Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
US man killed by remote tribe was missionary trying to 'declare Jesus'
In this October 2018 photo, American adventurer John Allen Chau, right, stands with Founder of the Ubuntu Football Academy Casey Prince in Cape Town, South Africa, days before he left for India's remote North Sentinel Island, where he was killed. AP
By Jung Min-ho
By Jung Min-ho
An American man, who was killed on Nov. 16 by an isolated tribe on a remote Indian island, was traveling there to “declare Jesus” to the tribespeople and told his family ― hours before his deaths ― that they should “not be angry at them or at God if I get killed.”
John Allen Chau, 26, is believed to have been killed by a volley of arrows soon after landing on North Sentinel Island, one of the Andaman Islands.
In a letter to his family shortly before his death, Chau said he was willing to risk death to spread the Christian gospel to the people. He reportedly visited the Andaman Islands several years ago and told friends that he would like to return there someday.
“I hollered: 'My name is John, I love you and Jesus loves you.' I regret I began to panic slightly as I saw them string arrows in their bows,” Chau wrote in a journal. “I picked up the fish and threw it towards them. They kept coming. I paddled like I never have in my life back to the boat. I felt some fear but mainly was disappointed. They didn't accept me right away.”
As he was preparing to make another trip to the island the next day, Chau wrote to his family, “You guys might think I'm crazy in all this, but I think it's worth it to declare Jesus to these people.
“Please do not be angry at them or at God if I get killed. Rather, please live your lives in obedience to whatever he has called you to and I'll see you again when you pass through the veil … This is not a pointless thing. The eternal lives of this tribe are at hand and I can't wait to see them around the throne of God worshipping in their own language, as Revelations 7:9-10 states.”
He signed off: “Soli deo gloria” (glory to God alone).
He gave the letter to fishermen and took a kayak to the island alone. But on the morning of Nov. 17, the fishermen told police they saw from a boat that a dead person was being buried at the shore.
Seven people, including five fishermen, were later arrested for allegedly helping Chau reach the island, which is illegal to visit without government permission.
Indian authorities said it would take some time to recover Chau's body.
On Instagram, his family said they forgave his killers and asked for those who helped him to be released. They said he was a “beloved son, brother and uncle who loved God, life, helping those in need” and had “nothing but love” for the Sentinelese people.
“He ventured out on his own will and his local contacts need not be persecuted for his own actions,” the family said. “As a family, we ask for your understanding and respect for him and us during this time.”