ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - Thirty years of commitment, prayer and hope for reconciliation and peace

Seoul (Agenzia Fides) - On the main altar of the Cathedral of Seoul stands the symbol of the local Church for the Holy Year: the "Cross for Peace," handcrafted from barbed wire taken from the "Bamboo Curtain" in the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea along the 38th parallel. In front of this symbolic cross, the 30th anniversary of the founding of the "Korean Committee of the Archdiocese of Seoul for Reconciliation" (KRCAS) was celebrated with a Mass commemorating 30 years of commitment and invoke peace and reconciliation.
"In 1995, fifty years after the division of the country and 45 years after the Korean War, the year in which Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan officially expressed his desire to visit North Korea, the Committee for Reconciliation of our Archdiocese was established," said Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-Taick of Seoul, the current chairman of the KRCAS. The Archbishop, who is also Apostolic Administrator of Pyongyang, reflected on the committee's 30-year history, which has always strived to keep alive, on moral, cultural, and spiritual levels, the flame of reconciliation and the hope for a definitive peace and reunification of North and South Korea. In its 30 years of existence, the committee has engaged in prayers, educational initiatives, research, cooperation projects with the North, and a special and ongoing moment of communal prayer: the Eucharist for the Reconciliation and Unity of Korea, celebrated every Tuesday at the Catholic Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul, which has now been celebrated for the 1457th time.
Regarding current inter-Korean relations, the Archbishop lamented that "the current situation on the Korean peninsula is dominated by the mechanism of hatred, conflict, and division, rather than love, reconciliation, and unity." Therefore, he urged everyone to "take courage so that we can continue on our path of national reconciliation and remember our mission for peace in this country: inter-Korean reconciliation and the evangelization of all people."
In his homily during the Mass in Seoul, attended by more than 400 faithful, priests, religious, lay people, and North Korean refugees, Archbishop Chung called for conversion "so that hearts may be changed." He urged the committee to "take the initiative and join forces with other religions, civil society, political circles, as well as other organizations and members of the Church to walk the path of conversion in both North and South Korea."
The Apostolic Nuncio to Korea, Archbishop Giovanni Gaspari, said at the ceremony: "Amid the current tensions and conflicts on the Korean peninsula, your efforts to open a new chapter of reconciliation are more valuable than ever. The Holy See follows these efforts with great attention and joins in prayer for the peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula" and hopes that the committee's work "will bear even richer fruit in the pursuit of peace and reconciliation, and that through its activities, the spirit of reconciliation and unity will be further spread." During the ceremony, the committee also awarded certificates of merit and recognition to individuals who have distinguished themselves through their commitment to the cause of reconciliation and peace on the Korean Peninsula.
The Korea Committee for Reconciliation of the Archdiocese of Seoul was established on March 1, 1995, the 50th anniversary of the liberation from Japan, by the late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, then Archbishop of Seoul and Apostolic Administrator of Pyongyang, with the goal of promoting the Church's responsibility for reconciliation work on the Korean Peninsula. Based on principles such as "transforming hatred into love, discord into reconciliation, and division into unity," the Committee carried out initiatives centered on three pastoral areas: prayer, peace education, and sharing. Meanwhile, the Committee also established an affiliated research center, the Institute for Peace-Sharing, with a specific academic, social, and cultural research mandate.
Every year, the Committee and the Institute organize a special youth pilgrimage called "The Wind of Peace," which takes place along the Demilitarized Zone on the border between the two Koreas and aims to raise awareness among young people around the world about being apostles of peace. (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 22/3/2025)

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