Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
Yoido Full Gospel Church prepares to resume heart hospital construction in Pyongyang
Rev. Cho Yong-gi, seventh from left, founder of Yoido Full Gospel Church, breaks ground at the groundbreaking ceremony for a heart hospital being built in Pyongyang, Dec. 4, 2007. Courtesy of Yoido Full Gospel Church
By Baek Byung-yeul
Yoido Full Gospel Church is taking steps to resume the construction of the cardiac hospital in Pyongyang, a project that has been on hold since 2010 as the church’s senior pastor Lee Young-hoon recently met with Unification Minister Chung Dong-young to discuss reviving the humanitarian aid effort.
South Korea’s largest Protestant church said Monday that Lee had a meeting with the minister on Aug. 11 to resume the halted construction project.
“Pastor Lee Young-hoon met with Unification Minister Chung Dong-young at 6 p.m. on Aug. 11 at the Somerset Palace Seoul hotel to discuss resuming construction of the Pyongyang Heart Hospital,” a church official said.
“At the time, the hospital was about 70 percent complete, and the resumption date will be coordinated through consultations between the government and North Korean authorities.”
The meeting focused on restarting construction that was suspended in the sinking of the Cheonan corvette by a North Korean attack in the West Sea in 2010.
Church officials hope the hospital, located in the heart of Pyongyang, will contribute to inter-Korean peace and unification. They believe the project can serve as a conduit for a new era of reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula.
Lee Young-hoon, left, senior pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church, poses with Chung Dong-young, minister of unification, during their meeting at a hotel in Seoul, Aug. 11. Courtesy of Yoido Full Gospel Church
The hospital project was initiated by Yoido Full Gospel Church in 2007 at the suggestion of then-President Roh Moo-hyun after the inter-Korean summit.
Following a visit to Kaesong by Rev. Cho Yong-gi, founder of the church, in June 2007, construction began by the end of that year. The project was widely seen as a major example of private-sector humanitarian aid to the North.
The church invested approximately 20 billion won ($14.5 million) to build a seven-story hospital with 280 beds. Upon completion, the hospital would be staffed by South Korean medical professionals, specialists and even a chaplain, providing not only medical services but also spiritual support.
"I hope this hospital, which holds Rev. Cho Yong-gi’s love for North Korea, can be completed soon to provide various medical benefits," the senior pastor said.
Globally, cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of death. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), these diseases account for 33 percent of all deaths in North Korea when the project launched, so the completion of the hospital was seen as a critical step toward providing essential medical care to North Koreans and bridging the healthcare gap between the two Koreas.
Since the project's suspension in 2010, the church has persistently worked to secure its resumption. It has maintained cooperation with the United Nations, North Korean authorities and international medical organizations. These efforts continued despite the COVID-19 pandemic and strict economic sanctions related to North Korea's nuclear program.
These persistent efforts yielded a significant breakthrough in 2021, when the U.N. Security Council's Sanctions Committee on North Korea granted an unprecedented sanctions exemption. This waiver allowed for the 1,254 items to be imported for the project, including construction materials, CT scanners and MRI machines, the church said.