http://dx.doi.org/10.14387/jkspth.2020.70.

117

From Brokenness To Wholeness:

A Christian Ministry For Healing
“HAN” in the Korean Context

Lee, Daniel Chung-Soon

(Mokwon University)

I. Introduction

Today we are living with many problems in the world. Human

beings are dying and expelled out of their living places even at this
moment. Many people are forced to get out of their hometowns and
wandering as refuges. There are ceaseless wars among nations. The
war between Yugoslavia and NATO, which was begun in 1999 is a
typical example that shows us the human being’s situation. As reported
in many newspapers, the forces of the Yugoslav used techniques of
terror during a four-year ‘ethnic-cleansing’ campaign in Bosnia and
118 ․Theology and Praxis

Croatia to round up and kill ethnic Kosovo Albanians, and destroy their
homes. As a result of war, about 13,517 people were killed or went
missing, more than a quarter of Kosovo Albanians were displaced, about
a million people were streamed toward the borders of Albania,
Macedonia and Motenegro, and dozens of towns and villages were in
flames. How can we imagine so-called “ethnic cleansing” in the time of
technology and science? Human beings are still repeating the same
mistake that we made in history. 1)
Korea is not an exception. Korea is another country where there
many problems arising from evil structures. First of all, the division of
Korea into north and south is the most painful suffering for all Koreans.
After experiencing Japanese colonial rule for 36 years, Korea was
divided in 1945, with its south occupied by the United States and its
north by the Soviet Union. This division was solidified by the Korean
War in 1950 to 1953. In Korea, all people are suffering from the same
wound. It is characterized as so- called ‘ han.’ That is, “Koreans have
suffered numerous invasions by surrounding powerful nations so that
the very existence of the Korean nation has come to be understood as
han.”2) Of course, the term han is not only applied to Koreans but also to
all other suffering peoples in the world. How should Christians
understand and heal the problem of han? It is an important task for all
Koreans to solve it. Further, it is one of essential issues for Christians to
deal with the personal and social dimension of han.
In this article, I will to focus on the case of Korea, centering on the

1) Dan Sabbagh,“Still needed: NATO marks 20 years in Kosovo,” The Guardian,

12 Jun 2019, accessed 25 June, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/
jun/12/nato-marks-20-years-kosovo-kfor-serbia.
2) Namg-Dong Suh, “Towards a Theology of Han,” in Minjung Theology:
People as the Subject of History, ed. Young-Bock Kim, (Singapore: The
Christian Conference of Asia, 1981), 54.
 From Brokenness To Wholeness․ 119

concept of han. I will first examine the concepts of han in several ways:
the definitions of han; the stories of han; and the roots of han. Then, I
will explicate the biblical and theological basis for resolving the problem
of han. I will particularly focus on the tradition of people’s liberation in
the Bible and some appropriate theologies for this study. Third, I will
search for pastoral ways of healing han with regard to Christian healing
ministry. In conclusion, I will briefly point out tasks for further studies.

II. An Understanding of Han

1. The Definitions of Han

The term ‘han’ is an important concept for understanding the Korean

people’s reality. In other words, it is “the Key identifying, indelible
marks of the Korean people along with their history, culture, and
spirituality.”3) According to Andrew Sung Park, “Han is an Asian,
particularly Korean, term used to describe the depth of human suffering.
Han is essentially untranslatable; even in Korean, its meaning is difficult
to articulate. Han is the abysmal experience of pain.”4)
In Korean usage, han means “a grudge, resentment, a bitter feeling,
spite, hatred, rancor, discontent, a regret, an unsatisfied desire.”5) According
to Son,

3) Chang-Hee Son, “A Comparative Study of The Korean Terms Haan and

Han,” (Th.D. diss., Boston University School of theology, 1997), 1.
4) Andrew Sung Park, A Wounded Heart of God, (Nashville: Abingdon Press,
1993), 15.
5) Minjungseorim, ed., Essence Korean-English Dictionary, (Seoul: Minjungseorim,
1993), s.v. “desire.”
120 ․Theology and Praxis

Han is a significant, psychological state and prevalent, dynamic, emotive

experience, as differentiated from the experience of the German notion of
“angst.” The notion of what is termed han has been commonly used in
daily life among Koreans from ancient times and is still in common use
especially among those persons who lived through the Korean War. 6)

Strictly speaking, the original word “Han”(恨) is composed of two

Sino-Korean characters, shim (心) and kan (艮). The first character, 心,
means “mind” or “heart” and the second character, 艮, means “to
remain still or calm”.7) Thus, this word han is used to describe the heart
of a person or people who has/have endured an affliction, but the pains,
wounds, and scars are not always apparent or visible because they are
the kind that occur deep within the heart or soul of the person.”8)
The concept of han is well advocated by Korean minjung
theologians.9) “Minjung Theology,” an indigenous liberation theology of
Korea, emerged from an oppressive political situation in Korea in the
1970’s. For these theologians, han is the central for understanding the
minjung’s situation. Chi-Ha Kim first states: “Han is the minjung’s
angry and sad sentiment turned inward, hardened and stuck to their
hearts. Han is caused as one’s outgoingness is blocked and pressed for
an extended period of time by external oppression and exploitation.”10)

6) Son, “A Comparative Study of The Korean Terms Haan and Han,” 9.

