Martyr to a house divided

Columban Fr John Boles at the Korean War Memorial in Seoul, Korea. - Photo: Fr John Boles SSC

Panmunjeom must rank as one of the world’s most bizarre tourist attractions. Every morning, convoys of brightly coloured sightseeing buses wind their way up to carefully positioned lookout points. From these, visitors can feast their eyes on the gun emplacements, barbed-wire fences and minefields of perhaps the most heavily fortified border on Earth - the Demilitarized Zone (or “DMZ”) - which divides North and South Korea.

Tourists can also see the hut where, on 27 July 1953, an armistice was signed to end the Korean War. This conflict had left some three million dead, finishing almost where it had started some three years earlier on the infamous 38th parallel. The victims included several Columbans, among them one Father Jim Maginn. His is a truly remarkable story.

Jim was born in the USA but grew up in Northern Ireland. He joined the Columbans in 1929 and, in 1936, was sent to Korea, a country that had been under Japanese occupation since 1910. The timing of his appointment turned out to be unfortunate, for just five years later, on 7 December 1941, Japan attacked the US at Pearl Harbour and entered the Second World War. Jim was promptly arrested as an enemy alien and spent the next four years in confinement, only regaining his freedom at the war’s end.

After recovering from this ordeal, Jim returned to his pastoral duties in Korea, and in 1949 became pastor of a new parish in the coastal town of Samcheok, not far from the newly established border between North and South Korea. (This frontier had been agreed upon by the victorious allies in 1945, with the government in the North being supported by Stalin and, later, Mao Zedong, and that of the South by US President Truman.) Once again, the timing of Jim’s appointment was less than fortuitous.

Columban Superior General Fr Tim Mulroy at the site of Fr Maginn’s makeshift grave. - Photo: Fr John Boles SSC

Scarcely a year later, on 25 June 1950, the North Korean leader, Kim Il-sung, launched a surprise invasion of his southern neighbour. South Korean forces were quickly overwhelmed, and soon the North Korean army was bearing down on Samcheok. Much of the local population prepared to flee. Jim was urged to join the exodus, but he steadfastly refused, declaring it his duty to stay and accompany those of his flock who were unable to escape.

After the war was over, the parish of Samcheok commissioned an official testimony of what happened next based on eyewitness accounts. It affirms that Jim, “divided the parish money among the believers, telling them to use it when necessary. On 1 July, the communist army took over Samcheok. On 2 July, Fr James was arrested, having celebrated Sunday Mass. The communists came unexpectedly, and he asked them to wait while he went into the church to pray in front of the altar. As the soldiers pushed him out of the church with their rifle butts, he told them, ‘I’m not going to flee. If I’d wanted to flee, I would have done so before this, so take me as I am’. Saying that, he walked out of the church with dignity. He was detained at the local police station. Some hours later, John Kim Su-song, a teacher at Samcheok High School, was also arrested and detained.”

Jim and John Kim spent two nights together, often the targets of verbal and physical abuse on the part of the authorities. The remainder of the account comes from John Kim’s testimony. “On the night of 4 July, Fr Jim was taken away by the communists. Anticipating his death, he blessed John Kim, who was in the next cell, saying to him, 'Let us meet in heaven, John; never deny the Faith', and walked out. That night Jim was shot, martyred at the side of a little stream.” The villagers secretly marked his resting place.

Columban Fr John Boles near the DMZ, overlooking the river Imjin, where the Korean war began in 1950. - Photo: Fr John Boles SSC

By October, the tides of war had changed. Douglas MacArthur’s audacious amphibious landing at Incheon sent the North Korean army scrambling back across the 38th parallel. Samcheok was liberated, and in October 1951, Jim’s body was exhumed and buried in a place of honour beside Chuncheon City Cathedral. However, the parishioners of Samcheok held dear the memory of their murdered parish priest and, down the years, continued to celebrate his life and sacrifice.

In March 2023, seven decades after the end of the Korean War, the parish invited Columban representatives from all over the world, led by our Superior General, Tim Mulroy, to attend one of its regular memorial services for Jim and to visit the site of his original makeshift grave. It was a moving occasion for all concerned, bringing home, once again, confirmation of how evil people can kill the body but the spirit of the martyr - be it Jesus or Jim Maginn - lives on forever.

Columban Fr John Boles is Regional Director of the Columbans in Britain.