The Underwood family, who have lived in Korea for four generations, will be leaving the country after 119 years.

In 1885, Horace G. Underwood came to Korea as the nation's first Presbyterian missionary and later founded Yonsei University, rendering great services to educational, religious, and social developments in Korea.

His great grandson, Horace H. Underwood, who is now serving as the executive director of the Korean American Educational Commission and on the board of directors at Yonsei, said that in four generations the Underwood family had done all the services that they could in Korea. He said that he and his wife would be moving to the United States, where his children are, this October. Underwood has two sons and two daughters, who were adopted from Korea.

Underwood did not specifically explain why his family was leaving Korea. Suh Jeong-min, a professor of theology at Yonsei, said that although it is a loss for Korea, the Underwood family’s last moments here would also be a significant part of Korean history. He said we should take this as meaning that Korea is no longer a nation that receives help, but one that must now help other nations.

The Underwood family is living proof of Korean contemporary history. The first generation under Horace G. Underwood established Yonhi College and Saemoonan Presbyterian Church. During the Japanese imperial period, he constantly said the Korean people are not the kind of people who would allow Japan to strip them of their sovereignty as a nation and that Korea could someday stand as an independent nation if its culture is preserved.

The second generation -- Horace Horton Underwood -- was born in Korea. He went to the United States to study, and later returned to teach Education at Yonhi College. He was appointed as the third principal of the college until he died of a heart attack in 1951, during the Korean War. His wife was killed in a communist terrorist attack in 1949.

Their son Horace G. Underwood, who served as a first lieutenant during the Second World War, re-enlisted in the U.S. Navy to aid Korea in the Korean War. He took part in the Incheon Landing and served as the chief interpreter for the Panmunjom Armistice negotiations.

On May of 1999, he exhumed the body of his grandfather from New Jersey and buried him in the Seoul Foreign Cemetery in Mapo, where his father’s body rested. Later, he himself was put to rest in his adopted country.

Horace Underwood IV, who is about to leave Korea, said that although he would live in the United States for the remaining years of his life, he would seriously consider where he would rest in peace.

(Kim Bong-ki, knight@chosun.com)