7) Kyu-Tae Lee, Hankukinui Euisikugo [The Structure of Consciousness of the
Korean], (Seoul: Sinwonmunhwasa, 1983), 200.
8) Son, “A Comparative Study of The Korean Terms Haan and Han,” 10.
9) The Korean word ‘minjung’ is not translated in English. It is an unique word
using in the Korean context. It as many different meanings, depending on
scholars. However, it is generally agreed that minjung are those who are
politically oppressed, economically exploited, and socio-culturally discriminated
against for a long time. This is a definition by a Korean sociologist Dr.
Wan-Sang Han.
10) Quoted in Andrew Sung-Park, The Wounded Heart of God,15.
 From Brokenness To Wholeness․ 121

Young-Hak Hyun defines han more clearly:

Han is a sense of unresolved resentment against injustice suffered, a sense

of helplessness because of the overwhelming odds against, a feeling of
acute pain of sorrow in one’s guts and bowels making the whole body
writhe and wriggle, and obstinate urge to take “revenge” and to right the
wrong all these combined. 11)

Nam-Dong Suh also elucidates it:

Korean have suffered numerous invasions by surrounding powerful nations

so that the very existence of the Korean nation has come to be understood
han. Koreans have continually suffered the tyranny of the rulers so that
they think of their existence as baecksung (common people). Also, under
Confucianism’s strict imposition of laws and customs discriminating
against women, the existence of women was han itself. At a certain point
in Korean history, about half of the population was registered as hereditary
slaves, and were treated as property rather than as people of the nation.
These thought of their lives as han. These four may be called the Fourfold
han of Korean people. Indeed, as the poet Ko Eun exclaims, “We Koreans
were borne from the womb of han and brought up in the womb of han.
Han is an underlying feeling of Korean people. On the one hand, it is a
dominant feeling of defeat, resignation and nothingness. On the other, it is
a feeling with a tenacity of will for life which comes to weaker beings.12)

Therefore, han is one of the main problems to healed collectively in

Korea today.13) This is closely related to the issue “Healing our World

11) Young-Hak Hyun, “Minjung: The Suffering Servant and Hope,”(Unpublished

paper, Union Theological Seminary, 1982), 1.
12) Namg-Dong Suh, “Towards a Theology of Han,” in Minjung Theology:
People as the Subject of History, ed. Yong-Bok Kim, (Singapore: The
Christian Conference of Asia, 1982), 54.
122 ․Theology and Praxis

Today.”

2. The Stories of Han

As we stated above, the concept of han is defined in many ways.

This means han is the word that is not exactly captured with any
linguistic tools. Thus, we can find more vividly the reality of han
through minjung(people)’s stories. On the contrary, minjung as the
bearer of han can be identified “not by a philosophical or scientific
definition of their essence or nature, but rather through their own
stories.”14) That is, “stories communicate the heart of han without
confining it to the boundary of definition.”15)

A. Tae-Il Chun: Han of Exploited Workers

Tae-Il Chun is a symbolic person in the Korean Worker’s Movement.
He was born as the son of a poor family in 1948. After experiencing jobs
such as shoeshine boy and rear-cart pusher, he began to work as an
apprentice in a sewing shop at the age of sixteen. His working condition
was miserable. He and other workers worked fifteen-hour days with
only days off a month, with low wage. After seeing a young sewing
machinist vomiting blood, he tried to reveal these workers’ situation to

13) According to Soo-Young Kim, “Han is an Internalized Human

Emotion Created to Combat the Sufferings that the Human Beings
Experience.” Soo-Young Kim, “The Implications of Beauty, Art, and
the Healing Movements/Dance for Pastoral Care andMinistry,”
Theology and Praxis 55(2017), 263.
14) Yong-Bok Kim, “Messiah and Minjung: Discerning Messianic Politics over
against Political Messianism,” in Minjung Theology: People as the Subject
of History, ed. Yong-Bok Kim, (Singapore: The Christian Conference of
Asia, 1981), 186.
15) Park, A Wounded Heart of God, 21.
 From Brokenness To Wholeness․ 123

the public, but failed. He was fired because he tried to organize a labor
union. He decided to burn himself as a final way of revealing this
reality. Nam-Dong Suh states:

His diary reveals his resolution to sacrifice his life for the cause of his
fellow laborers: ‘I must go back to you, my poor brothers and sisters . . .
I am willing give my life for you. . . the Saturday of August, the day of
resolution . . . Dear God, have mercy upon my effort to be a morning
dew-drop.’ . . . On 13 November 1970, Tae-Il and 500 other laborers
peacefully marched into the Peace Market with the placard: ‘We are not
machines.’ When a special police unit was dispatched and dispersed this
lawful demonstration, Tae-Il immolated himself. While dying, he aloud, ‘Do
not exploit the young lives! Don’t make my death futile!’ 16)

B. Comfort Women: Han of Sex Slaves

We can easily find an example of han in the issue of ‘Comfort
Women.’ “About two hundred thousand Korean young women and wives
were tricked, conscripted, forcibly taken from their homes, or kidnapped
on the streets by the Japanese military government from 1941 to 1945.
Called ‘comfort women,’ they were raped daily by Japanese soldiers.” 17)
All Korean people, including ex-comfort women, feel the wound of han
from this tragic event. Oak Boon Lee speaks of her past painful life as
a comfort woman: “On weekends, soldiers waited in a long line of a few
hundred meters . . . A woman from Bo-Joo contracted venereal disease,
was beaten every day and died eventually.” 18) Sung Ja Lee also states:

