Pope Francis asks North Korea to invite him to visit

Pope Francis has asked Pyongyang to invite him to North Korea

Pope Francis has asked Pyongyang to invite him to North Korea

Pope Francis has asked Pyongyang to invite him to North Korea, saying in a televised interview on Friday that he would not turn down a chance to visit and work for peace.

A potential papal visit to the isolated, nuclear-armed country was previously floated in 2018 when Seoul's former president Moon Jae-in embarked on a round of diplomacy with Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong Un.

Pope Francis replied at the time that he would be willing to go if he received an official invitation.

"When they invite me -- that is to say, please invite me -- I won't say no," Pope Francis told South Korea's state broadcaster KBS in an interview that aired Friday.

Ties between North and South Korea have been at a frosty low since Seoul inaugurated a hawkish new president, Yoon Suk-yeol, in May. 

The North blamed South Korea for its May outbreak of Covid-19 and earlier this month threatened to "wipe out" Seoul's authorities in retaliation.

- 'Work for peace' -

"You, the Korean people, have suffered from the war," he said. 

In the early 20th century, before the division of the peninsula, Pyongyang was a regional missionary hub with scores of churches and a thriving Christian community that earned it the title "Jerusalem of the East".

The North's regime has since allowed Catholic organisations to run aid projects, but direct relations with the Vatican are non-existent. 

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