While the location of and circumstances surrounding the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 remains a mystery, three of the passengers on the plane were identified as a Korean missionary family. Seong-beom Park, Kyung-Hwa Lee, and their 11-month-old daughter Yuna Park, were on their way to Singapore to figure out visa issues to be able to stay in Indonesia long-term as missionaries.
“He had been doing ministry faithfully and sharing God’s love in Indonesia, and he was now on his sabbatical,” Jung-Kook Han, the secretary general of Korea World Missions Association (KWMA), said of Park and his family. KWMA is an inter-denominational mission organization in Seoul. “He wanted to return to the field so he was on his way to Singapore to figure out visa issues when this incident happened.”
“Even one life is so precious, but the fact that there are 162 lives that are missing is heartbreaking,” Han added.
Park was being sent as a missionary from Yeosu First Presbyterian Church, while his wife was being sent by a church in Seoul. According to the Wall Street Journal, Lee had already spent years as a missionary in Indonesia, while Park also had years of experience as a missionary in Cambodia, in which he taught at a university in Phnom Penh. The young family was planning on teaching Korean and computer skills in Indonesia.
“We can’t make any conclusions on the situation right now, but I’m desperately hoping that they will return safely home,” Han said. “I hope and pray that God will allow them to experience once again the precious value of one soul, and that this will only allow them to serve and love the nations even more.”
The AirAsia flight disappeared and lost contact with air-traffic control around 42 minutes after takeoff early on Sunday morning. There were 162 people aboard the plane, including 155 passengers and five crew members.
Search and rescue teams from various countries have joined in the effort to locate the plane, including teams from Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and New Zealand.
