Pediatrician advocated for abandoned babies

Cho Byung-kuk at her house in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Times

Expat community,

humanitarian groups

lent helping hand

By Kang Hyun-kyung

As a pediatrician at Seoul Children’s Hospital in the 1960s and 1970s, Cho Byung-kuk treated abandoned babies found by police or citizens in parks or on the streets.

Her work to save these babies continued into the night, when she raised money and other necessities for them from wealthy communities.

These two vintage photos show the Seoul International Women’s Association (SIWA) bazaar in the early 1970s. SIWA members raised money through the annual event to help the underprivileged. / Courtesy of SIWA

Having treated tens of thousands of abandoned babies, she knows the miserable circumstances that await them after being dumped by their unwed mothers. Cho, now retired, says her heart still wrenches whenever she remembers the poorest infant that she saw at the hospital in 1967.

That summer, a newborn was taken to the hospital. At first, the staff didn’t know what they were seeing was a baby because he was covered entirely in dirt. He was like a lump of clay, Cho quoted one nurse as saying. According to the person who discovered the baby and took him to the hospital, he was abandoned in a remote street in Seoul on a night when rain was pouring. It was the monsoon season.

Despite spending the entire night outside in the rain, the baby lived. The nurses bathed him carefully. His face still had some dirt, but they didn’t want to scrub his delicate skin too hard.

This undated photo shows dozens of abandoned babies and orphans at an orphanage on Jeju Island. The Korean War resulted in as many as 100,000 orphans. Many unwed mothers abandoned their babies on streets, in parks or other public spaces. Once found in Seoul, the babies were taken to Seoul Children’s Hospital. / Korea Times file

“While working at the hospital for 15 years, I had seen countless unwanted babies who didn’t get adequate care from the moment they were conceived until they were brought to us,” Cho said during The Korea Times interview.

“But that little one taken to the hospital in the summer of 1967 was the worst case. I didn’t know who his mother was, but my anger toward her welled up because she let such a horrible thing happen to her baby. If she had no other option but to abandon the baby, she should have left him where he could be easily discovered by people.”

The staff at the hospital prayed for a miracle, but the little one died after fighting for his life for a couple of days. Like other babies who had died, he was wrapped with paper made from mulberry bark and then sent to the morgue at the hospital.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Korea Donald Gregg. His wife Margaret helped her brother, who was a doctor at a children’s hospital in Philadelphia, donate a whirlpool to Seoul Children’s Hospital in the early 1970s. Back then, Gregg was posted in Seoul as a U.S. official. / Korea Times

According to the 82-year-old Cho, abandoned babies were common in the 1960s and 1970s because of the widespread poverty at the time. The people who found them would take to the children’s hospital.

“I remember in 1972 alone, we had approximately 2,300 unwanted babies aged four years or less at the hospital. Nearly 380 of those babies died that same year,” the pediatrician said. “That figure was only for Seoul. The nationwide figure would be far greater than that.”

Part of her job at the hospital was issuing death certificates for those babies. She recalled that one morning in 1973, she issued 13 of those certificates. Cho said the high child mortality rate was the result of the poor public health conditions in the country at the time.

Former U.S. Ambassador William Porter, who served in Seoul from 1967-1971. His wife arranged the donation of an anesthesia machine to Seoul Children’s Hospital which enabled surgeons to conduct surgery there. / Korea Times

Although it was run by the city government, Seoul Children’s Hospital didn’t have adequate medical equipment to properly feed and treat the babies. Although it had pediatric and surgery divisions, the lack of medical equipment made it difficult for doctors to operate on the babies.

Even though the hospital had inadequate infrastructure, her passion to save the poor babies never wavered; rather, the poor conditions inspired her to become an advocate for the babies and raise funds for them from well-heeled people. Whenever she met well-to-do individuals, she asked them to donate to make a difference in the babies’ lives.

Before meeting with potential donors, she worked on a list of items that the hospital needed. She would then ask donors if they could donate any of those items to the hospital.

Cho Byung-kuk, right, poses with JW Foundation Chairman Lee Chong-ho at The Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul on Aug. 24, after she won the 2015 Seongcheon Prize, which recognizes doctors who have dedicated their lives to helping the underprivileged. / Courtesy of JW Pharmaceutical

Cho also played an important role in forging a partnership with the U.S. military hospital in the country.

Under the partnership, babies who were seriously ill and needed surgery would be treated by medical staff at the U.S. Forces Korea hospital.

Meanwhile, Cho made the most of the children’s hospital’s network to garner support from influential people. At the children’s hospital, there was a group called Wonwoohoi.

It was a relief group consisting of 20 members, with 10 Koreans and 10 foreign women who were the wives of high-ranking foreign government officials, businessmen and diplomats.

The wives of Seoul mayors and U.S. ambassadors to Korea automatically became members of the group. Wonwoohoi members donated necessities, like hospital gowns, diapers and bedsheets to the children’s hospital.

According to Cho, the wife of U.S. Ambassador to Korea William Porter, who served in Korea from 1967 to 1971, arranged the donation of an anesthesia machine to the hospital, which enabled surgeons to perform operations at the hospital.

Likewise, Margaret Gregg, the wife of U.S. official Donald Gregg, who was posted in Seoul in the early 1970s and was appointed the ambassador to Korea in 1989, played a significant role in upgrading the hospital’s facilities.

According to Cho, Margaret’s brother was a doctor who was then working at a children’s hospital in Philadelphia. Upon hearing the plight the abandoned babies in Korea, he generously shipped a whirlpool to the hospital.

Humanitarian group Christian Reformed Korea Mission (CRKM) regularly donated milk, chewable vitamins, blankets and baby powder. It also sent five babysitters to the hospital every day.

“Another good thing was that those five women were from working-class families and were able to feed their families with the income they earned from babysitting. CRKM created jobs for them and at the same time helped the children’s hospital by sending them to us,” Cho said.

The pediatrician cited the NCO Wives Club and Seoul International Women’s Association as other organizations that helped the hospital.

Cho’s prolific fundraising efforts earned her the nickname “international beggar,” having raised a significant amount of money and other forms of aid from well-to-do and generous foreigner residents in Korea.

Asked if there was a moment in her life when she regretted her choice to be a humanitarian doctor instead of a highly paid one, she said, “No.”

She said her original plan was to be a missionary doctor anyway.

Cho said her husband, who passed away several years ago, fully supported her and her mission to save the babies. Her husband was also a doctor and a professor at the Hanyang University Hospital in Seoul.

Her family’s Christian background also influenced her career choice. Her paternal grandfather was a pastor, and her maternal grandfather was a teacher-turned-missionary who stuck to his faith despite the persecution he faced during Japan’s colonial rule of Korea. He was sent to prison several times for refusing to pay tributes to Yashukuni Shrine in Japan.

After earning her medical degree from Yonsei University College of Medicine, Cho started her career at the children’s hospital in 1962 and then joined Holt Children’s Services as a full-time doctor in 1976.

Her lifelong dedication to abandoned babies won her the 2015 JW Pharmaceutical award, which recognizes doctors who have made significant efforts to help underprivileged people. The award committee said it chose Cho for this year’s award because she is an excellent example of a doctor who has dedicated her life to taking care of unwanted children.

During her speech at the award reception at The Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul on Aug. 24, Cho said there are still many people, including disabled people, who need society’s help, and she wants to keep working for them as much as she could.