Reverend Young Shik Rhee (December 13, 1894 – December 8, 1981) was the founder of

Daegu University Daegu University is a private university in South Korea. Its campus is located a short distance outside Daegu, in Gyeongsan City, North Gyeongsang North Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상북도, translit=Gyeongsangbuk-do, ) is a province in ea ...

in Daegu,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

, a pioneer of special education in Korea, and a

Korean independence movement The Korean independence movement was a military and diplomatic campaign to achieve the independence of Korea from Empire of Japan, Japan. After the Japanese Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, annexation of Korea in 1910, Korea's domestic resistance pe ...

leader in Daegu.

In the Korean independence movement

In September 1919, Rhee was imprisoned for 18 months in Daegu Prison by the Japanese colonial authorities for his leadership role in the March 1st (''Samil'') Movement and other Korean Independence activities in Daegu. Torture by the Japanese police resulted in permanent hearing loss in one ear.

As a pastor

In 1923, Rhee attended Kobe Theological Seminary (神戶神學校) in Kobe, Japan. He returned to Korea and began Christian ministry in 1927 at Daegu Seomoon Presbyterian Church, where he became an ordained minister. Although popular as pastor and well known for his stirring sermons, Rhee was drawn to serving the least fortunate around him. He embarked on his lifelong journey of social work and ministry by serving as pastor at a leper treatment center in Daegu. After Korean independence from Japan in 1945, Rhee expanded his social work by looking after orphans and handicapped children. In 1946, Rhee founded the Daegu School for the Blind, the first special education school founded by a Korean. (The very first special education school in Korea, Pyongyang School for the Deaf and Blind, was founded by Rosetta Sherwood Hall, a medical missionary and educator from the U.S., in 1894. In 1913, the Japanese occupation government established the Seoul School for the Blind). When the devastating

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

(1950–1953) resulted in increased number of war-orphans and the handicapped, Reverend Rhee was among the few who were devoted to helping them. The orphanage housed many handicapped children—who were clothed, fed and taught skills that would help them eventually leave the orphanage and live independently. Reverend Rhee ministered to the children's spiritual and emotional needs, as well as raising funds, eliciting donations and recruiting volunteer teachers and doctors.

Founding of Daegu University

Rhee saw the need to train special education teachers and social workers in addition to furthering the education of handicapped students who had special talents. In 1956, he founded the Korea Social Work School in Daegu. The school became a formal college in 1961. In recognition for the decades of invaluable contributions made by Rhee, South Korean president Park Chung-hee personally awarded him the 5.16 Minjok National Medal ( 5·16 민족상 교육부문 본상) in May 1969. Korea Social Work College, founded in 1961, became

in 1981. Rhee was president from 1961 to 1982. Daegu University installed the first Braille library in Korea in 1981, and the university continues its tradition of being in the forefront of social welfare and special education in Korea.

Work in the Mariana Islands

During the 1970s and 1980s, Rhee traveled extensively to the Mariana Islands in the Pacific where many Korean laborers were forced to work under the Japanese military during the Japanese expansion before and during World War II. Reverend Rhee discovered decades-old burial sites of Korean laborers deep in the jungles of

Tinian Tinian ( or ; old Japanese name: 天仁安島, ''Tenian-shima'') is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Together with uninhabited neighboring Aguiguan, it forms Tinian Municipality, one of the ...

and repatriated the remains to a national cemetery in Korea
National Cemetery for Overseas Koreans 국립망향의 동산 태평양 사이판 티니안 전몰 무명한국인묘
. He also founded a group that erected a Korean Peace Memorial in the island of Saipan
Korean Peace Memorial
at Malpi Point, Saipan) and in Tinian (
Korean Monuments on Tinian
'), in remembrance of thousands of Korean laborers who died in those islands. In 1977, Rhee was awarded the

Order of Merit for National Foundation The Order of Merit for National Foundation (Hangul: 건국훈장) is one of South Korea's orders of merit. It is awarded by the President of South Korea for "outstanding meritorious services in the interest of founding or laying a foundation for th ...

by the South Korean government in recognition for his role in Korean independence. Rhee died of natural causes in

Tumon Tumon ( ch, Tomhom) is a district located on Tumon Bay along the northwest coast of the United States unincorporated territory of Guam. Located in the municipality of Tamuning, it is the center of Guam's tourist industry. History Tumon Bay or ...

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, in 1981 at age 87.

References

* Autobiography
''I Cast Out Fear'' ('두려움을 물리치고')
* Autobiography
''A True Happiness'' ('진정한 기쁨')
* Essays by Young Shik Rhee
''Sarang Ui Kil Somang Ui Kil'' ('사랑의 길 소망의 길' 이영식 목사 수상록)
* Biography
''Ai to hikari to jiyū to : Ri Eishoku no shisō to kōdō''

External links