in Korea; Seoul Korea Temple President Hee-Keun Oh; Keun-Hyuck Lee, stake patriarch and former stake president; and Young-Jun Kwon and Choi. 

Relief Society 181st Commemoration

In March, the stake Relief Society celebrated both the 181st anniversary of the women’s organization and the stake’s 50th anniversary.

Jung-Sook Kim, who served as stake Relief Society president from the mid ‘70s to the early ‘90s, said, “Relief Society work is challenging, but it is essential to developing our abilities. Relief Society is the Lord’s program to educate women to be good mothers and women who make a difference in society.”

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History of the Church in South Korea

In the 1940s, Latter-day Saints serving in the U.S. military began meeting. Ho-Jik Kim, who had been baptized in the U.S., returned to Korea in 1951 and began working with U.S. servicemen to share the gospel . A year after the end of the Korean War in 1953, a Korean-speaking Sunday School was organized (see Facts and statistics for Korea).

By the mid-1960s, thousands had been baptized and were working to build the Church there. The Book of Mormon was published in Korean in 1967.

Currently, more than 88,600 members of the Church live in South Korea in 12 stakes and 100 congregations. The Seoul Korea Temple was dedicated December 14, 1985, and the Busan Korea Temple was announced in October 2022.