On 3rd June 2025 Korea elected Lee Jae-Myung as their new president. It marked the end of six months of political turmoil and uncertainty. The election came about when former president Yoon Suk-yol was impeached after attempting to stage a military coup last December, writes Columban Missionary Fr Donal O’Keeffe.
While the coup failed, it triggered six months of instability as the country went through the process of impeaching Yoon and removing him from power. Lee Jae-myung represents a totally different vision for Korea to that of the former president Yoon.
His first major address on 6th June 6 – ‘National Memorial Day’ – laid out a vision of inclusivity for the future embracing all those who have sacrificed themselves for the country and extending the hand of peace to North Korea.
It was a total contrast to the constant mantra of the former president whose favourite themes were ‘the threat within the country’ from ‘anti-state forces’, and the ‘outside threat from North Korea’. It is a sign of a new beginning that will hopefully bear fruit!
Columban Fr Noel O’Neill who worked in Korea from 1957 to 2024 and died on 1st June 2025.
In the Columban world in Korea we woke up to the news on Sunday on 1st June that Fr Noel O’Neill had died in Ireland. Noel ordained in 1956 had worked in Korea from 1957 to 2024. In the early 1980s he established the Emmaus Welfare Foundation in Gwangju, South Korea.
The organisation focuses on the dignity, rights, and inclusion of individuals with intellectual disabilities, promoting a model of care that emphasises community integration rather than institutionalisation.
Fr Noel O’Neill washing feet at Holy Thursday ceremonies.
Through Noel’s leadership, Emmaus established group homes, sheltered workshops, and education centres, empowering people with disabilities to live fuller, more independent lives.
Noel significantly influenced how Korean society views and treats people with disabilities. His work has been widely recognised and he received many national awards including citizenship from the South Korean government.
In the early 1980s Fr Noel established the Emmaus Welfare Foundation in Gwangju which promotes the dignity, rights, and inclusion of individuals with intellectual disabilities.
At 93, he was also one of the last surviving members of that generation of Columbans who came to Korea in the aftermath of the Korean War. Noel’s death truly marked the end of an era for the Columbans in Korea.
And yet as one era ends another one always begins. On 7th June, Korean Columban, Lee Jongrak Verano was ordained a Columban priest in his home parish in Daegu Archdiocese. He will join the group of Columbans working in Myanmar with the Kachin people.
Newly ordained Columban priest Fr Verano with his Kachin hat.
On that day, Columban Sisters, priests, lay missionaries, benefactors, and friends all converged on Verano’s home parish and joined the local parishioners in celebrating his ordination. It was a festive atmosphere for both the ordination on Saturday and the Thanksgiving Mass on Sunday, Pentecost Sunday.
The joy and excitement of the community were palpable. The parish yard was covered with huge tents, and food was served to everyone on both days.
At the ordination ceremony, Fr Augustine Lee Je-hoon, the Coordinator of the Columban Mission in Myanmar welcomed Verano to the Mission, presenting him with a traditional Kachin hat and bag.
Columban priests, Sisters, lay missionaries, staff and family members.
Fr Verano will join the small group of Columbans in Myitkyina Diocese, in the north of the country accompanying the Kachin people at this difficult time in their history. Myanmar is presently suffering the brutal effects of a civil war following the coup d’etat of 2021.
The first week of June in Korea was indeed a time where the country and the Columbans serving there experienced the full spectrum of emotions going from mourning to joy, from uncertainty to Hope. It was a time when we had a very concrete experience of Pentecost, of the Spirit continuing to work among us!
If you would like to support Columban projects in Korea, specifically our seminarians, you can donate online here: https://columbans.ie/donate/ or you can send a cheque payable to Columban Missioanries to the Mission Office, Dalgan Park, Navan, Co Meath C15 AY2Y.