16) Nam-Dong Suh, Minjung Shinhak ui Tanku [Exploration of Minjung

Theology], (Seoul: Hankilsa, 1983), 351-353. I referred to Prof. Andrew Sung
Park’s translation.
17) Andrew Sung Park, Racial Conflict and Healing An Asian-American Perspective,
(New York: Orbis Books, 1996),14.
18) Ibid.,15.
124 ․Theology and Praxis

“I remember the Japanese soldiers cutting off one of a woman’s breasts

when they caught a group of us attempting to escape. This atrocity was
meant to horrify us.”19) Even though they survived and returned to
Korea after the World War II, they can not forget their painful
memories, their life of han. It is hard for them to continue to live as
ordinarily as other people because they have suppressed han in their
minds. Now their han has led us to build the museum of Japanese
Military Sexual slavery. This means their han is not healed in history.
Young-Min Choe reports this:

Nine ‘sex slaves’ who survived the Pacific War and managed to return
home to Korea, reside together in an isolated brick house surrounded by
the pristine mountains and rice fields of Kwangju in Kyonggi province.
The painful reality of having been a comfort woman is inescapable despite
the intimacy of something almost familial that impregnates the setting.
Here, the former comfort women constantly relive the horrible memories of
the atrocities performed on them. They are tired of trying to forget. . .Their
past is graphically on this play in the exhibition halls of the Museum of
Japanese Military Sexual Slavery, right next door to where they stay. 20)

C. Bu-Nam Kim: Han of a Raped Victim

Han is often expressed as an individual’s fury and vengefulness.
Bu-Nam Kim’s story demonstrates this:

Bu-Nam It was 8-year-old Kim Bu Nam’s job each day to fetch water for
her family from the well of a neighbor who ran a candy store. One day,
Song Baek Gwon, the 35-year-old neighbor, called young Kim into his
house and raped her. Twenty-one years later, following two broken

19) Ibid.
20) Young-Min Choe, “Nine Sex Slaves Return Home,” The Korea Times, 13
November 1998, B5.
 From Brokenness To Wholeness․ 125

marriages and several months in a mental hospital, Kim returned to her

little South Korean farming village and paid a call on Song and his wife.
When his wife left the room and Kim was left alone with Song, she pulled
out a knife and stabbed him to death. Kim was arrested and charged with
homicide, but her case became a cause celebre among women tired of the
abuse they have suffered in male-dominated South Korea. “I did not kill a
man,” Kim told the court, “I killed an animal.” 21)

Her personal han was created by an abrupt rape, but she did not
express it at all. Rather she became silent. This incident often happens
in a patriarchal society. After keeping her han in her life for a long time,
she exploded, which resulted in the killing of the guilty party. Her han
represents the suppressive life of Korean women.

3. The Roots of Han

Where does han arise? What are the roots of han? Why do people
continue to suffer from the reality of han? Why do people experience
han? Are there many roots of han in the world? It is not only related to
personal and psychological dimensions but also to social and political
dimensions. Likewise, han as a central feeling of the suffering and
oppressed has roots in many dimensions. First, han is created in personal
relationships among people. In most cases, it is accumulated through a
bad, unequal relationship. In the case of Bu-Nam Kim, she began to
keep an incurable han in her mind through an abrupt, inhumane
relationship forced by Mr. Song. She became shocked and could not
express any feelings about men. Her han was kept as a defeatedness,

21) Leslie Helm, “Asia : Korean Women Try to Shed Their Second-Class Status,”
Los Angeles Times, 23 April 1991, accessed June 20, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/
archives/la-xpm-1991-09-27-mn-2900-story.html.
126 ․Theology and Praxis

shame, hatred, and vengefulness in her subconscious.

Second, han is created by an evil, unjust society. “Han is not just an
individual feeling of repression. This is not just a sickness that can be
cured by psychotherapy. This is a collective feeling of the oppressed.
This sickness of han can be cured only when the total structure of the
oppressed society and culture is changed.”22) Human beings live under
the influence of society. We see and hear today “a world in agony, torn
by starvation, dehumanizing living conditions, unjust distribution of
wealth, ecological deterioration--a world that calls for global, coordinated
action based on commonly recognized values and truths.” 23) In other
words, we are living in “a common context that has a common complex
of problems” or han. According to Paul Knitter, what is common to all
people, in various details, is “the horrible reality of suffering:” suffering
of the body due to poverty; suffering of the earth due to abuse; suffering
of spirit-victimization; and suffering due to violence. 24) Korea is a
typical country where people are experiencing these global sufferings.
Even though Korea has a long history, about 5,000 years, she enjoyed
peace and justice for only a short time. One of the greatest pains is a
national division of the Korean people. Many people are living with han,
separated from their families in the north and south. Koreans painfully
experienced this han of division from the time of the civil war,
1950-1953. Koreans are still suffering from division, unjust economy,
Confucian patriarchal oppression, and foreign interventions. All kinds of

22) David Kwangsun Suh, “Minjung and Theology in Korea: A Biographical

Sketch of an Asian Theological Consultation,” in Minjung Theology: People
as the Subject of History, in Minjung Theology: People as the Subject of
History, ed. Young-Bock Kim, (Singapore: The Christian Conference of Asia,
1981), 28.
23) Paul Knitter, One Earth Many Religions, (New York: Orbis Books, 1995), 55.
24) Ibid., 57-65.
 From Brokenness To Wholeness․ 127

spirits of han are still wandering over the Korean peninsula.

