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Pope Francis
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Idea originally proposed by Moon to secure international support for inter-Korean peace
“The pope’s visit would be warmly welcomed,” said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as he extended an invitation to Pope Francis, an idea that had been originally proposed by South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Moon’s proposal for the pope to visit North Korea appears aimed at securing the approval of the pope, who is himself a symbol of peace and reconciliation, for the new order of “peace and stability” on the Korean Peninsula and to usher North Korea into the comity of nations. It was reportedly Moon who brought up the idea of inviting Pope Francis to visit North Korea to Kim during their summit in Pyongyang, held from Sept. 18 to 20. “The two leaders shared several meals and basically spent the entire three days talking to each other. While President Moon was speaking of the need for the Pyongyang summit to gain international support, he appears to have suggested this as one way of doing so,” a senior Blue House official said on Oct. 9. At every opportunity, Pope Francis has called on believers to pray for the peace of the Korean Peninsula. Two days after the inter-Korean summit on Apr. 27, he expressed his support of the bold decision made by the leaders of South and North Korea, and shortly before the North Korea-US summit in June, he voiced his hope that this would ensure a peaceful future both for the Korean Peninsula and for the world. While at Heaven Lake (Cheonji) atop Mt. Baekdu on Sept. 20, the final day of the summit, Kim Jong-un also asked South Korean Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-joong of the Gwangju Archdiocese, who was a member of the delegation that accompanied Moon to North Korea, to tell the pope about South and North Korea’s efforts toward reconciliation. Blue House spokesperson Kim Eui-kyum recounted the episode as follows in the daily press briefing: “Archbishop Kim remarked that Kim Jong-un would understand the importance of tourism since he’d studied so long in Switzerland. Given North Korea’s outstanding natural beauty, the archbishop said, North Korea would prosper if Kim Jong-un applied his Swiss experience to the tourism industry. Kim Jong-un responded by smiling and nodding. Along the same lines, Archbishop Kim also promised to let the Vatican know that South and North Korea were moving in the direction of peace and reconciliation, to which Kim Jong-un made a deep bow and said, ‘I would really appreciate it if you did so.’” “When I met Pope Francis at the Vatican last week, I told him about inter-Korean relations. I think he would visit if invited,” Archbishop Kim said during a telephone interview with the Hankyoreh. “If South and North Korea host an international event during which they turn the DMZ, which is currently a symbol of division, into a symbol of peace, such as an international ecological peace park, I think that would be a great chance to invite the pope to come along with the leaders of the US, China, Russia and Japan.” Papal visit to North Korea could accelerate peace process of Korean Peninsula A papal visit was proposed by former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung and approved by former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during the first inter-Korean summit in June 2000, but it never happened. Moon’s apparent intention is to use the fanfare of a papal visit to ensure that the new state of affairs on the Korean Peninsula isn’t derailed again and to secure the support and approval of the international community. If the pope does visit North Korea, it’s likely to accelerate Moon’s plan for peace on the Korean Peninsula, which involves not only formally ending the Korean War before the end of the year and signing a peace treaty but also ending the Cold War regime in Northeast Asia and building a multilateral peace and security body in Northeast Asia. “We need to confirm that Kim Jong-un’s bold decision to denuclearize is the right choice. This is the time for the international community to make its response,” Moon emphasized during his speech at the UN General Assembly in New York last month. “President Moon will be officially visiting the Vatican to reconfirm its blessing and support for the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and to discuss how they can cooperate,” said Kim Eui-kyum, the Blue House spokesperson. By Seong Yeon-cheol and Noh Jiwon, staff reporters, and Cho Yeon-hyun, religion correspondent Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
