Chu Ki-chol

▪ Korean clergyman

born 1897, Korea

died April 21, 1944, Korea

      Korean Presbyterian minister who suffered martyrdom because of his opposition to Japanese demands that Christians pay reverence at Shintō shrines.

      Ordained a minister in 1926, Chu was already well known for his zeal and faith when he took charge of Sanchonghyon church in P'yŏngyang (present capital of North Korea) in 1937. Finally in 1940 the P'yŏngyang Presbytery, unable to withstand Japanese pressure against Chu Ki-chol's views, removed him from his ministerial office. He was imprisoned five times prior to his martyrdom in 1944. His last sermon, entitled “Readiness to Die,” shows that his martyrdom was motivated not by patriotic considerations but by his fundamentalist faith, which could not tolerate the worship of images. After his death, the Japanese government closed down Sanchonghyon church.

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