Andrew Yeom Soo-jung
archbishop from South Korea
Andrew Yeom Soo-jung (Korean: 염수정; Hanja: 廉洙政; born 5 December 1943) is a Korean prelate of the Catholic Church who was the Archbishop of Seoul from 2012 to 2021, while also holding the title of Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Pyongyang in North Korea. Pope Francis made him a cardinal in 2014. He was also the chairman of Catholic Peace Broadcasting Corporation (CPBC).
Early life
Yeom Soo-jung was born in Ansong, Gyeonggi Province, to devout Catholic parents, Yeom Han-jin (Calixto) and Baek Geum-wol (Susanna) descendants of Joseph Yeom Deok-sun, who was among the first Koreans to convert to Christianity in the 1700s and Peter Yeom Seok-tae who was arrested and executed in 1850 for his Catholic faith. His ancestors were among the lay people who brought Christianity to the Korean peninsula in the 19th century, and his great-great-grandfather and his wife were executed as part of the Joseon dynasty's persecution of Christians. The Yeom family has kept their religious belief for generations through persecution, leading Archbishop Yeom, the fifth generation Catholic, to enter the priesthood. The third of six children, Yeom loves explaining how he discovered and cultivated his priestly vocation thanks to family prayer: his grandmother Magdalena Park and his mother, went to Mass every day for 30 years to pray for their children to become priests. His two brothers Yeom Soo-wan and Yeom Soo-eui have also followed him, currently leading two dioceses in Seoul.
At the age of 15, Yeom decided to become a priest and entered the seminary. He graduated from the Catholic University of Korea in 1970.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Andrew Yeom Soo-jung” as archbishop from South Korea. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as archbishop from South Korea. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q488084. VIAF identifies the subject as 91156563411923240906. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1943, 2012, 2021 and 2014.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Andrew Yeom Soo-jung”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Andrew Yeom Soo-jung primary sources, Andrew Yeom Soo-jung archive and Andrew research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Andrew Yeom Soo-jung”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Andrew Yeom Soo-jung” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.