[KS] South Korean RC Bishops Statement

Peter Corbishley pjc at britishlibrary.net
Fri Oct 20 03:03:38 EDT 2006


Summary of South Korean RC Bishops statement on North Korea by Zenit news agency 

Korean Bishops Lament North's Nuclear Test
Issue Message for Peace and Reconciliation 

SEOUL, South Korea, OCT. 19, 2006 The recent announcement of North Korea's nuclear test caused shock and concern among the Korean people and all those who love peace, say the country's bishops. 

The test carried out Oct. 9 by the North's Communist government has alarmed the international community. 

In response, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea (CBCK) sent a "Message for Peace and Reconciliation" to the North last Friday. 

"We cannot but feel deep sorrow for the choice of our North Korean brethren who must cooperate with us to maintain the peace," reads the text, signed by Auxiliary Bishop Lucas Kim Woon-hoe of Seoul, president of the prelates' Committee for the Reconciliation of the Korean People, and by Bishop Boniface Choi Ki-san, president of the Committee for Justice and Peace. 

"Even if it was for self-defence, nuclear weapons cannot be justified in any way," the bishops warn. 

The prelates observe that in recent years, the South and North have maintained peaceful exchanges, through which the two Koreas have come to recognize each other not as enemies but as one people, "the same brethren." 

"Hence, no one should block the way of reconciliation which the South and North have paved through all efforts or turn back the streams of peace and unity running through the Korean peninsula," the bishops say in their statement. "Furthermore, no one should make use of this situation to provoke hatred and confrontation." 

The bishops pointed out that, for peace to take root in Korea, the Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, adopted in 1991, should be effectively implemented, something which could be achieved through "dialogue and negotiation." 

Dialogue 

In their message, reported on Wednesday by the Fides agency, the South Korean prelates emphasized that the "international society must walk the difficult way toward reconciliation and peace with patience, not through military sanctions or blockade but through dialogue and negotiation." 

While the Korean peninsula is shocked by the North's nuclear test, "we put our trust in 'Christ, our peace' (Ephesians 2:14) without restlessness of mind, and heartily wish that we could bring real peace in this country with all the people working for peace together," the South Korean prelates write. 

North Korea, which suffers a lack of religious liberty, has 22 million inhabitants. South Korea has 48 million, including 4 million Catholics. The North and South have been separated since the 1953 armistice. 
ZE06101923
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