SEOUL, South Korea — One of the early members of the Church in Korea, Wook Hwan Choi doesn't need to study the history of the Church in his land. He lived it.

So it was with great interest that he joined a few dozen other members at the Samchung Ward meetinghouse in Seoul to see President Hinckley Aug 1. President Hinckley had attended a regional conference in the city the day before and was taking a mini-tour of Church sites before heading to the airport to fly to Taiwan, his next destination.

Photo by Greg Hill

Accompanied by Elder Won Yong Ko of the Seventy, President Gordon B. Hinckley visits replica of Korea's first meetinghouse, built on its original site near current Samchung Ward meetinghouse. The replica harkens back to the start of the Church here.

The reason this ward was on President Hinckley's itinerary was so he could see a replica building on the site of the country's first meetinghouse. His tour continued with stops at the new Seoul Korea Mission Home and the Seoul Korea Temple, which he dedicated in December 1985.

Brother Choi's recollections included memories of the original meetinghouse. While the replica is on the same site as the original, it has been updated to be functional for the Samchung Ward of the Seoul Korea Stake. Just a short walk from the ward's modern meetinghouse, it has offices, classrooms and a small kitchen.

While waiting for President Hinckley's arrival, Brother Choi spoke about attending Church in the first building and associating with the missionaries who lived there.

Following his baptism — while he was a major in the South Korean Army — in 1966, he grew in the Church and has served in many callings including branch president, stake president, regional representative and member of the Seoul Korea Temple presidency.

A dentist, Brother Choi was the branch president when the current Samchung Ward meetinghouse was built to replace the original building.

Darryl W. Harris, a former missionary and mission president in Korea, was also eager to see President Hinckley at the replica building. He said the replica looks very much the same as the building where he and his companions lived for two six-month stints during his service in Korea.

"They meticulously rebuilt it," Brother Harris said.

He remembered missionary conferences being held there, the first missionary office of the Korean Mission as it was divided from the Northern Far East Mission in 1962 while he was laboring in that field.

Photo by Greg Hill

Wook Hwan Choi, a longtime member in Korea, remembers early visits of then-Elder Gordon B. Hinckley.

President Hinckley finally arrived and greeted the two acquaintances, along with others, while taking a brief tour of the building and sharing some of his own memories of being there as a young General Authority in the early 1960s.

President Hinckley continued his recent tour, driving by the Cheongwoon Ward meetinghouse and adjacent mission facilities, recounting stories, including one about the Church's old building on the site. He said he remembered that rats would make a racket running across the ceiling of the room where he conducted missionary interviews. He told of beating the ceiling with an umbrella to get them to stop.

Finally, President Hinckley stopped and walked through the Seoul Korea Temple which he dedicated while first counselor in the First Presidency to President Ezra Taft Benson.

Photo by Greg Hill

Members assemble near Cheongwoon Ward meetinghouse and Korea Seoul Mission Home to greet President Hinckley during his tour of sites where he worked nearly half a century ago in supervising the work of the Church in Korea.

E-mail to: ghill@desnews.com