A two-story brick building resembling a small European castle stands on a hill beside Hwajinpo in Goseong, Gangwon Province. Known as "Kim Il-sung's Villa" because the North Korean leader used it as a summer retreat with his family from 1948 to 1950, the building is actually "The Castle of Hwajinpo," constructed in 1938 by Sherwood Hall (1893-1991), a Canadian-born American Methodist medical missionary, as a retreat facility for missionaries.
Hall built the new facility at Hwajinpo after Japanese colonial authorities forcibly demolished a missionary retreat on Wonsan Beach. He devoted himself to fighting tuberculosis in Korea, including issuing the country's first Christmas Seal.
The Christian Council of Korea conducted a tour of Christian modern cultural heritage sites in the Gangwon region on May 9-10. While Gangwon Province's rugged mountainous terrain made it the last region to receive the Gospel in Korean Christian missionary history, missionaries dedicated their lives to establishing foundations for modern medicine and the independence movement.
Near "The Castle of Hwajinpo" is the "Hwajinpo Sherwood Hall Cultural Space," commemorating Sherwood Hall and his mother, Rosetta Sherwood Hall. Opened last year, the space displays letters and photographs of the missionary family who left their mark on Korean medical history across two generations, along with Korea's first Christmas Seal.
Sherwood Hall's mother, Rosetta Sherwood Hall, established a women's clinic and Korea's first school for the blind in Pyongyang. His father, William James Hall, died of an infectious disease while conducting medical missionary work in Pyongyang.
Witnessing countless Koreans dying from tuberculosis, Sherwood Hall resolved to fight the disease. He established Korea's first modern tuberculosis sanatorium in 1928 and issued Christmas Seals in 1932 to raise funds for treatment. Expelled by Japanese authorities on espionage charges in 1940, he loved Korea so deeply that, following his final wishes, his ashes were returned to Korea and buried at Yanghwajin Foreign Missionary Cemetery.
"When I examine the hearts of Korean people with my stethoscope, my heart beats together with Korea," Hall once said, expressing his affection for the country.
Kim Jung-seok, President of the Christian Council of Korea, said, "The Hall missionary family opened a new chapter of freedom, equality, and human rights in our country by caring for women and the visually impaired, who were marginalized at the time. They are precious figures not only in Protestant history but in Korean modern history."
Rev. Hong Seung-pyo of Appenzeller Inu Church, who holds a doctorate in church history, explained, "The Yangyang independence movement was distinctive in that four local churches took the lead and collaborated with local Confucian scholars. Inspired by the role of these religious leaders, community solidarity and the movement's impact were remarkably strong."
Wonju Severance Christian Hospital also houses modern cultural heritage reflecting the footsteps of medical missionaries. The red brick "Morris Missionary Residence" was built at the same time as Seomigam Hospital, the hospital's predecessor.
Seomigam Hospital was established in Wonju in 1923 by the American Methodist Episcopal Church and the Swedish Methodist Church to commemorate the 25th anniversary of their mission to Korea. The name combines characters from "Sweden" (瑞), "America" (美), and "Methodist" (監). The Morris Missionary Residence served as lodging for medical missionaries and is currently used as the Ilsan Archives Exhibition Hall of Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine.
Christianity also played a crucial role in the independence movement in Gangwon Province. A "March 1st Independence Movement Monument" stands at Manse Hill in Hyeonbuk-myeon, Yangyang-gun, where the largest independence demonstration in the Yeongdong region took place.
The Yangyang independence movement, which ran from April 4 to 9, 1919—one month after the March 1st Movement—saw approximately 15,000 cumulative participants and resulted in 11 deaths.
A key figure in the Yangyang movement was Cho Hwa-byeok (1895-1975), who was also the sister-in-law of independence activist Yu Gwan-sun. The daughter of Yangyang Methodist Church evangelist Cho Young-soon, Cho Hwa-byeok led independence demonstrations at Hosudon Girls' School in Kaesong before returning to her hometown of Yangyang when the school was ordered closed.
The Declaration of Independence she smuggled home hidden in her traditional Korean socks and delivered to young church members in Yangyang sparked the local independence movement.