III. God as the Liberator: the Tradition of People’s

Liberation in the Bible

How should we, as Christians, understand and respond to the

problem of han? It is important to search for solutions to their problems
in the Bible. This is related to the appropriate theology, which gives the
foundations to our Christian ministry.
The Bible is the book in which many people in various
socio-historical situations have interpreted their lives and histories with
a view of faith in God, and then composed them into the biblical
narrative. There are many ways of interpreting the Bible. Among them,
I here suggest a reading of the Bible from a perspective of “the people
of han.”25) If we read the Bible in that way, the Bible is clearly the
history of people’s salvation and liberation and God is the one who
liberates the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized, and the people of han.
In other words, God is revealed as the one who take side the people of
han and resolve their situation (Ps72:2; Pr 31:9; Lk 18:3). According to
the Korean minjung theology, this is called the tradition of minjung
liberation in the Bible. If we find this tradition in the Bible, we can first
find a basis for responding rightly to the problems of han.26)

25) According to, the liberation theologian Jose Severino Croatto, this is “a
community-based hermeneutics of the biblical message.” He says: “Anyone
who has had the least experience of grassroots communities knows the
richness and depth of the people in understanding the kerygma”. Jose
Severino Croatto, Exodus: Hermeneutics of Freedom, (New York: Orbis
Books, 1976), 11. Dieter T. Hessel also insists, “liberation from oppression
and poverty is a central theme of the Bible.” Dieter T. Hessel, Social
Ministry, (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1982), 102.
128 ․Theology and Praxis

First, the Exodus is the core event that created the biblical faith of
Israel. It is a historical event and a starting point of the Bible.27) As is
well known, the Exodus is the escape of the oppressed slaves, the
Hebrews, from Egypt with God's help. Israel still commemorates the
Exodus. The first confession of Israel in the Bible shows the significance
of this event:

A wandering Aramean was my father; and he went down into Egypt and
sojourned there, few in number ; and there he became a nation, great,
mighty, and populous. And the Egyptians treated us harshly, and afflicted
us, and laid upon us hard bondage. Then we cried to the LORD the God of
our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil,
and our oppression ; and the LORD brought us into this place and gave us
this land, a land flowing with milk and honey(Dt 26:5-9).

Israelites, the heroes and heroines of this confession, were a wandering

people, looking for lands in which to live. On the way, they stayed at
Egypt, but they were oppressed severely and put into hard labor by
powerful Egyptians. This situation is shown well by the concept of
"hebrew" (hibri). “Hebrew”, “Jew”, and “Israel” are used interchangeably
in the Bible, even though they are different. According to a biblical
archaeology, "hebrew" means not a racial concept but a sociological
class concept. "Hebrew" has the same meaning as "apiru", "ibri", and
"habiru" in the time of ancient Palestine. These words indicated people
such as slave, worker, criminal, and wanderer at that time. They
escaped from Egypt at the hands of God and built a new country, Israel,
in Canaan. In particular, "hebrews" were foreign workers in Egypt.28)

26) Byung-Mu Ahn, Minjung-Shinhak-Iiyagi [Story of Minjung Theology],

(Chonan, Korea: Korea Theological Study Institute, 1988), 78-85.
27) Croatto, Exodus: Hermeneutics of Freedom, 12-13.
 From Brokenness To Wholeness․ 129

They were poor, weak, wandering, and escaping. However, hearing their
cries and seeing their oppression, God liberated them from Egypt. We
can find that God is the liberator who takes sides with the poor, the
weak, the oppressed, and the marginalized, and liberates them. The
liberator God says: “I have observed the misery of my people who are in
Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I
know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the
Egyptians”(Ex 3:7-8).
Second, we can find God’s love for the poor and, the oppressed, and
the people of han in the law which would sustain a new community
called Israel. This very humanitarian law was for the weak, the poor, the
widow, the orphan, and the migrant, because Israel has already experienced
that before. In particular, the code of covenant (Ex 20:22-23:19) describes
the liberation of the poor, the economically weak, and the slave. Of
course, foreign workers were among them. 29) The Bible says: "Do not
mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt"(Ex
22:21); "Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be
aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt"(Ex 23:9). The aliens were the
people who have left their home countries and worked to live their lives
in foreign lands. It was natural that they were not protected there. They
were economically poor. The Bible prohibits any oppression of them.
This humanist thought of this law was derived from the spirit of the
Exodus.
Third, when the period of the kingdom began, the power was

28) George Mendenhall, “The Hebrew Conquest of Palestine,” The Biblical

Archeologist 25(1962), 67-71, See also Norman K. Gottwald, The Tribes of
Yahweh: A Sociology of the Religion of Liberated Israel 1250-100 BCE,
(New York: Orbis Books, 1979), 65.
29) In-Sok Suh, Songso-ui-Gananhan-Saramdeul [The Poor in the Bible],
(Oaekwan, Korea: The Benedict Press, 1983), 53.
130 ․Theology and Praxis

monopolized by kings, and people were dehumanized and became slaves.

