Reconciliation in Korea and Northeast Asia: Faith and Realism

While much of the world’s attention is focused on Russia’s continuing invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine’s response, Northeast Asia has been marking the 70th anniversary (July 27, 2023) of the armistice that ended the period of conflict known as the Korean War. There is still no peace treaty to formally indicate the end of hostilities. That is an important fact in present relations between North and South Korea, as well as between the U.S. and China.

After the 1945 Potsdam Conference agreed that the Soviets would accept Japan’s surrender north of the 38th parallel and the U.S. would accept Japan’s surrender south of that parallel, the Communists, with their anti-religious stance and aggressive atheism, who by then had established a regime in North Korea, proceeded to persecute the Catholic community. Then came the strong anti-communist policies of the Syngman Rhee and later the Park Chung Hee governments of South Korea. However, the visit to Korea of Pope John Paul II on the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Catholic Church in Korea renewed enthusiasm for the evangelization of Korea and this evolved into the realization that mutual forgiveness and reconciliation between North and South were inseparable components of evangelization.

This report is intended as an update of Catholic and other Christian efforts to achieve reconciliation in Korea and Northeast Asia generally, particularly since the visit of Pope Francis to Korea in 2014. Its main concern is how those engaged in these efforts have been coping with the marked changes in North-South relations and policies over this period, and in particular, given the present geopolitical crisis involving a renewed threat of hostilities between superpowers in Northeast Asia.

Recent relations between the two Koreas

Significant changes in North and South Korean relationships are taking place in the most heavily militarized area of the world. The U.S. considers China and Russia as its main adversaries and it maintains a number of bases for thousands of troops: more than 50,000 in Japan and roughly 27,000 in South Korea, including what has been called “the largest U.S. base outside the U.S.”[1] The extent of militarization around the Korean peninsula is overwhelming. According to recent data provided by SIPRI, the renowned investigator of comparative strength in military expenditures, all the major geopolitical players around the Korean Peninsula (China, U.S., Russia, Japan, South Korea) with the exception of North Korea, rank among the top ten nations of the world in terms of their military expenditures.[2]

Relations between North Korea and South Korea can be characterized by unresolved contradictions, and how the governments of North and South utilize these contradictions. The most basic contradiction is between North and South Korea on the one hand viewing each other as enemies still at war only held back by an armistice, and, on the other hand, a national ethnic group tragically divided into north and south. For example, several official joint declarations (including the 1991 basic agreement that “North and South agree on reconciliation, non-aggression, interchange and collaboration,” to the June 15, 2000, common declaration, the October 4, 2007, summit meeting declaration, and the April and September 2018 summit meeting declarations) emphasize that Koreans are one people that seek peace and unity. Despite these declarations there has actually been no peace treaty to end the Korean War, and there have been periodic military confrontations. Recent South Korean governments have been markedly inconsistent in relating to North Korea. The Park Geun-hye government engaged in controversies with the North over unification, North-South family visits and the Kaesong Industrial zone, involving provocations and counter-provocations.[3] The Moon Jae-in government held summit conferences on peace, unity and military cooperation. For its part, the present Yoon Suk Yeol government seems to have a different, more reserved approach.

Another problem is whether North Korea is responsible for sinking the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan in 2010 next to a South Korean island which is near the coast of North Korea, or whether the cause of the sinking will remain unknown. The South Korean investigation lacked transparency, and after a month of investigation the South Korean government claimed that the ship had been torpedoed by the North Koreans. North Korea has continually denied any involvement. South Koreans who lean toward reconciliation with the North say that the cause of the sinking is still unknown, or even make claims that it was the ship captain’s fault. It remains an unresolved matter, with opinions influenced by political leanings. The Park Geun-hye government regarded the sinking as a military provocation, along with the North’s nuclear weapons and missile tests. The Moon government did not link the matter to its relations with the North. A recent political incident showed how the matter is still a political issue. Two opposition party members made statements critical of the naval officer who captained the Cheonan. A public outcry led to one of them resigning as head of the party reform committee, and the other, a national assemblyman, has made an apology to the Cheonan captain and the bereaved families of the 46 sailors who died in the sinking, and the matter has been referred to the national assembly ethics committee. In response to the apology, the Cheonan captain made the matter more political by demanding an apology from the leader of the opposition party.[4]

