SEOUL: Pope Francis has asked Pyongyang to invite him to North Korea, saying in a televised interview that he would not turn down a chance to visit and work for peace. A potential papal visit to isolated, nuclear-armed country was previously floated in 2018 when Seoul’s former president Moon Jae-in embarked on a round of diplomacy with Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong Un. Moon, who is Catholic said during a summit that Kim told him pontiff would be “enthusiastically” welcomed.

Pope Francis replied at time that he would be willing to go if he received an official invitation. But Pyongyang has largely cut off contact with Seoul following collapse of a second summit between Kim and then-US president Donald Trump in 2019, which has left talks at a standstill. “When they invite me that is to say, please invite me I won’t say no,” Pope Francis told South Korea’s state broadcaster KBS in an interview that aired Friday. “Goal is simply fraternity,” he added. Ties between North and South Korea have been at a frosty low since Seoul inaugurated a hawkish new President Yoon Suk-yeol in May. Yoon offered aid to North in return for denuclearization, but Kim’s regime ridiculed plan.–Agencies

Published in The Daily National Courier, August, 27 2022

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