Pope Reiterates Willingness to Visit North Korea: "North and South Must Live Together... Will Go to North Korea When Ready"

Pope Francis [Photo by Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] It has been confirmed that Pope Francis recently reaffirmed his intention to visit North Korea during a meeting with Bishop Lazarus Yoo Heung-sik, the Archbishop of the Daejeon Diocese.

Bishop Lazarus Yoo Heung-sik recently had an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican. At this meeting, Pope Francis expressed his willingness to visit North Korea if an official invitation is received from North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un.

According to Yonhap News, Pope Francis said, "The same people have been divided and have lived like separated families for 70 years. What a great pain this is. We must live together. I will go to North Korea when the time is right," Bishop Yoo conveyed.

Following the inauguration of the new U.S. administration led by Catholic President Joe Biden in January this year, there has been growing public opinion within the Korean Catholic Church to promote Pope Francis's visit to North Korea for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Bishop Yoo also said that the Pope is well aware of the increasing interest in his potential visit to North Korea within South Korea.

Previously, following the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, the inter-Korean summit at Panmunjom, and the North Korea-U.S. summit in Singapore, which raised hopes for thawing relations on the Korean Peninsula, efforts within the Vatican to promote the Pope's visit became more concrete. However, all practical work was halted after the failure of the Hanoi North Korea-U.S. summit in February 2019.

The Pope has previously expressed his willingness to visit North Korea several times, saying, "I can go if officially invited" (during an audience with President Moon Jae-in in October 2018) and "I also want to go to North Korea" (during an audience with outgoing Apostolic Nuncio Bishop Lee Baek-man in November 2020).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.