기 요한, John Egger

Yesterday marked the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, which began on June 25, 1950. During the next three years at least three million people died, probably many more. More than half of the casualties were civilians, making it one of the most deadly wars in history. The fighting ended with a ceasefire in 1953, but no peace treaty was ever signed. Since then the two sides have continued in a hostile stalemate, divided from each other by the DMZ. Last week's destruction of the liaison office by North Korea indicates just how fragile any recent easing of the tensions has become. It is therefore an apt time to pray for peace on the Korean Peninsula. Last Saturday I travelled to the "White Horse Hill Korean War Memorial" at Cheorwon, which borders the DMZ, to take part in a peace convocation and march for peace organized by the PROK to mark the occasion.   Here is a video of the event on the WCC's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyrdI4q-...

Since the end of February I have been in Canada on my home assignment. Coronavirus has made it much different than planned! Since I am unable to visit congregations, I have managed to put together a 10-minute video presentation on my work. You can find it here:  https://vimeo.com/415798528 Watch for more details about the United Church's involvement in the global prayer campaign for peace on the Korean Peninsula, which is scheduled for Thursday, June 25, 2020 8 pm ET: A LIGHT OF PEACE: ONLINE PRAYER VIGIL FOR KOREA https://www.united-church.ca/events/light-peace-online-prayer-vigil-korea

  Every month I meet with a group of mission co-workers here in Korea. We offer support to each other and share perspectives and thoughts about what it means to be doing mission as a partner here in Korea. I’m always a little bit surprised at how critical the group can be of Korean society at times – I think this reflects just how committed they are to Korea. As outsiders we see some of the contradictions that give us frustration and yet love Korea anyway! We usually meet on a Tuesday night, but the group continues to call itself the “Monday Night Group” because the group used to meet on Monday nights back in the difficult days of the military dictatorship in South Korea, and the name has continued in memory of that struggle. The membership in the group is somewhat fluid, because people are always coming and going. Right now the group has active participation from folks from USA, Philippines, China, India, Germany, Ireland, Japan, and Canada, working for a variety o...

What exactly do you do over there in Korea? —is a question that people keep asking me. Little do they know how complicated the answer to this question is! My primary work (when I’m not in class) is to assist with English language communications in the Department of Partnership and Ecumenical Relations in the General Assembly Office of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (that is, PROK). Our work in the department involves connecting the church in Korea with the church all over the world, and the main language that we use to do this is English. As important as helping with this work is, it is not actually the heart of what I do. At the heart of what I do are all the relationships that I am a part of here in Korea and elsewhere as I make connections with folks at multiple levels of Korean society. In one situation this means one thing, in other situations it means other things, so I am constantly finding myself doing new things, playing new roles, and meeting new peo...

Class Trip to the Hangul Museum A big part of my work here in Korea has been to learn the language. I’ve been studying at the Korean Language Institute at Yonsei University for several months now, and as the fall term draws to a close, I’m realizing how far I have come. Words that used to be strange and impossible to pronounce are now rolling off my tongue! (sometimes even in comprehensible sentences) Part of what makes language learning possible is the fun that comes with it. For 한글날 (Korean Alphabet Day), for example, instead of our regular class, there was a special program in which the various classes produced a poster to celebrate the Korean alphabet. Here is my class, hard at work: folks from France, Russia, Italy, South Africa, Spain, and even a couple of us from Canada. I have to say that learning a language is a strangely passive activity. Although it does of course also require huge exertions of constant effort, this isn’t actually the learning of ...