Even after the open letter, “I haven’t heard from my nephew or brother.”
Han Kang’s novel is dark and heavy.
I don’t want to read it after a page or two
Literary achievements and glory are all trash.
Can’t compare to God’s light
A thousand Nobel Prizes cannot save one soul.
I want to write a story before and after accepting Jesus.
▲Pastor Han Chung-won, uncle of writer Han Kang. ⓒFacebook
While the ‘Uncle’s Letter’ published by Pastor Han Chung-won, the uncle of Nobel Prize winner Han Kang, on Facebook garnered attention, Pastor Han said, “This is the response I expected. “It was a spiritual battle with those in power in the world,” he said, but “even after posting, there was no contact from my brother (author Han Seung-won, the father of author Han Kang) or my nephew.”
Pastor Choong-won Han, who is serving at Happy Church in Daejeon, said in a phone call with Christian Today on the afternoon of the 14th, “I am receiving a lot of friend requests and messages on Facebook.” He said, “Thank you for saying what I wanted to say on behalf of you. “We are also receiving calls from foreign missionaries,” he said.
In a Facebook post on the 7th, he said, “I am well aware that as soon as I post this on the Internet, many people may stone me and call me a ‘bad guy,’ but I cannot help but write this letter.” He added, “I don’t know whether I should write the letter or not.” I asked God several times. “I don’t know how many times I shed tears while writing this letter after preparing my heart through prayer for about 15 days,” he wrote.
Nevertheless, “for the greater good, for the souls of my countrymen and descendants, I have decided to make this letter public. It cannot be denied that, thanks to the development of information and communication technology, this era is rapidly becoming sexually corrupted like Sodom and Gomorrah. “It is deplorable that even in our country, attempts are being made to legalize homosexuality, which goes against God’s created order, sexual violence that destroys the soul is committed countless times, and the divorce and suicide rates are almost the highest among OECD countries,” he said. I have made this letter public out of a sense of duty as a pastor who strives to create a sense of social and ethical responsibility for works, to help our people be discerning about literary works, and to achieve ‘God’s will’ on this earth. “I hope you understand deeply.”
In the phone call, Pastor Choong-won Han said, “It wasn’t for me to become famous. “Now that my nephew (writer Han Kang) has won the Nobel Prize in Literature, doesn’t it seem like it’s amazing and difficult to come across?” he said. “But isn’t this true? I’ve received several copies of the work as gifts before, but after reading one or two pages, I don’t want to read any more. “It was so dark and heavy from the first sentence,” he recalled.
Regarding this, he also wrote on Facebook, “Most of my nephew’s representative works end in tragedy. “There were several times while reading the work that I felt so dark and frustrated that I felt the urge to close the book,” he said. “Moreover, since it is the work of a Nobel Prize-winning author, one can take the main character’s life for granted without the slightest question or criticism. “My nephew’s works have the power to instill in readers a sense of futility and despair, sometimes arouse anger, and even make them think that life is not worth living.”
One pastor said in a phone call, “I know because I also experienced (such life and writing) until I was 30. But that changed when I encountered the light of God. “Before, I got used to it because it was my family’s tradition, and I was deceived,” he said. “After meeting God, all of those literary achievements and glory felt like trash. Because the light I received could not be compared to anything in the world. “I wrote about it in a Facebook post, but I received tremendous persecution at home (because I believed in Jesus),” he confessed.
He said, “After I came to believe in Jesus, God guided many of his chosen people through me. I discovered that the way for me to live was to save people’s souls by spreading God’s word of life, and I wanted to do missionary work. So, in 2010, I started attending Chimsindae’s evening program (M.Div.),” he said. “After graduating in 2014, God asked me to pioneer something that he needed urgently. “I have been pastoring for the past 10 years, sending the family of a gangster who was on the verge of divorce, helping them recover and become a new family,” he said.