People began to live a life of han. It was the prophet who criticized the
wrong policies of the kingship and urged the king to go back to the
original thought of Israel. Prophets criticized Israel for its sins of
injustice and oppression against the poor. Their criticism is directed
against those who wield 'power'. They also criticized the religious
system and ceremonies that took sides with the powerful and the
oppressor. Prophets declared social justice and mono-Yahwism. They
were true defenders of people.30) They criticized injustice: “For I know
how many are your transgressions, and how great are your sins--you
who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and push aside the needy in
the gate”(Am 5:12). They declared justice and peace: “Render true
judgment, show kindness and mercy; do not oppress the widow, the
orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts
against one another'" (Zec 7:9-10).
Fourth, the Kingdom of God that Jesus has declared in the land of
Galilee is the central point of "the tradition of people’s liberation" in the
Bible. Jesus was born in Galilee and came into Jerusalem, in which he
died. Galilee is the key to understanding Jesus’ Kingdom of God. Galilee
was fertile in the time of Jesus, but most of the lands were owned by
absentee landowners. In the time of Jesus, most of Galileans were
tenants, agricultural workers, aliens, criminals, hireling soldiers, and
fishermen. Galilee has been exploited politically and economically for a
long time. Therefore, it was the place where people's rebellions
happened frequently. Galilee was a remote and estranged region, and a
land of han and for people. In the time of Jesus, people in Galilee had
suffered much from Rome's colonization. In this situation, Jesus

30) Antonio Perez-Esclarin, Atheism and liberation, (New York: Orbis Books,
1978), 85-88.
 From Brokenness To Wholeness․ 131

proclaimed the kingdom of God in Galilee at the beginning of his public

ministry (Mk 1:14-15). Jesus did his best to his death for realizing the
kingdom of God in this land and also, resurrected, in Galilee (Mk 16:7).
What does the kingdom of God mean? It means literally "the reign of
God" or "the sovereignty of God". Therefore, the kingdom of God means
God's liberating action that changes completely and totally this land.
The Kingdom of God also indicates the collective movement, because a
large crowd gathered around Jesus, particularly his twelve disciples were
among them. The crowd around Jesus were " ochlos" in Greek, which
means mass (poor and marginalized people, minjung).31)
Jesus declared people as the owners of the Kingdom of God:
"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are
you who weep now, for you will laugh" (Lk 6:20-21). Jesus showed the
purpose of his coming into this world and the meaning of his Kingdom
of God: "The Spirit of the LORD is on me, because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom
for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the
oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Lk 4:18-19). This
was really the concrete way of Jesus ministry of healing. Jesus was
crucified really as a political prisoner, healing the sick and doing
miracles to accomplish the kingdom of God. Jesus was really concerned
about the poor, the oppressed, the alienated people of han. Further, the
crucifixion of Jesus reveals us the God in pain. This is a meaningful
metaphor for our healing ministry. As a Japanese theologian Kazoh
Kitamori insists, we can here find two important points: “(1) Our God is
the One who resolves our pain and the Lord who heals; (2) Yet this God
is the wounded Lord, having pain in himself.” 32)

31) Byung-Mu Ahn, Minjung-Shinhak-Iiyagi, 90-93.

132 ․Theology and Praxis

As I have pointed out, han is an underling feeling of the oppressed

people in Korea. It is “an accumulation of suppressed and condensed
experiences of oppression.”33) If we read the Bible from these people's
point of view, the tradition of people’s liberation, the resolution of han, is
the central stream and the kerygmatic core in the Bible. These days the
people of han are people like "hebrews" or "ochlos" in the Bible. They
are typical ordinary people today. However, they are owners of the
Kingdom of God and subjects of history. Even today our God takes
sides with them and liberates them into the full human beings. God
listens to their stories of han and solves their problems. The Bible
witnesses it clearly.

IV. Healing Han and Christian Ministry.

1. The Meaning of Christian Healing Ministry

Healing is an important topic for Christian ministry because we are

living in the time of being healed. This healing is not limited to
individuals but is also of the world as a whole. In more modern
expression, human beings have become more interested in their health.
However, the practices of healing in the church became popular recently
in spite of its long history. According to Morton T. Kelsey, “The
orthodox Christian, whether liberal or conservative, has little exposure to

32) Kazoh Kitamori, Theology of Pain of God, (Richmond: John Knox Press,
1965), 20.
33) Nam-Dong Suh, “Towards of a Theology of Han,” in Minjung Theology:
People as the Subject of History, ed. Yong-Bok Kim, (Singapore: The
Christian Conference of Asia, 1981), 59.
 From Brokenness To Wholeness․ 133

sacramental acts and little or no interest in physical or mental healing

through religious means.”34)
It is important to point out that the ministry of Jesus was based on
healing human beings and the world. Jesus was known as a healer in
the Bible. It is clear that he carried out his ministry by preaching the
gospel, healing, expelling demons, and performing miracles. As Kelsey
says, “He healed: he brought physical and mental health to the sick in
body and mind, those with physical affliction and those considered
possessed by demons. Nearly one-fifth of the entire gospels is devoted
to Jesus’ healing and the discussions occasioned by it.” 35) Marcus Borg
also insists: “The synoptic gospels contain thirteen narratives of healing
of particular conditions: fever, leprosy, paralysis, withered hand, bent
back, hemorrhage, deafness and dumbness, blindness, dropsy, severed
ear, and sickness near death or paralysis.”36)
What did Jesus heal? What does his healing mean? Most theologians
think Jesus healed a mental illness, generally described in New
Testament as demon possession.
Thus, Jesus’ healing can be called ‘spiritual healing.’ John Dominic
Crossan argues for Jesus as healer in a more scientific way. Analyzing
Mark 1:40-44, Crossan insists that it exemplifies the significance of
Jesus’ miracles in their first century Mediterranean Jewish environment.
He relies much on the ‘medical anthropology’ suggested by John J.
Pilich. In his study of the historical Jesus, one premise is the distinction
between ‘curing disease’ and ‘healing an illness.’ Therefore, he insists

