Pope Francis has welcomed news of the meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un at the Demilitarised Zone, which divides the Korean Peninsula.
Speaking last Sunday to pilgrims in St Peter’s Square he hailed the surprise meeting “as a good example of the culture of encounter.” He greeted “the protagonists” and prayed that “this significant gesture may constitute a further step on the path to peace, not only in the Korean peninsula for the whole world too”. Francis visited South Korea five years ago, where there is a vibrant Catholic church with some 5.5 million members. He celebrated a nationally televised Mass in the cathedral of Myeong-dong in Seoul “for the peace and reconciliation” of the Korean people.
In South Korea, the Columban Missionary Society also welcomed news of the meeting. Fr Thomas Seungwon Nam, vice-director of the Columbans in Korea, said “it was great gesture” of the leaders “with help from South Korea’s President, Moon Jae-in” and he reported South Koreans glued to their televisions. The Columbans, who saw seven of their priests killed in the Korean War – Irishman Fr Anthony Collier was the first non-Korean to be killed in that war - urge that Catholics worldwide “keep praying for peace in the region”.
President Trump, who had been in Japan for the G20 meeting, travelled to Korea and met Kim Jong-Un for their third summit in a process that is ultimately aimed at the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and the lifting of sanctions imposed by the US because of North Korea’s nuclear program. At Kim’s invitation, Trump became the first sitting US president to step briefly into North Korea and then Kim crossed into South Korea, saying “I believe this is an expression of his willingness to eliminate all the unfortunate past and open a new future.” The two leaders conversed together for one hour in Freedom House on the South Korean side and agreed to set up teams to resume the stalled talks on denuclearisation. They were joined by South Korea’s President, Moon Jae-in, a Catholic, who has played an active role in facilitating talks.
Prayers for peace were said all last week in Korea, for the 69th anniversary of the Korean war. Koreans still live under a truce put in place at the end of the war with the two countries remaining technically at war. South Korea's bishops and 20,000 Catholics participated at a special memorial Mass on 25 June at Peace World Park in Imjingak, near the demilitarised zone. Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung of Seoul presided and said that the entire Catholic Church including Pope Francis is "praying for the seeds of peace to be planted in our painful history". Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-jong of Kwangju, Chairman of the Korean Bishops’ Conference, felt the best way to keep the peace on the Korean Peninsula is “a mutual trust through forgiveness and reconciliation”.
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