Even though he was falsely accused of being a spy and imprisoned in North Korea in 1998, Dr. James Chin-Kyung Kim never stopped loving and praying and seeking ways to aid his North Korean compatriots.
In a well attended Evangelical Korean Presbyterian prayer service in Skokie Saturday evening, Dr. Kim talked of his life’s adventure that led to the construction of 2 of the most influential universities of Science and Technology in Asia: Yanbian University of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China in Yanji, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin Province, China and Pyongyang University of Science and Technology in Pyongyang, North Korea.
“I thought I was going to die,” recalls Dr. Kim remembering his more than 40-day imprisonment in North Korea where he was tortured and kept in solitary captivity until his accusers were convinced he was innocent of espionage charges. He had been threatened with execution; his captors told him he better write out his will. “ I began writing out my will; saying that I would donate my organs to a medical center in Pyongyang for scientific study, donate my eyes, my lungs, and my liver for transplants. I am very healthy.”
Born and raised in South Korea, at the age of 15, Kim became one of the youngest members of the Korean army. Afterward, as a young successful businessman, Kim’ s heart was burdened for the welfare of the North Koreans. Working with other missionary minded individuals in China, the United States and other private Christian entities all over the world, he began sending tremendous amounts of food and medical supplies to the starving North Korean peoples.
So much private aid during the time of an intense famine, which eventually would kill thousands, raised the suspicions of the North Korean government and the state’s secret police arrested Dr. Kim during one of his North Korean visits, believing him to have underhanded motives.
Afterward, following Dr. Kim’s release, the same man who had initiated the arrest order, was the same man who offered Dr. Kim a proposal: how would he feel about duplicating his Chinese technical university in Pyongyang?
The request was an answer to one of many prayers according to Dr. Kim: this opportunity would make a way to be a positive influence in the lives of many North Koreans. For the many believers who regularly have been praying for North Korea and its people; particularly the congregation of Skokie’s Reformed Presbyterian Korean church who’ve been praying for them for the last nine years, this could be a step toward building a good relationship between North and South Korea and China.
The multi-million dollar project has not been without it’s obstacles and drawbacks, but the completed effort stands today as a testimony of hard work, support and the intervention of God’s people to do as Jesus Christ would have his people do in the face of adversity and almost impossible demands.
Dr. James Chin-Kyung Kim, who is the founding president and co-chairman of Pyongyang University and Chancellor of Yanbian University is an Evangelical Christian and a legal citizen of 4 countries: the United States where he had emigrated from South Korea in the ‘70s, China, North Korea, where he was given honorary citizenship by the late Kim Jong Il and South Korea where he was born.
His next trip’s travels in gathering support for this ongoing incredible mission include a stopover at the White House and the President’s prayer breakfast.
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