When the government officials in Korea issued the proclamation which dissolved the Seventh-day Adventist churches during the war, they also demanded that all church property held in the Zidon Hoten (Legal Association) of the Korean Union Mission be liquidated. Moreover, it was stipulated that a part of the proceeds accrued through the sale of these properties be donated to the government as a war fund.
A Korean lawyer, representing the government, was appointed to sell and dispose of our properties, institutions, churches, and mission homes. The first institution sold under the liquidation program was the Seoul Sanitarium and Hospital. Fortunately for us, as we shall see, the health department of the government-general bought this building. The Signs of the Times Publishing House was taken over by a Japanese newspaper company in Seoul, and our union office building, houses, and headquarters church were sold to the Keijo Imperial University. God's protecting hand continued to be over these institutions, and in the restoration of all our properties, He has seen fit to give back more than was taken from us.
While occupying the Seoul Sanitarium, the government undertook an extensive building program. The original ten acres of land was increased to over twenty-two acres. On part of the new land three large tuberculosis wards of thirty beds each were erected. A deep well and concrete water tank were completed, which, when attached to the main hospital building, will provide ample water for the whole medical plant.
In restoring the Seoul Sanitarium and Hospital the present military government also grants to us the added land and new buildings erected on it. With this new addition we have one of the largest medical institutions in Seoul.
The machinery and equipment in the Signs press building were greatly abused while in the hands of the paper company. However, when hostilities ceased and this company suddenly moved out, they left behind over a year's supply of newsprint paper, ten five-gallon containers of black ink, four small job presses, and many cases of Korean and Japanese type. Thus the supplies left in the publishing house offset the damage sustained from the Japanese paper company.
Japanese soldiers were billeted in our mission houses, union office building, and church during the latter part of the war. These buildings were damaged. However, the Lord has definitely worked for us in this matter also. The Korean lawyer who sold our property had in his possession the sum of 560,000 yen, accumulated partly through the sale of the Seoul compound and some small country churches. While in Seoul recently
I met Lawyer Shin and arranged for him to return this sum to us as indemnity toward property damages, inflicted during the war.
The U.S. military government in Korea has given assurance that all mission properties taken from us during the war will be restored. Kind Providence has arranged that this restoration be made in "good measure . . . and running over." Thus again His promise has been fulfilled.
