hanja rr article_title mr hangul
金浩稙 gim hojik kim ho jik
 kim hojik 김호직
kim ho jik

kim ho jik -lrb- 16 april 1905 -- 31 august 1959 -rrb- was the first korean convert to the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints -lrb- lds church -rrb- and was a key figure in opening south korea to missionary work of the lds church .
kim was also vice-minister of education in the administration of south korean president syngman rhee .
kim was born at pyoktong in what is today north korea .
for a time while a youth , kim studied at a buddhist monastery .
as a teenager kim moved to suwon .
he graduated from suwon advanced agricultural and forestry school -lrb- 수원고등농림학교 -rrb- in 1924 .
in 1925 , kim became a member of a protestant church and began studies at tohoku university in japan from which he graduated in 1930 .
kim then served as president of sookmyung women 's university for a time .
in 1946 , kim took charge of the suwon agricultural experimentation station .
kim began work on a doctoral degree at cornell university in 1949 .
during this time , kim was isolated from his family , as they stayed behind in korea , and were affected by the korean war .
kim was introduced to the lds church by oliver wayman , a fellow cornell graduate student who was also a member of the church .
kim was baptized on september 29 , 1951 .
the baptism was performed in the susquehanna river , the same body of water in which joseph smith and oliver cowdery were baptized in 1829 .
kim returned to korea in 1952 .
he was appointed vice minister of education by south korean president syngman rhee .
other positions kim held after his return to korea were a professorship at hongik college , dean of animal husbandry at konguk university , and the vice chairmanship of the seoul city board of education .
kim also served as president of the national fisheries college at pusan .
kim was also a member of the korean national academy of arts and sciences .
kim 's children , kim tai whan and kim young sook , were among the first four people baptized into the lds church in korea on august 3 , 1952 .
kim baptized his other two children , kim chun sook and kim shin hwan on january 3 , 1953 .
on august 2 , 1955 , kim was set apart as the president of the korean district of the lds church by apostle joseph fielding smith .
among those influenced by kim 's leadership of the church was han in sang , who became a general authority of the church .
kim held the position of district president when he died .
in about 1970 , kim 's widow , pil kun park , joined the lds church .
