Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan Passes Away

by Robert Koehler on February 16, 2009

The news is reporting that Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan passed away about half an hour ago.

{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }

1 sanshinseon February 16, 2009 at 6:57 pm: R.I.P. to a very good man! His honored place in late-20th-Cen Korean history is assured…
2 JiMong February 17, 2009 at 8:52 am: Rest in Peace.
He was the good shepherd to Koreans.
3 red sparrow February 17, 2009 at 11:02 am: Are there any Holocaust deniers in Korea the Vatican can appoint to take his position?
4 Ut videam February 17, 2009 at 12:53 pm: Your comment displays complete ignorance of the issues involved in the Williamson controversy, as well as an utter lack of class. Nice work, chump.

Cardinal Kim, requiescat in pacem.
5 JW February 17, 2009 at 1:05 pm: One thing I came across while reading some of his well known sayings — he refers to God as 하느님 and not 하나님 as I’m guessing all protestants do. Is this a point of contention between protestants and catholics in Korea at all or just a benign difference that even the orthodox folks don’t take seriously?

Just a curiosity is all.
6 Robert Koehler February 17, 2009 at 1:27 pm: Well, if Wikipedia is to be believed:

한국 기독교에서는 이 명칭이 통일되어 있지 않다. 가톨릭과 성공회는 하ᄂᆞ님을 현대의 맞춤법에 알맞게 적으면 “하느님”이 된다고 보며, 개신교는 “하나님”으로 표기해야 더 맞는 소리가 난다고 본다. 개신교 일부에서는 범신론적인 사상과 구분되는 유일신 사상을 강조하는 명칭이 “하나님”으로 보고 있다. 현대 한국어의 국어사전에서는 두 단어를 모두 인정하고 있다.

http://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%ED%95%98%EB%8A%90%EB%8B%98
7 JW February 17, 2009 at 1:45 pm: Interesting. Thank you Robert. Here is an interesting saying:

五.TV (바보상자)
텔레비전과 많은 시간 동거하지 말라.
술에 취하면 정신을 잃고…마약에 취하면 이성을 잃지만
텔레비전에 취하면 모든게 마비 된 바보가 된다.

I am not sure if I totally agree that too much TV is worse than too much alcohol or too much crack, but for now I will take the good man’s word over my doubts!
8 sewing February 18, 2009 at 2:39 am: The article corroborates what I’ve read in other discussions on the subject.

Until the 19th century, the name would have been written 하ㄴ、님 [the letter after the ㄴ is supposed to be an "arae-a" (아래아)]. In modern orthography, it could be written and pronounced as either 하나님 or 하느님.

Catholics (and Anglicans?) tend to use 하느님, partly (possibly) because historically there may have been an intended transference from the idea of a transcendent god of heaven (하늘)—the original Catholic name for God in Korea was Cheonju (天主; Lord of Heaven).

Protestants tend to use 하나님 to emphasize the uniqueness and oneness of God (three Persons of the Trinity in one), and possibly also out of a historical, deliberate desire to not blur the distinctions between Christianity and other belief systems.
9 JW February 18, 2009 at 4:07 am: So no complaints against this man among Korean netizens? That is a test of fire not many survived without a good deal of hurting, is it not? An accomplishment worthy of sainthood, in my opinion.
10 misuda February 20, 2009 at 8:06 pm: I propose the late Cardinal Kim should be remembered by putting his image on the proposed 100,000 note. The Kim Gu idea is too contentious.
11 SomeguyinKorea February 21, 2009 at 7:22 am: Religion is very low on my list of concerns…But for some reason I found myself reading up about him on the net a couple of weeks ago…Not that it proves to me the existence of god, but interesting coincidence nonetheless.