Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Seoul (Agenzia Fides) – A spark of hope will now be illumined among the people of North Korea: in an unprecedented event, the Franciscan Friars of South Korea have established a “Peace Services Center” in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
Fides has learned from Church sources in South Korea that the Center has government approval and has been officially opened by Bishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik of Daejeon (South Korea), President of the Bishops' Commission for Caritas Korea, who has maintained healthy relations with the North for some time.
The Center will play a key role mainly in humanitarian aid and assistance, distributing food, caring for children and families living in poverty, caring for the sick, and offering education to farming communities, in an effort to respond to the demands of the poorest members of the local population. The Center began thanks to the great collaboration effort between the Order of Friars Minor in Korea and the Saebyeol Company, which works under the auspices of the government Federation for Economic Cooperation in North Korea. “We will offer the North our fraternal spirit, the spirit of peace and service of Saint Francis of Assisi, who embraced the leper of his time, seeing Christ present in the poor and suffering,” said the Franciscan Friars who began the project.
“I hope that the Center can be a milestone in performing works of charity, reconciliation, coming together, and cooperation, so that the peoples of North and South Korea can once again live together in mutual support of one another,” Bishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik said, in the inauguration ceremony, which was also attended by Pyongyang's civil authorities.
It is a very important event, in that it is the first official institution of the Korean Church in North Korea, since the historic division of Korea into two parts, after the war of 1950-53. The idea seemed like a Utopia and unrealistic at first, but with the passing of time, and the signs of a greater openness on the part of North Korean authorities, the project has been able to go forward, thanks to the healthy relations already established through Caritas Korea.
For nearly two years now, Caritas Korea has taken up direct responsibility for humanitarian aid and cooperation with North Korea, while in the past it had worked through Caritas Hong Kong. The main recipients of the aid are women, children, and elderly, and professional formation projects continue in the area of agricultural techniques.
Caritas Korea has placed resources and know-how together to create this new Center, which hopes to make a real contribution in the reconciliation and peace effort between North and South Korea.(PA) (Agenzia Fides 10/11/2008)
