South Jeolla churches ring 130 bells for successful summit
President Moon Jae-in, right, greets Archbishop Kim Hee-jung of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea before a state luncheon at Cheong Wa Dae on Dec. 6, 2017. / Korea Times file
By Ko Dong-hwan
Churches in Gwangju and other parts of South Jeolla Province rang their bells simultaneously at 9:30 a.m. Friday to wish for a peaceful result from the inter-Korean summit.
About 130 bells at churches in the Archdiocese of Gwangju tolled at the time South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un were to meet on the south side of Panmunjeom in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. The leaders actually met several minutes earlier.
Catholic Archbishop Kim Hee-jung had an emergency meeting with parish officials on Thursday afternoon and decided to send a letter to all churches to encourage them to ring their bells.
The letter referred to the summit as “the historical day when President Moon and the North's leader Kim meet for talks that will lead to peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
The letter requested that churches toll their bells for one minute at 9:30 a.m., “when the two leaders meet for the first time.”
Archbishop Kim, who heads the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, reminded in the letter that the U.S.-Pyongyang summit would follow and he encouraged “prayers for the latter so that the Korean Peninsula opens doors to reconciliation, mutuality and peace.”