Top Stories 25/04/10 South Korea’s last French missionary dies after 70 years' service

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Retired bishop René Dupont arrived soon after the Korean War and attended to thousands displaced by the conflict 

Paris Foreign Missions Society (MEP) member and retired bishop René Dupont of Andong diocese, who served South Korea for seven decades. He died on April 10 at the age of 95. (Photo: adextra-mission.com)

By UCA News reporter

Published: April 11, 2025 07:55 AM GMT

Updated: April 11, 2025 10:06 AM GMT

French missionary and retired bishop René Dupont of Andong diocese, who served South Korea for seven decades, died on April 10 at the age of 95.

Dupont, a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society (MEP), was hospitalized in Andong, some 190 kilometers southeast of Seoul, after undergoing emergency surgery for a cerebral infarction earlier this week, local reports said.

Dupont arrived in South Korea almost a year after the Korean War concluded in 1953, and welcomed thousands who were displaced by the conflict to his mission area in Daejeon.

“Father Dupont stood by their side, assisting the local community’s growth. Even after his retirement, he continued to reside in the diocese, greeting everyone with a smile,” said the MEP publication adextra-mission in an obit.

In 2023, when Dupont marked 70 years of his priestly ordination, he recollected how dramatically South Korea changed.

In the 1950s, “it was a very underdeveloped country. Today, I tell everyone that I feel proud; our people, who had nothing, have progressed step by step," he said.

His regret was the collapsing number of marriages and shrinking birth rate in South Korea, the MEP obit said.

Records show the country faces a demographic crisis, with birth rates significantly below the replacement level of 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population.

He was a positive missionary. “Don't be pessimistic, don't envy other dioceses. Accept what the Lord gives us. We must only help each other and serve the Lord as best we can," he used to say, according to the obituary.

He was also modest about his mission achievements. “I have tried to listen to the Lord in silence instead of sharing my own story.

“I pray an hour a day in silence before the Lord. I ask Him to show me how to accept what He wants me to do. I have always lived this way throughout my life as a priest. There is nothing else to do."

Bishop at 39 

Born in France’s Saint-Jean-le-Blanc in 1929, he was the second son among five children of his horticulturist parents. 

After completing his secondary education, he entered the diocesan major seminary in 1947.  After two years of seminary studies, he completed a year of military service in 1950 before joining the Paris Foreign Missions Seminary.

After completing his studies at Gregorian University in Rome, he was ordained a priest in 1953 and arrived in Korea in 1954.  Following a missionary tradition, he adopted the Korean name Dubong.

In addition to his responsibilities as vicar of the cathedral parish of Daejeon, he served several years as diocesan chancellor.

When the Andong diocese was formed in 1969, the Vatican appointed Dupont, then 39, as its first bishop.

Farmers’ leader

Most Catholics in his new diocese were village farmers, and to promote their unity and collaboration, he formed the "Catholic Peasant Movement.”

During the 1970s and 1980s, during the dark days of South Korean politics, he shared the suffering of ordinary people to promote social justice with great dedication and pastoral commitment.

He retired as the bishop of Andong in 1990 and lived in a parish in the suburbs of Seoul, leading spiritual retreats and giving lectures. In November 2004, he returned to a village in the Andong diocese, where he stayed until his death.

South Korea bestowed him several honors.

In 2019, South Korea, which does not permit dual nationality, gave an exception to Dupont to grant him Korean citizenship while allowing him to retain French citizenship.

In 2012, he received the Manhae Prize for Peace, part of a series of coveted annual awards established to honor the memory of Manhae Han Yong-un, a revered Buddhist reformer (1879–1944).

This story first appeared in MEP publication adextra-mission, and was edited and adapted with permission for publication here