Wheaton College lecture to explore North Korea’s forgotten Christian roots and the Kim family’s religious past

On Monday, Oct. 12, the Wheaton Center for Faith, Politics & Economics at Wheaton College presents “Ben Han Memorial Lecture: Korean Messiah,” a lecture by Jonathan Cheng.

For the past half century, Christianity has flourished in South Korea as it has in few other places. But 100 years ago, no city in Asia was more Christian than Pyongyang, today the capital of nuclear-armed North Korea. In a city so thoroughly Christianized it was known as “the Jerusalem of the East,” some of the very first — and most fervent — converts to the faith included the family of Kim Jong Un.

Jonathan Cheng, The Wall Street Journal's China bureau chief and former Korea bureau chief, traces this remarkable history, from the central role of American Presbyterian missionaries in bringing Pyongyang to the faith to its transformation under North Korean state founder and one-time Sunday school teacher and church organist Kim Il Sung.

Jonathan Cheng oversees coverage of the world’s second-largest economy across politics, economics, business, technology, and society. He leads a team of two dozen correspondents and researchers in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, and New York, with responsibility for the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. Previously, Cheng was the Korea bureau chief for The Journal, running coverage of North Korea and South Korean politics and business. He began his career as an intern in The Journal’s Hong Kong bureau and also worked as a markets reporter in the Journal’s New York office. Jonathan speaks English, Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese, French, and Korean. A native of Toronto, Cheng graduated from Princeton University with a degree in history. He lives in Beijing and has traveled to North Korea twice.

This event is free and open to the public. It wll be at 7 p.m. in the Marion E. Wade Center, Room 130 Bakke Auditorium, 351 E. Lincoln Ave. in Wheaton. For information, contact the program coordinator at 630-752-5975 or fpe@wheaton.edu.