In Memoriam: George Ogle, 1929-2020
November 19, 2020
Posted in: News
Rev. George Ogle — an extraordinary advocate for South Korean democracy, labor rights, human rights, and peace on the Korean Peninsula — is being mourned by peace-loving people around the world. He was named one of the “10 Most Remembered Foreigners in Korea,” by the Korea Times in 2007, and was honored by the Institute for Human Rights with the Korean Human Rights Award in 2002. He passed away November 15, 2020, at the age of 91.
He is survived by his wife, Dorothy Ogle, who is herself also known as an eminent peace activist and who co-authored their memoir, Our Lives in Korea and Korea in Our Lives (Xlibris, 2012). In the book’s Introduction, they write, “There is hope for peace if our policy makers are willing to seriously move toward replacing the truce with a peace treaty to end the Korean War. We were hoping we could close this story with a happy ending, but unfortunately, we must stop before that goal is met.” Following George’s death, Dorothy said in a personal communication that his last wish was for peace in Korea and in the world. She recalled his words: “The Koreans want peace, but my country is the obstacle to them moving forward.”
In addition to being widely respected in Korea, George inspired generations of Americans who fought in solidarity with the pro-democracy and peaceful unification movements in South Korea.
After graduating from Duke Divinity School in 1954, George became a missionary for the United Methodist Church in South Korea, where he worked with Korean youth as the country was beginning to recover from wartime devastation. Within a few years, he began a ministry for the country’s factory workers, who were often overworked and exposed to hazardous conditions during the rapid industrialization of the traditionally agrarian country.
Ogle, who grew up outside Pittsburgh, was familiar with similar struggles endured by his own relatives who had worked in steel mills and coal mines. “I carry my background with me wherever I go,” he said. “I knew the workers needed support, or they would be left out of the country’s progress.”
In the early 1960s, he helped found the Urban Industrial Mission to educate Korean workers about their rights and to support them in negotiating union contracts while also helping their families. He spent twelve years with Korean industrial workers in Incheon as a “factory chaplain.” He was deported in 1974 by the Park Chung-hee military government for speaking out in defense of eight South Korean men tortured and executed on false accusations that they were part of a communist conspiracy.
“There was no way I could retreat from where I stood,” he said. “When I preached, I often saw the black jackets of the Korean CIA in the audience, which gives you a really uneasy feeling. But I felt I had to speak the truth as I knew it.”
George earned a PhD in International Industrial Relation at the University of Wisconsin in 1973. Following his deportation, he returned to the US and taught at Emory University before he went on to serve for a decade as a Washington lobbyist on health and poverty issues for the United Methodist Church.
George returned to Korea in 1989 to document the history of worker struggles that gave birth to South Korea’s modern labor movement. In South Korea: Dissent within the Economic Miracle, he wrote, “Labor management centers on how to efficiently suppress the human side of labor so that management can deal only with the productive side of it.” He was invited to speak widely in Korea and the US, and his commitment to furthering a public understanding of South Korean labor history was poignant, given that the Urban Industrial Mission has been credited for helping to create Korea’s strong unions.
For his incisive writing and unwavering support for democracy and peace, George will remain in the hearts of many who will remember him with fondness, admiration, and gratitude. Rest in peace, George Ogle, friend, teacher, visionary, and champion for social justice.