"Kangbyungdae Church", Registration Cultural Property No.38, Cultural Heritage Administration

The church located in Sangmo-ri, Daejeong-eub, Namjeju-gun was born again as the noted place after it was built 52 years ago.
It was the place where the 1st training center of military army was placed during the Korean War.

Major general Jang, Doyoung of the 1st training center built the church for religious life of training soldiers at the site of 185 pyeong in Sep. 1952. The name of Kangbyung means raising of strong soldiers.

Ministry of National Defense has a plan to restore 756,000 pyeong of this site into Moslpo military relic. The only place, however, which remains as the same as it was, is Kangbyungdae Church. It is now administered by Air force unit 8546. Its external place in hill is also good.

At the entrance of Kangbyungdae Church, a message of "After Moslpo opened the 1st training center of military army in Mar. 21, 1951, this church was built under cooperation of Major general Jang, Doyoung in order to strengthen training solders' mental power." was written.

After that, it started as base church of air force unit 8546 in 1965 and became a religious spot for unit soldiers and residents. It also found Shinwoo Institute to offer high education to poor young people.

Another value of the church is the place of the history education to show the painful past of the Korean War to descendants. However, it had no pastor in charge to maintain. After pastro Son started for post, he actively evangelizes. Realizing the historic characteristics of the church, he started to collect 30 piece of photos and opened the history pavilion on Jun. 30. These photos are about the church of the early stage and its event activities regarding valuable historic material.

The elders of the church, Cho, Gukson and Her, Changhee, who were in the service at the 1st training center of military army, were helpful to open the pavilion.They divided photos into subjects: commanders, army, church, Satbyul kindergarten. The number of current Christians including soldiers and their family is only around 20. The church hasn't had Christian residents yet but this opening is the chance to actively missionize people.

The church involves in Tourist Attraction Promotion Plan of Moslpo Old Battlefield to let people know its historic characteristics. If the church is developed into cultural tourist place, general people as well as Christians will be aware of the historic importance.

Chaplain Lee, Jaewon, air force unit 8546, said that "Kangbyungdae Church doesn't mean only the history of the church. It is also meaningful in the modern history of Korea because it gave the motive to the Korean society in order to overcome the war.