Draft:Dong Suk-Kee

Dong Suk-Kee, also known as D.D. Bell in America (May 5, 1881 - December 26, 1971 (aged 90)), was a Korean American missionary and Gospel minister. He was one of the very first Koreans to carry on the work of early American missionaries (Henry Appenzeller and Horace Underwood) to introduce Protestant Christianity in Korea.

He was a Methodist minister who worked with L. Haskell Chesshir to establish Christian educational schools, and later founded the first Church of Christ in Korea (1930). Dong was awarded the Presidential Award in 1996 by the Korean government posthumously for his active participation in the March 1st Movement in 1919, a call for independence from Japanese colonialism.

Early life and education
Dong was one of the first Koreans to immigrate to Hawaii in 1903. Dong studied Methodism at the Department of Law at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He received a diploma with the degree of B.D. from Garrett School of Divinity in 1913 and returned to Korea as a Methodist pastor. Upon returning to the United States in 1927, Dong continued his education.

Conversion
Dong converted to Christianity in 1903 while working on a sugar plantation in Hawaii and was baptized by Waterman via sprinkling late in 1904.

Evangelism and Founding of the Church of Christ in Korea
Starting in 1913, Dong preached for the Methodist Church in Korea for fourteen years. In 1927, he returned to the United States to further his education.

He attended a rally in Pagoda Park and was arrested for participating in a national independence demonstration. After his release from prison, Dong resigned from Namyang Church in 1920 and served at Cheongyang Church in Chungcheongnam-do until 1922.

Dong traveled to Nashville to learn about the New Testament doctrines through the preaching of H.L. Calhoun and C.R. Brewer, and went back to Korea to begin a restoration movement by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Koreans and establishing the church of Christ in Korea. Following his return, he worked with missionaries, including Cf. Allen D. Clark.

On November 29, 1930, Dong founded the Church of Christ in Korea with the help of Song Nak-So and Cunningham of the Japanese Christian Mission. Upon returning to his native province of Hamkyung Do (now North Korea), Dong preached the gospel for three weeks and converted 20 people.

By 1940, he established seven churches in northern Korea and five in the southern region. He founded the first congregation in Seoul. Dong was known among American churches as D.D. Bell (Ding Dong Bell).

The March 1 Independence Movement
Dong Suk-Kee was conferred the Korean Presidential Award   by then-president Kim Young-Sam in 1996 for his contributions to the March 1 Independence Movement.

Post-liberation work in Korea and America
Dong returned to the United States in 1949 and evangelized to Korean military officers who were being trained at the Army Infantry School in Port Banning, Georgia, sent missionaries after the armistice, and raised money for missionary expenses.

Death
Retired from active duty in 1966, Dong Suk-Kee died in California on December 26, 1971. His grave marker records him as Minister D.D. Bell and below it his name in Korean as the Founder of the Church of Christ in Korea in 1930.