Students and faculty pose during an event celebrating the reestablishment of Soongsil University in front of Youngnak Presbyterian Church in Seoul, May 10, 1954. Courtesy of Soongsil University

Soongsil University, the first modern university established on the Korean Peninsula by U.S. Christian missionary William M. Baird, will celebrate the 127th anniversary of its founding and the 70th year of its reestablishment in Seoul on Thursday.

The school will hold a special service and run exhibitions that day to commemorate its history and honor the sacrifices of those who have served the students with its founding spirit, "truth and service," university officials said Tuesday.

Some of the exhibitions scheduled to open this month will continue until the end of the year.

Students, teachers, alums and other guests including politicians and Korea-based foreign diplomats are expected to attend a special dinner at The Plaza Seoul hotel.

Originally established in 1897 in Pyongyang, now the capital of North Korea, the school later suffered persecution under the 1910-45 Japanese occupation and closed its doors in 1938 in protest of the enforcement of Shinto shrine worship.

After liberation and the Korean War (1950-53), efforts to restore the school began to gain traction and led to its reestablishment in Seoul in 1954.