한국인보다 한국을 더 사랑한 언더우드 가문

Summary

The video traces the Underwood family’s four-generation commitment to Christian mission and education in Korea, portraying them as people who came to regard Korea as their home.

Underwood and Lilias Horton

Horace Underwood came to Joseon as a missionary, initially leaving his fiancée behind. He later met Lilias Horton, an American medical missionary who had studied at the University of Chicago and worked in Korea.

Horton was eight years older than Underwood, but the video says age did not matter to them: they shared a religious purpose and married in Korea in 1889. Horton recorded observations of Korean life and culture. Her writing, including a book whose title is rendered in the subtitles as Fifteen Years with the Strugglers, is presented as a valuable record of the period and of missionary work.

Their Honeymoon as a Mission Journey

Rather than travel abroad after their wedding, the couple set out on an evangelistic journey through Korea, especially Hwanghae and Pyeongan provinces. The trip lasted two months and covered about 1,600 kilometers, at a time when travel was difficult and foreign visitors attracted intense curiosity.

Horton provided medical care in areas affected by disease. Together, the couple distributed religious booklets and preached Christianity. The video says they baptized 33 people near the Yalu River. Their journey also demonstrated that women could travel beyond Seoul and participate in nationwide missionary work.

A Family Legacy Across Generations

The video describes the Underwoods as having served Korea for roughly 120 years across four generations. Their descendants reportedly explained their attachment to Korea as something naturally inherited from their parents and grandparents.

Underwood devoted decades to Korea and was ultimately buried there. His son, identified in the subtitles as Won Han-gyeong, was born in Korea, studied in the United States, and returned to teach at Yonhi College, which Underwood had founded. The video credits him with helping the school develop into Yonsei University.

The subtitles also describe his resistance to Japanese colonial pressure, including efforts to protect the Korean language and Korean scholars, and his eventual return to Korea after being forced to leave. Some later biographical details and dates in this section appear muddled in the auto-generated captions.

A third-generation descendant, identified as Won, returned to Korea as a Christian educator. The video says he was deported during the Japanese suppression of Christianity. He later served as an interpreter during the Korean War, including at the Incheon Landing Operation and during the armistice, and continued supporting educational institutions such as Yonsei, Hannam, and Paichai.

According to the subtitles, this descendant was expelled again in 1980 for speaking about the Gwangju Uprising, but returned to Korea as soon as he could and continued his work.

The fourth generation donated the family’s Underwood House. The video says it became a registered cultural heritage site and a memorial hall at Yonsei University.

The Family’s Stated Purpose

The family’s work is framed around Underwood’s hopes for Korea, including Christianity, Western medicine, and education. The subtitles cut off before clearly stating the fourth hope.

A descendant is quoted as saying that Korea had developed greatly since Underwood’s arrival, and that the next task was for people who understood Korea to engage with the wider world.

The video’s central message is that the Underwoods’ commitment extended beyond individual missionary work: they built institutions, lived through Korea’s modern history, and treated the country as their homeland.

Speakers and Sources Featured

• Oksan — The narrator, who introduces and recounts the story.
• Horace Underwood and Lilias Horton — Represented through quotations and the narrator’s account.
• Descendants of the Underwood family — Including a second-generation figure identified in the subtitles as Won Han-gyeong and a third-generation figure identified as Won. The captions contain inconsistent or garbled names, so some identifications are uncertain.
• A family statement attributed to a descendant in 2004 — About Underwood’s hopes for Korea and the family’s decision to conclude its long period of service.
• The Bible and the Apostle Paul — Invoked as a comparison for the couple’s missionary journey.