Moon tells Biden about his request for papal visit to North Korea

President Moon Jae-in, right, shakes hands with U.S. President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome, Oct. 30. Yonhap

President Joe Biden welcomed Pope Francis' expression of a willingness to visit North Korea as good news when he met with President Moon Jae-in in Rome, Saturday, according to an aide to the South Korean President.

Biden made the remarks after Moon told him that he asked the pope to visit North Korea to bring peace on the Korean Peninsula and Pope Francis positively reacted to the request by saying he was willing to go to the North if he receives an invitation, presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee said.

The U.S. president welcomed the exchange between Moon and the pope as good news and praised his South Korean counterpart for making progress in bringing peace to the Korean Peninsula, Park said.

Moon and Biden held a casual meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome, Park said, adding that the informal meeting took place shortly before the world leaders posed for a group photo.

Both Moon and Biden held a separate meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Friday.

At a meeting with the pope at the Apostolic Palace, Moon told Pope Francis, "If Your Holiness has the opportunity and pays a visit to North Korea, it will build momentum for peace on the Korean Peninsula. Koreans have high expectations," according to Park.

Pope Francis said that if he received an invitation from North Korea, he would gladly visit the North for the sake of helping Koreans and the cause of peace, Park continued.

The pope has called for peace on the peninsula and previously expressed a willingness to visit North Korea.

During a meeting with the pope in 2018, Moon delivered a verbal invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and the pope said at the time he was willing to visit the North if Pyongyang sent him an official invitation.

No further progress, however, was made amid a deadlock in talks between the North and the United States. (Yonhap)