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STARVING Bruce Hunt Fasted for a Fellow Prisoner

[ABOVE: Seoul Presbyterian Church Stone sign—Jhcbs1019 / [CC-BY-SA 4.0] Wikimedia]


BRUCE HUNT was born of American missionary parents in Korea. He obtained his higher education in America to become a missionary. After his return to Korea, he and Katherine Blair married. They had four children and served Koreans in Manchuria.

When the Japanese insisted Koreans engage in emperor worship, he refused and taught against it. Many Koreans risked their lives standing for Christ. (See our Sep 20 story about Ahn Kim). On this day, 22 October 1941, the Japanese arrested Hunt. Placed at first in crowded and filthy conditions, he was eventually moved to an isolation cell for several weeks. He was always hungry and usually cold.

One of the Christian Korean prisoners, Choi Han Gee, became insane. Surprisingly, the Japanese called Hunt and an imprisoned Christian couple, the Byrams, to pray for him. Choi’s eyes would show flickers of understanding when Christ’s name was mentioned, but immediately reverted to vacuous insanity. Back in his cell, Hunt prayed as he had never prayed before. God brought to Hunt’s mind the Scripture “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17:21) Hunt felt that despite his hunger, God was calling him to fast from food and water all day to intercede for Choi. He did so but had no way in the prison of knowing the outcome. 

His trial ended inconclusively. Although he had feared torture, it was not employed on him. He emerged from prison many pounds lighter but otherwise relatively unscathed. He was sent home on Saturday, 6 December 1941, but told he must leave the country the following Tuesday. He objected, saying the Lord had sent him to Korea and that he could not leave without God's permission; but his objection was disregarded. Guards were assigned to ensure he actually left Korea.

Home again in Harbin, Korea, he learned from Kathy that Choi had visited her. Deemed incurably insane, he had been released. Now he had regained his sanity and was boldly preaching the gospel!

Guards insisted the Hunts pack to leave. Unsure whether to resist or obey, Hunt prayed at breakfast Monday morning, asking God to make the decision abundantly clear. Hardly had he risen from the table when a local official informed him he would not be leaving. Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor the day before. Hunt was immediately rearrested. This time he was held with political prisoners. Starving and cold, many died. However, Hunt kept up hope and could wave to Kathy and his children from the prison window twice a week.

Late in February, he and the Byrams were sent to a concentration camp, a pleasant place after what they had been through. In June, the Hunts were expatriated to the United States. Following the war, they returned to Korea where they served for many years.

—Dan Graves

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For an account of how Protestantism came to Korea, watch Servant of Christ: Robert Jermain Thomas and the Korean Revivals

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