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| Rev. Lee Young-hoon, the senior pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church, speaks during a press conference held at The Plaza Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of Yoido Full Gospel Church |
By Park Han-sol
Establishing a cardiac hospital in the heart of Pyongyang, North Korea has long remained an unrealized goal for the Yoido Full Gospel Church, the largest church in South Korea. Since the ambitious project to build an eight-story hospital with 280 beds for cardiology and heart surgery began in December 2007, it was met with a series of hurdles, as could be expected.
From the sinking of the military vessel, Cheonan, in the West Sea in March 2010 to the North's border closures due the COVID-19 pandemic that barred exchange, numerous hurdles have continually kept the project in limbo for well over a decade.
At the end of last October, the megachurch finally received official approval from the United Nations Security Council to resume the hospital's construction, which now allows the cross-border transfer of 1,500 items and materials needed for the project.
All medical devices and equipment will be provided by Samaritan's Purse, following the church's signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the U.S.-based Christian humanitarian aid organization in February.
"As soon as the North Korean border opens again, it will be the first project that the church will spearhead," Rev. Lee Young-hoon, the senior pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church, said at a press conference in Seoul, Tuesday, expressing hope that the hospital can serve as one of the gateways to bring peace on the Korean Peninsula.
According to Rev. Lee, the construction is about 70 percent completed. Once it's resumed, followed by six months of interior work and the transfer of medical equipment from the U.S., the hospital, tentatively named the Cho Yonggi Cardiac Hospital, after the church's founder, will be able to have its grand opening.
He added that the North has continuously requested the South Korean church to help build smaller hospitals in its 260 counties, in addition to the Pyongyang hospital, for regions with poor healthcare infrastructure.
"The cost of constructing each hospital with such a scale is around $100,000. We plan to establish a consortium of churches across the nation to push it as our next project," Rev. Lee said.
He also stated that the church successfully distributed cash handouts worth 10.6 billion won ($8.2 million) at the beginning of this year to those in South Korea who have been hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic ― small business owners, families with multiple children and recipients of basic livelihood security subsidies.
"From last December to January this year, we helped those affected who were in blind spots when it came to the government's pandemic-related subsidies," he said.
The church plans to set aside an additional 5 billion won for low-income households before the Chuseok holiday in September.
Meanwhile, from Oct. 12 to 14, the 26th Pentecostal World Conference (PWC), hosted by Yoido Full Gospel Church, will take place in Korea.
Held every three years since 1947, the conference invites representatives and believers of Evangelical Pentecostal churches and denominations from across the world known as Pentecostal World Fellowship.
This year is the third time for the event to be hosted in Seoul, after 1973 and 1998.
"The climax of the three-day PWC will be on Oct. 14, when around 30,000 people ― including 5,000 Pentecostal church officials from 170 countries and other Korean participants ― head to the Pyeonghwa Nuri Park in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, for a prayer assembly," Rev. Lee said.
"It will be a place to pray for the peaceful unification of our nation and the resumption of inter-Korean dialogue."
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