Kim Jong-un has invited Pope Francis to visit North Korea and said the pope would be "ardently welcomed". South Korea's president Moon Jae-in will deliver the message to the pope when he meets him during a visit to the Vatican next week.
“President Moon will visit the Vatican on Oct. 17 and 18 to reaffirm its blessing and support for peace and stability of the Korean peninsula,” Moon's spokesman, Kim Eui-kyeom, told reporters.
"During the meeting with Pope Francis, he (Moon) will relay the message from chairman Kim Jong-un that he would ardently welcome the pope if he visits Pyongyang," the spokesman told a news briefing.
The gesture is designed to highlight peace efforts on the Korean peninsula and probably help the two countries form formal diplomatic relations.
Kim told Moon of his wish to meet the pope during last month’s summit of the two leaders, the spokesman added, without elaborating on the timing. The pope has said he wants to visit Japan next year.
The Vatican said in a statement that the pope will receive Moon at noon (1000 GMT) on Oct. 17.
The day before, in St. Peter’s Basilica, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state and the pope’s second-in-command, will say a “Mass for Peace” on the Korean peninsula. Moon will attend the Mass, the Vatican said.
North Korea’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion as long as it does not undermine the state, but beyond a handful of state-controlled places of worship, no open religious activity is allowed.
The invitation to the pope is the first by a North Korean leader since 2000. Although that meeting, proposed by Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il, never materialised, the plan for Francis to visit is the North’s latest diplomatic initiative this year.
Kim held an unprecedented summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore in June, and pledged to work toward denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
