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South Korean President Moon Jae-in speaks with Pope Francis in Vatican City on Oct. 18. (Blue House photo pool)

“Don’t stop, and keep moving forward. Don’t be afraid,” said Pope Francis, speaking to a special believer named Timothy who visited him on Oct. 18.

Pope Francis was telling South Korean President Moon Jae-in, whose saint’s name is Timothy, not to stop working for peace on the Korean Peninsula. “I strongly support the South Korean government’s ongoing efforts to promote the peace process on the Korean Peninsula,” the pope said, making clear that he stands behind Moon.

Pope Francis’s staunch support for peace on the Korean Peninsula exceeded expectations. Even before the meeting, Blue House officials said they didn’t expect the pope to clearly express his willingness to visit North Korea and thought the best case scenario was that he would ‘seriously consider’ it. But the pope explicitly said he was willing to visit North Korea and would definitely respond if he received an invitation from the North. He also voiced his strong support for Moon’s plan for peace on the Korean Peninsula. For Moon, the papal response was an unexpected boon that delivered everything he had hoped and more.

Pope Francis’ immediate acceptance of the proposed papal visit to North Korea is consistent with the interest and affection he has shown for the divided Korean Peninsula. The Argentine pope has long taken an unusual interest in peace on the Korean Peninsula. In Aug. 2014, he chose South Korea for his third visit as pope, and his first to Asia, and he has prayed for the peace of the Korean Peninsula whenever Korean affairs have been at a critical juncture, including the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the inter-Korean summit and the North Korea-US summit.

At every opportunity, Moon has also expressed his gratitude for the pope’s prayers on social media. The pope has also taken personal action on behalf of inter-Korean reconciliation, such as supporting a reconciliation event in a meeting with Protestant representatives from South and North Korea in Geneva, Switzerland, this past June. When Moon asked the pope on Oct. 18 whether Kim Jong-un could send an invitation, the pope expressed his trust in Moon as messenger by saying, “President Moon, the words you have conveyed are sufficient in themselves, but it would be nice to receive an official invitation.” When Moon conveyed Kim’s message of gratitude for the pope’s prayers for inter-Korean peace, the pope said, “In fact, it is I who am grateful,” showing that he is well-disposed to Kim.

By securing Pope Francis’ consent for a visit to North Korea, South Korean President Moon Jae-in has achieved the main goal of his tour of Europe. The Blue House had said that “the primary objective of this trip is to communicate Chairman Kim’s intention to request a papal visit.”

In a column published in L'Osservatore Romano, the daily newspaper of Vatican City in Rome, Moon expressed his “hope that exchange will be further promoted between the Vatican and North Korea” in a veiled request for the pope to visit the North soon. A papal visit could function as a “certified check” for a Korean Peninsula at peace, without war.

Pope Francis’ support has given Moon’s plan for peace on the Korean Peninsula a major boost. Moon’s plan is to build a peace and security regime in Northeast Asia that would play out through an end-of-war declaration within the year, the signing of a peace treaty and the dissolution of the Cold War alignment. The reason the Blue House settled on arranging a papal visit to North Korea as the primary objective of Moon’s trip to Europe is because of its belief that the support of the pope – a symbol of peace and reconciliation who leads 1.2 billion believers around the world – could help further accelerate the newly established order on the Korean Peninsula.

This also puts more weight behind Moon’s central theme during his tour of Europe that sanctions on North Korea should be eased to promote the North’s denuclearization. The pope exerts influence over the Catholic countries of Europe, including France and Italy. After his summits with the leaders of France and Italy, Moon tried to persuade them that “the international community’s sanctions on the North should be eased after denuclearization has progressed to an irreversible point,” and he is expected to make the same case to the leaders of the UK and Germany, whom he will meet during the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Belgium.

By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter

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