While visiting Japan in 1907, General William Booth (founder of The Salvation Army in 1865) responded to a request to start the work in Korea. The General dispatched his second in command, Commissioner George Scott Railton, to survey prospects on the Korean peninsula. A year later, a group of officers under the indefatigable leadership of Colonel Robert and Mrs. Colonel Annie Hoggard “opened fire” in Seoul.
During the eight years the Hoggards served in Korea, 78 corps were opened, 87 officers were trained and commissioned, and 1,201 soldiers were enrolled. Today the Korea Territory has 253 corps and 22 outposts, almost 700 active officers and more than 44,500 senior soldiers, 7,100 junior soldiers and almost 2,000 adherents. The territory also has more than 1,000 employees and numerous locations under 23 categories of social services, education, health, feeding and shelter. The languages in which the gospel is preached include Korean, Khmer and Mongolian.
The Korea Territory encompasses the Republic of Korea (South Korea), Mongolia (where the work of the Army commenced in 2008) and the Kingdom of Cambodia (where it began in 2012). And, even though an officer and several soldiers were martyred during the Korean conflict in the early 1950s, the Army has been doing social services work in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea).
Advancing the education and self-development of officers and soldiers has been the goal of recent years in the territory, supported by conferences and outreach events for all ages.
Source: The Salvation Army 2014 Year Book
