Better US-NK ties will send positive signal to pope about Pyongyang visit: archbishop
Pope Francis attends a penitential liturgy at the Vatican, Feb. 23. The pontiff is hosting a four-day summit on preventing clergy sexual abuse, a high-stakes meeting designed to impress on Catholic bishops around the world that the problem is global and that there are consequences if they cover it up. AP
A meaningful progress in the United States and North Korea relations in the wake of their second summit set for this week will provide a positive signal to Pope Francis about paying a visit to the communist nation, a South Korean archbishop said Sunday.
The remark by Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-joong comes as U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are to meet in Hanoi, Vietnam, for their second summit.
The two Korean War foes will sit down to discuss ways to get rid of Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal and decide what Washington can offer in return, including sanctions relief.
"Pope Francis has said he can visit North Korea if Pyongyang sends him a formal invitation," Kim told Yonhap in an interview. "We should take his word for itself, instead of interpreting it in all sorts of ways."
When conditions are met and North Korea's Kim invites him, the pope will start considering making a trip there in earnest, the archbishop said.
"As long as the pope shows a willingness, it's not impossible for him to plan a trip within this year."
The archbishop of Gwangju, who also serves as head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, was in the Vatican City for a conference regarding the protection of minors in the Catholic Church.
He was a special presidential envoy to the Vatican City in May 2017, when President Moon Jae-in, who had just been elected, sent out a message through him to the pope asking for the Vatican's support in easing the tension between the Koreas.
Moon, a Catholic, paid a visit to the Vatican in October last year during his European tour. He met with the pope and delivered a verbal invitation from the North Korean leader for the pope to visit Pyongyang, to which the pope responded positively. No pope has ever visited North Korea.
The archbishop noted that the Vatican officials are paying close attention to the upcoming Hanoi summit between Trump and Kim.
If the pope's visit is realized, the trip itself will mean a great deal to the ongoing process of making lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, he added.
He also said the young North Korean leader seems to be a man with "an open mind."
"He didn't stick to formalities and took photos (with me) at the banquet during the South-North summit in Pyongyang," he said. "I believe he'd be more open to religion than his predecessors, considering that he spent his adolescence in Switzerland." (Yonhap)