In the aftermath of the Korean War (1950-1953), The Friends Service Unit (FSU) – a joint arm of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and the British Friends Service Council (FSC) – arrived in Korea to provide humanitarian and medical aid to refugees and others affected by the war. When the FSU withdrew from Korea after seven years of service, local Koreans who had been working with the Quakers wanted to continue their connection with Quakerism, and with the support and guidance of American Quakers living in Seoul (Arthur Mitchell and Reginald Price in particular) a group began meeting regularly for unprogrammed worship and for study and discussion starting in 1958.
This was the same year that peace campaigner Ham Soek Hoen helped establish Ssi-al Farm, modelled on Gandhi’s ashram. Soon after, Ham started to attend Seoul Quaker meeting. “You were already a Quaker before you became one,” an American Friend, Arthur Mitchell, told him.
This early group laid the foundation for formally organizing the Seoul meeting in 1960. The meeting was eventually recognized as a monthly meeting in 1964 under the care of the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC), and in 1965 moved into its own Meeting House.
Between 1961 and 1963, Ham attended both Pendle Hill in America and Woodbrooke in England. He became a member of the Society of Friends in 1967, after attending the Friends World Conference in North Carolina.
During this time, Ham continued to speak out against dictatorship and injustice in South Korea. He carried out a hunger strike in 1965, was imprisoned in 1976 and 1979, and was placed under house arrest in 1980. South Korea finally achieved full democracy in 1987. The following year, when the Seoul Olympics were held, Ham was selected to be the head of the Peace Olympiad, which drew up a declaration calling for world peace.
American Quakers twice nominated Ham Sok-Hon for the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1979 and 1985, something of which he himself felt quite unworthy.
In 2000, Korean’s selected Ham posthumously as a National Cultural Figure.
During its years of growth, Seoul Meeting has developed close ties with Ohio Yearly Meeting (Barnesville), Lake Erie, Pacific, Philadelphia and Japan Yearly Meetings. FWCC American Section in particular played a substantial role in providing financial and educational support.
International Quaker interactions such as work camps, travel and study abroad, participation in Quaker conferences, and exchange programs with the Japanese Quakers, as well as Friends from abroad staying in Korea have contributed greatly to strengthening the Meeting as a part of world Quakerism.