Pastor Choong-won Han said, “I just do what the Lord tells me to do. I want to write a book about the story before and after I accepted Jesus. “The things that God did through my husband and I, many miracles like those in the Bible’s Acts of the Apostles happened through us,” he said. “Such things happened even after reading this article. I wrote this without even thinking about it, but this is what God did. “Rather than the revival of the church, I want to write about people who led dying souls, broken souls, and broken families to the Lord,” he said.
On this morning, Reverend Han Chung-won’s wife, Esther Min, said, “Actually, an elderly person who read the article said, ‘I need to go to church too,’ and contacted me saying that she would come this week. “After reading it, there were people who were so desperate that they wanted to save their souls and asked for the location of the church,” he said. “Some people said their children couldn’t decide on a church, and there were people who wanted to recommend a church like this. Very surprising things are happening.”
Esther Min’s wife said, “The most important purpose of writing that letter is that it contains my uncle’s hope that writer Han Kang, who does not believe in Jesus, will accept Jesus, and that he will write a bright and hopeful piece that gives hope to the world.” “The purpose was to spread the gospel to many people who do not know God.”
Esther Min’s wife said, “It’s not in the letter, but novelist Han Seung-won, the pastor’s older brother and the father of writer Han Kang, was very exclusive about Christianity. “It’s not just that he doesn’t like me,” he said. “That’s why he persecuted my younger brother so much because he believed in Jesus, and he hated me so much for evangelizing my husband, who followed him like an idol.”
Madam Min said, “If you look at your sister-in-law’s work, it is full of Christian slander. The pastor was portrayed as a strange person, and he also had strong shamanistic tendencies, so it was hard enough for me to die. “The spiritual war was so intense that I almost gave up on my life,” he said. “In the end, we went to the United States together for an exchange training program at a research institute and the pastor was born again.”
Lastly, Pastor Choong-Won Han said, “My dream is for my brother and nephew to see the light of heaven shine on them, gain life, and come back. “That’s why I was surprised, shocked, and worried when I heard the news of the Nobel Prize in Literature,” he said. “What good is the Nobel Prize in God’s kingdom? He asked, “Aren’t these works not about leading to salvation, but rather leading to death?”
Regarding this, he also wrote in a Facebook post on the 7th, “In the meantime, I heard from afar that my nephew had won the Man Booker Prize, but when I heard that he had won the Nobel Prize in Literature, I fell into complicated emotions. “To be honest, I was quite shocked, surprised, and worried before I was happy,” he said. “I was worried that my brother’s family would become further distant from God’s salvation by winning the Nobel Prize, and that Korean society might be divided in two due to the evaluation of my nephew’s work.” “It was because I had a scary feeling that I didn’t know,” he wrote.
In particular, he said, “In fact, I would like to reveal here that the separation between my nephew and I was caused by my older brother, who hated and rejected the faith of Jesus Christ,” and “39 years ago, for two years, my older brother and I met my third brother, whose life was falling into alcoholism and being ruined.” There was a sharp conflict between the two for two years over the method of healing. Then, my third brother passed away, and during his funeral, he was angry at my claim that ‘no person or anything (including literature) can save the human soul except Jesus Christ,’ so he punished me harshly for three days. “You persecuted me,” he wrote.
In a phone call, Pastor Choong-won Han said, “I could have earned fame and made a living by writing, but after believing in Jesus, all I do is build walls and save souls. “Even if there are a thousand Nobel Prizes, they cannot save even one soul,” he said. “Only God the Creator, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit can save and heal. Some of my nephews and nieces started going to church. I hope you and your family all believe in Jesus. “The article was not written to insult them,” he emphasized.
He added, “My wife also published two poetry collections. You may not be famous in this world, but you will be famous in the Kingdom of God. There are people who say they came back to Jesus after reading that book of poetry. “I wouldn’t write a book if it wasn’t one like that,” he said. “I’m 68 years old now, and if God grants me the strength, I want to write a book that gives light and life like Caleb until I go before the Lord.” “A book containing the story of St. Augustine’s Penitences and the Acts of the Apostles will be published around June next year,” he said.
