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From the left: the 2019 Korean Peninsula Peace-Sharing Forum: Father Jeong Se-deok of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul; Guzman Carriquiry

“After the Hungarian church began talking about forgiveness [regarding oppression under the Communist government] in the wake of liberalization, it would come under attack by people saying things like ‘Hasn’t it gotten too weak?’ or ‘Shouldn’t it take appropriate measures like retaliation where they’re needed?’”

A roundtable was held at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul in Jung District’s Myeong-dong neighborhood on May 20 by a European delegation for the 2019 Korean Peninsula Peace-Sharing Forum, an event organized by the archdiocese’s national reconciliation committee. Cardinal Peter Erdo, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest in Hungary, offered this reply when asked how he thought inter-Korean antagonism and internal ideological conflict in South Korea could be resolved.

“Forgiveness is not a matter of telling people not to defend or protect against social injustices that occur,” explained Erdo, a former president of the Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe.

“With crimes like genocide in the world that are difficult to resolve or compensate for, forgiveness is a treacherous process, but the church has the task of forgiving first, even if the perpetrators do not ask for forgiveness, and it must perform that prophetic mission,” he added.

Bishop Josef Clemens, who served as personal secretary to former Pope Benedict XVI and is currently secretary of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Laity, cited the example of reconciliation between Germany, which was responsible for crimes by the Nazi government, and Poland, which suffered as a result.

“Polish governments continued to hold hostile feelings toward German governments. They wanted to keep the fire of anger burning, but the Polish Episcopal Conference went a step farther and famously said, ‘We forgive you, and we ask your forgiveness in turn,’” he said.

“I think these words would also apply in South Korea, where there has been so much mutual injury, and between North and South Korea as well,” he added.

Referring to the German church’s experience with a division similar to Korea’s and subsequent reunification, Clemens said, “Reconciliation and agreement are the true nature of Christianity, part of its DNA.”

“Rather than looking only forward, it should be the wish of every Christian to look far into the distance and to prepare for and await future reconciliation within agreement,” he added.

Clemens are also stressed the importance of the kind of reconciliation education attempted by Germany and France, countries on opposing sides during World War II.

“After the war, President [Charles] de Gaulle of France and Chancellor [Konrad] Adenauer of Germany began an exchange association between young people in the two countries, which has had some nine million participants to date in terms of man days,” he said.

“When it comes to resolving false and divisive information, prejudices, and preconceptions, there is no better approach than to meet each other and talk, looking at matters from up close,” he added.

“I also took part in that association in the early 1970s. It’s the best recipe for overcoming the endless cycle of prejudice, and it is a recipe that should be tried within South Korea and between North and South Korea.”

Guzman Carriquiry, an attorney who serves as vice president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and a professor at the University of the Republic in Montevideo, Uruguay, supported Clemens’ ideas about education.

“While we do need political negotiations, the building of true peace also requires popular education to allow the entire public to establish a sense of fraternal bonds,” he said.

Carriquiry predicted that “South Korea’s young people will determine its future,” while mentioning three areas that those young people will have to overcome.

“There is a danger of South Korea’s young people becoming apathetic about goals and the meaning of life – uninterested in their own country’s fate, and even in reconciliation between North and South,” he said.

“At the same time, there is the risk of them becoming servants to the consumer culture of showing off to others. They could end up as people who worry only about their own welfare and their own money.”

“Another thing is ideology, which can trap young people in distorted views,” he continued.

“It can make them into servants of ideology rather than agents in building true peace. True education must enable them to transcend this. Young people need to be inspired to higher hopes for love, justice, truth, and happiness.”

Carriquiry attended the forum with his wife, Lidice Maria Gomez Mango, former professor at the Sapienza University of Rome. She is reported to be on close enough terms with Pope Francis that the pontiff promised to personally dedicate a mass at the Vatican in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary this June.

“The Pope is very interested in North Korea, so much so that some were mentioning the possibility of him visiting a few months ago,” Carriquiry noted.

“If there is anything he can do concretely to help inter-Korean reconciliation, he will gladly do it,” he added of Pope Francis.

The Korean Peninsula Peace-Sharing Forum on May 18 was the fourth since the inaugural event in 2016. It was organized by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul’s national reconciliation committee, which has also been involved in a “Finding the North’s Churches of the Heart” campaign to remember 57 Catholic churches that existed in North Korea before the peninsula’s division. The aim is to establish a spiritual community where individual members bond with each other and pray for one of the former churches in the North.

By Cho Hyun, religion correspondent

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