34) Morton T. Kelsey, Psychology, Medicine and Christian Healing, (San Francisco:
Harper & Row, 1988), 3. Healing is a vital element of spirituality which can
improve mental health. Chan-Gyu Kim, “The Relationships of Christian
Spirituality and Mental Health,” Theology and Praxis 46(2015), 206-207.
35) Morton T. Kelsey, Psychology, Medicine and Christian Healing, 42.
36) Marcus Borg, Jesus: A New Vision, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1987), 65.
134 ․Theology and Praxis

that Jesus did not cure disease, but healed the man’s illness by refusing
to accept the disease’s ritual uncleanness and social ostracization. “By
healing the illness without curing the disease, Jesus acted as an
alternative boundary keeper in a way subversive to the established
procedures of his society.” 37)
I agree that Jesus healed the mental dimensions of human being,
which is called ‘spiritual.’ However, I think he was concerned not only
about the individual’s mental status but also his/her social relations. The
Kingdom of God that Jesus declared includes these two dimensions. In
other words, Jesus showed us clearly the relation of disease and social
structure. Any disease cannot exist without a social environment. Let me
give one example. In Mark 5:2-5, Jesus expelled a legion of demons out
of the Gerasene demoniac. Here it is important to point out that ‘legion’
is a military term used by the Roman Empire. It implies that his mental
disease was related to the evil social structure ruled by the Roman
Empire, which was the source of all evil diseases at that time. The
gospel writer deliberately chose this term ‘legion’ for implying the
evilness of the Roman Empire: how strongly the Roman Empire
influenced the colonized people in Palestine. In this regard, Jesus’ healing
was not only personal healing but also social healing. His ministry also
was to solve people’s individual and collective han at that time. This
should be the point of Christian healing ministry for today.

2. Some Strategies for Healing ‘Han’ in Christian Ministry

How do we undertake healing ministry for the people of han? As

Christians and pastors, what should we practically do for healing han?

37) John Dominic Crossan, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, (San Francisco:

Harper-San Francisco, 1994), 82.
 From Brokenness To Wholeness․ 135

Here, I would like to focus mainly on the social dimensions of healing

ministry because I think the problem of han can be healed only when the
total structure of the oppressed society is transformed.

A. Applying the Experience Cycle to Christian Healing Ministry

How should we heal han? How should we approach the problem of
han as a serious illness? How should we undertake pastoral work for
healing han? Above all, it is important to discern the reality of han as a
psycho-social term which appears in life of the oppressed and alienated
people in Korea. In other words, the problem of han in Korea is not only
that of individuals but that of social structure. Thus, Christian ministry
should focus on both the personal and the social aspects. The people of
han are a priority for pastoral care today. How do we guide them from
a broken life to a whole human life? Miriam Cleary, in “A Societal
Context for Supervision,” suggests a meaningful model, called “Experience
Cycle,” for Christian ministry. I would like to apply the experience cycle
to the problem of han. This can be used in the case of counseling.
According to Cleary, the experience cycle consists of four phases: the
Insertion Phase; the Social Analysis Phase; Theological Reflection; and
the Pastoral Action Phase.
First, the insertion phase makes the people of han ask questions
about themselves and their relation to their society. These questions help
them find themselves and respond to their problem honestly. Who are
the people of han in Korea? Where did you come from? What is your
physical and emotional environment like? What kind of experience do
you have? How do you relate your problem to the social structure?
Second, the social structure in which the people of han are living
belongs to a particular country that is different in many ways from other
countries in the world. Korea, their current country, is a capitalist
136 ․Theology and Praxis

country which means that there are social injustice and inequality
arising from the variety of social classes. Korea is also a divided
country, which means that the war of ideology is still existing. Thus, it
is urgently necessary to realize justice, peace, and reunification for the
people of han and all other Koreans. Cleary raises questions more
concretely:

Economic: Who owns? Who controls? Who pays? Who gets?

Political: Who decides? What? For whom? How does deciding get done?
Who has the power?
Religious: What truths or practices underlie the functioning of the structure?

Cultural: What values are evidences what people believe in?

