Kang Soon Gi, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Northern Asia-Pacific Division, has tendered his resignation amid financial losses linked to investments made by the church’s Korean Union Conference.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church’s General Conference said Kang’s resignation was received by General Conference President Erton Köhler on September 28, 2026. The resignation will now be presented to the General Conference Executive Committee for consideration.
Kang was elected president of the Northern Asia-Pacific Division at the church’s 2025 General Conference Session. Before taking the regional position, he served as president of the Korean Union Conference from 2020 to 2025.
According to the General Conference, Kang submitted his resignation letter while attending pre-meetings in the United States ahead of the church’s Annual Council. Officers of the Northern Asia-Pacific Division were informed of the development on the morning of September 29.
As president of the Northern Asia-Pacific Division, Kang also serves as a vice president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s General Conference.
In his resignation letter, Kang said his decision was made with the interests of the church in mind.
“I have made this decision with a sincere desire to place the Church’s interests, unity, and mission above my personal position,” Kang wrote. He added that leadership carries responsibility and that such responsibility should be approached with “humility, integrity, and respect for the Church’s principles and processes.”
The General Conference linked Kang’s resignation to losses from the Korean Union Conference’s investment portfolio, which have significantly affected the retirement fund for Korean church employees. The church said the Korean Union had made investments since at least 2012 in areas including private equity, venture capital, project financing and other special investment securities.
The General Conference said recent changes in the real estate investment market contributed to volatile conditions affecting the portfolio. Its auditing service assessed the valuation of the Korean Union’s retirement-fund investments and provided a preliminary report to the union’s executive committee in August 2026. The audit covering 2025 remains ongoing and will be released according to church policy.
The resignation follows a September 24 report by SPECTRUM Magazine that the Korean Union Conference was facing approximately ₩86.56 billion, or about $63 million, in potential investment losses. The figure represented roughly 46 percent of the union’s ₩188.5 billion investment portfolio, although SPECTRUM noted that not all of the amount had necessarily been permanently lost because some assets remained under assessment.
SPECTRUM also reported that the investments under review were made over several years and that some of the practices predated the current Korean Union administration. The publication said determining responsibility for individual transactions remained part of the investigation and related proceedings.
The Korean Union Conference is part of the Northern Asia-Pacific Division and covers the Korean Peninsula. Its territory includes the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, with five conferences, the North Korean Mission and Jeju Region under its administration.
For now, Kang’s resignation remains subject to consideration by the General Conference Executive Committee. The Seventh-day Adventist Church has not announced the outcome of that process or who would succeed him as president of the Northern Asia-Pacific Division.