Social: Who is left out? Who is included? What is the basis for exclusion
and/ or inclusion? 38)

Third, theological reflection focuses on the presence of God and the

meaning of the Bible. As I have stated, God as the liberator, and the
people’s liberation tradition in the Bible, have much relevance for the
oppressed people of han and give them much courage for overcoming
their problems. Here, God is presented to them not as a Mystery or a
hidden God but as a helper, counselor, guide, and liberator.
Fourth, the pastoral action phase seeks concrete action to solve
people’s han. Transforming their broken spirituality to a more healthy
condition, it makes them act positively for their own liberation. Here,
“strategies can be developed, including persons to be included in the
action, tentative time-line, and a means for evaluation.” 39)

38) Miriam Cleary, “A Societal Context for Supervision,” Presence: The Journal
of Spiritual Directors International 4(1998), 28-29.
39) Ibid., 30.
 From Brokenness To Wholeness․ 137

B. Emphasis on a Spirituality of Liberation

Spirituality is one of the fundamental ways to express the existence
of human beings. As long as we approach this issue in terms of
Christian ministry, it is necessary to deal with it in terms of spirituality.
Moreover, I think our ministry can help the people of han solve their
situations by developing their spirituality. What does spirituality mean?
Maria Harris brings some clarity to this term: “Spirituality is the
touching and being touched of human, incarnated persons . . . it is our
need for the presence of God in the midst of our humanness.” 40)
As stated above, at the first level, han is “a dominant feeling of
defeat, nothingness, renunciation.”41) Spirituality for the people of han
begins with this reality of impasse. This is caused by their experience of
economic, political, cultural, and psychological oppression.42) At this
stage God is presented as the one who has compassion for these
people’s lives of han. As the prophet says, God is also presented the
comforter: “Comfort, comfort my people; it is the voice of your God”(Isa
40:1-2).
However, spirituality for the people of han does not stay only at the
level of compassion; it should be developed to the level of resistance and
liberation because han can often be used as the energy and resource for
a revolution or rebellion. Spirituality, here, can make them be powerful
subjects through awakening their new consciousness. A spirituality of

40) Maria Harris, “The Religious Educator as Spiritual Direction,” in Pace 8, ed.
St. Mary’s College Press, (Minnesota: St. Mary’s College Press, 1977), 54.
41) David Kwangsun Suh, “Minjung and Theology in Korea: A Biographical
Sketch of an Asian Theological Consultation,” in Minjung Theology: People
as the Subject of History, ed. Yong-Bok Kim, (Singapore: The Christian
Conference of Asia, 1981), 28.
42) Hyun-Kyung Chung, Struggle To be the Sun, (New York: Orbis Books,
1990), 86.
138 ․Theology and Praxis

liberation, a theme developed by Latin American liberation theology, can

help the people of han solve their problems because they have much in
common with the situation of the poor in Latin America. A spirituality of
liberation is concerned about poor neighbors and their situation. Gustavo
Gutierrez clarifies:

A spirituality of liberation will center on a conversion to the neighbor, the

oppressed person, the exploited social class, the despised ethnic group, the
dominated country. Our conversion to the Lord implies this conversion to
the Lord . . . To be converted is to commit oneself to the process of
liberation of the poor and oppressed, to commit oneself lucidly, realistically
and concretely. 43)

With this spirituality of liberation, the people of han can cry out and
struggle to find a door which will lead them to the world of freedom,
liberation, and wholeness.

C. Healing Service and Social Dimensions of Liturgy

Christian Liturgy is an important part of Christian faith. In
particular, it can be a good means for spiritual healing. Gratton points
out the importance of a liturgical model for Christian ministry: “ The
Sunday liturgy confronts us all with the larger Christian horizon of love.
It calls us to let go of our independent and separatist tendencies, to step
forward into the social ministry that characterizes Christian salvation,
and to meet the challenge of world transformation.” 44) In this regard, a

43) Gustavo Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation, (New York: Orbis Books, 1988),
118.
44) Carolyn Gratton, The Art of Spiritual Guidance, (New York: Crossroad,1992),
115. Liturgy has played a significant role for the Christian ministry,
es p ec i a l l y f o r t h o se i n n e ed . Ch a n g - Ky oo L ee, “ R i t u a l : A
Fundamental Ministry of Pastoral Care,” Theology and Praxis 37(2013), 158.
 From Brokenness To Wholeness․ 139

healing service with emphasis on spiritual healing is important for our

healing ministry. I think it has a good effect on the healing of the
individual’s spiritual brokenness.
We, however, should always consider the true meaning of the
healing service because in many cases healing services emphasize a
temporary and personal healing. It is distant from the healing of the
world. It is different from moving towards global justice and peace. In
other words, a healing service either domesticates or liberates people.
Therefore, it is also necessary to stress the liberating aspects of liturgy
for giving the people of han the true meaning of healing and enabling
them to actively make peace in the world. The healing service should be
a liberating service for both individuals and the world. Dieter Hessell
says it rightly:

A liberating liturgy on the other hand empowers groups of believers to

comprehend the sufferings of God and to develop alternative (prophetic)
process, as did the Confessing Church under Hitler, and the ecumenical
movements for civil rights, peace, women’s equality, human rights, and as
does the cosmopolitan church that takes shape around liberation theologie
s. 45)

D. Envisionment: A Vision of A New World

We need a new vision in order to truly resolve the problem of han in
the world. This means a new worldview in which we understand the
world in a new perspective. This will enable us to reform the
establishing systems that cause the problem of han. Even though we
cannot have a concrete picture of a new world, we need to suggest
images of it. According to Ji-Ha Kim, the problem of han will no longer

45) Dieter Hessel, Social Ministry, 81.

140 ․Theology and Praxis

be repeated in a new world. This is possible by the philosophy of Da

n.46)
For Kim, dan first means self-denial. He says: “I separate my body
and mind from every comfort and easy life, circles of petite bourgeois
dreams, and secular swamps without depth . . . only vigorous self-denial
is my way.” Second, dan has a social dimension for the people of han.
He continues:

Cutting the chain of the circulation of han: dan is for the transformation of
the secular world and secular attachments. Accumulated han being met
with continuous dan. On the one hand, there is the fearful han which can
kill, cause revenge, destroy and hate endlessly, and on the other, there is
the repetition of dan to suppress the explosion which can break out of the
vicious circle, so that han can be sublimated as higher spiritual power.47)

We can give the people of han a new vision of the world through
this dialectic unification of han and dan. This is prerequisite for
envisionment of a new world. As I have stated above, Tae-Il Chun
showed us this way of self-denial and transformation by burning
himself for the sake of the exploited workers. Thus, his death became
the turning point of the contemporary Korean people’s movement.
Then we must figure out more exactly how this new world is going
to be. Andrew Sung Park suggests an alternative global community in
four ways: economically democratic community; the community of global
social responsibility; politically democratic community; and ecologically
sound community. 48) Above all, we can find important insights about a

46) In Korean, Dan means “a decision,” “a resolution,” and “a judgment,” Minjungseorim,

ed., Essence Korean-English Dictionary, (Seoul: Minjungseorim, 1993), 388.
47) Nam-Dong Suh, “Towards of a Theology of Han,” in Minjung Theology:
People as the Subject of History, ed. Yong-Bok Kim, (Singapore: The
Christian Conference of Asia, 1981), 61.
 From Brokenness To Wholeness․ 141

new world in the Bible:

He shall judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrated between strong
nations far away; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and they
their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against
nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall all sit under
their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them
afraid (Micah 4:3-4).

V. Conclusion

Han is an important problem to be healed today. Even though it is

an Asian, particularly Korean term, it can be applied to the other
suffering people all over the world. It should be an important topic for
Christian ministry, focusing on healing of human beings and the world.
When han is expressed as defeatedness, frustration, and nothingness, it
can be a topic to be deeply studied as a psychological concept. There are
other tasks to be further developed regarding this: How does the feeling
of han operate in our conscious and subconscious? Han also expands
into human being’s social environments because it is basically created by
evil structures. Thus, the resolution of han in this sense demand that we
engage in work for justice and peace. It is related to the social
dimensions of Christian ministry, so-called social healing.49) We need to

48) Andrew Sung Park, The Wounded Heart of God, 155-167. This is a way to
genuine peace on earth. Henri Nouwen also contends that reconstructing
peace is nowadays important Christians’ task. Jeong-Shik Yang, “Musical
Healing and Recuperating with Social Justice of Peace,” Theology and Praxis
42(2014), 519.
49) It is important to be with those who are suffering from han. This is an
important action of Christian healing ministry. Seok An, “Psychoanalysis on
Suffering and Healing Counseling,” Theology and Praxis 58(2018), 372-273.
142 ․Theology and Praxis

study more deeply how to concretely develop this social healing in the
Christian tradition. Last, there are many other case studies about
problem of han, which will enable us to elaborate the theory of han
through good comparative studies between them. Particularly, we need
to explore the stories of foreign immigrants, workers, and refuges who
are currently living in our society. We need to study theologically the
specific issues raised by them and think how to reach out to them and
embrace them into God’s grace and love.

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￭ Abstract ￭

From Brokenness To Wholeness: A Christian Ministry

For Healing “HAN” in the Korean Context

Lee, Daniel Chung-Soon

Today we are living with many problems in the world. Human

beings are dying and expelled out of their living places even at this
moment. Many people are forced to get out of their hometowns and
wandering as refuges. Korea is another country where there many
problems arising from evil structures. Above all, the division of Korea
into north and south is the most painful suffering for all Koreans. After
experiencing Japanese colonial rule for 36 years, Korea was divided in
1945, with its south occupied by the United States and its north by the
Soviet Union. This division was solidified by the Korean War in 1950 to
1953. In Korea, all people are suffering from the same wound. It is
characterized as so-called ‘ han.’ That is, Koreans have suffered
numerous invasions by surrounding powerful nations so that the very
existence of the Korean nation has come to be understood as han. Of
146 ․Theology and Praxis

course, the term han is not only applied to Koreans but also to all other
suffering peoples in the world. How should we, as Christians, understand
and respond to the problem of han? It is important to search for
solutions to their problems theologically. It is an important task for all
Koreans to solve it. Further, it is one of essential issues for Christians to
deal with the personal and social dimension of han. In this article, I
focused on the case of Korea, centering on the concept of han. I first
examined the concepts of han in several ways: the definitions of han; the
stories of han; and the roots of han. Then, I explicated the biblical and
theological basis for resolving the problem of han. Third, I searched for
pastoral ways of healing han with regard to Christian healing ministry.
In conclusion, I maintained that we must actively engage in work for
justice and peace for the resolution of han. It is related to the social
dimensions of Christian ministry, so-called social healing. Then, I briefly
pointed out tasks for further studies.

Key Words
Han, Healing, Spirituality, Christianity, Christian Ministry, Korea

Date submitted : June 26. 2020 Date accepted : July 10. 2020
Date confirmed : July 25. 2020