A third unresolved contradiction is whether North Korea is a “workers’ paradise” or whether it is a dictatorship whose human rights abuses should be continually condemned. President Kim Dae Jung was a champion of human rights in South Korea’s democratization process, but as president (1998-2003) he adopted the “sunshine” policy toward North Korea, a policy of dialogue and economic cooperation as a road to reconciliation and peace, not linking the policy directly with human rights. Subsequently the Roh and Moon governments maintained this approach, while the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye governments made North Korean human rights abuses an issue that hindered improving relations. The current Yoon Suk Yeol government suggests in a vague way that human rights improvements can be made part of a comprehensive package of denuclearization, economic development, and cultural integration efforts. The United Nations’ report on North Korea’s human rights[5] condemns the abuses very strongly, but in its discussion of possible courses of action suggests dialogue and gradual opening of relations to be the most practical response.

North Korea has gone through its own dramatic changes in unification policy. Kim Jong-un began his role as head of the regime by calling for changes in ideology and policy. The changes called for a focus on the needs of the people, abandoning utopia-like societal changes and adopting economic planning for gradual development.[6]

He also showed an openness to international culture, and cooperated with the South in the joint industrial district near Kaesong, that had been established by the Kim Jong-il government in 2004 in collaboration with the Hyundai Corporation and other businesses from South Korea. However, in 2014 and 2015 he carried out tests for developing nuclear weapons, in response to which the then-South Korean president Park Geun-hye withdrew South Koreans from the Kaesong industrial complex.[7]

After trading threats with President Trump, Kim Jong-un changed once again and accepted the invitation of President Moon Jae-in of South Korea to attend the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018 in South Korea. After holding summit conferences with Moon Jae-in and Trump, the breakdown in negotiations at the Hanoi summit with the U.S. President in 2019 brought on a sudden cessation of dialogue and other forms of communication.

Renewed Cold War in Northeast Asia

The growing tensions in Northeast Asia are a crisis of multiple factors: incessant militarization; South Korean economic and security relations (China versus the U.S.); and a crisis for North Korea on how to respond to the breakdown of negotiations with the U.S. in 2019.

The Biden administration in the U.S. has been pursuing an Indo-Pacific alliance for containing China, and a strengthened U.S.-Japan-South Korea alliance in Northeast Asia. The Yoon government in Seoul responded very positively. It has improved relations with Japan by abandoning South Korean demands for Japan to apologize and pay compensation for Japan’s human rights abuses of Koreans, and has engaged in military exercises with the U.S. and Japan, antagonizing North Korea. It has clearly taken the U.S. side in the context of China-U.S. rivalry. This has led recently to an open diplomatic dispute between China and South Korea. The Chinese ambassador to South Korea held a two-hour meeting with the leader of the opposition party in which he criticized the Yoon government for taking sides with the U.S., using the provocative expression that those who place their bets against China in the competition will later regret it.[8] President Yoon and the ruling party have responded vigorously.[9]

Faith encountering Cold War tensions

In his encyclical letter Fratelli Tutti Pope Francis offers principles of Catholic Church social teaching that link faith with political action for the common good, including, of course, peace, reconciliation and justice. He points out that “providentially, many groups and organizations within civil society help to compensate for the shortcomings of the international community, its lack of coordination in complex situations, its lack of attention to fundamental human rights and to the critical needs of certain groups. Here we can see a concrete application of the principle of subsidiarity” (FT 175).

Pope Francis goes further to apply the principle of love of neighbor to “a decisive commitment to devising effective means” to “join together in initiating social processes of fraternity and justice for all” (FT 180). He calls for action to change the present conditions that favor the outbreak of wars (cf. FT 257).

This response in faith to the threat of war is based on love of neighbor, all of us being children of our unconditionally loving God. This love can grow into a charity with political implications through commitment to peace and peace education, as well as engaging in international coalitions for peace and integral human development, while striving for a breakthrough in international relations.

Love of neighbor: personal contact with North Koreans

North Koreans who have been able to make an official request to South Korea for asylum must first spend a certain amount of time in a facility operated by the South Korean National Intelligence Service, and then in an education and cultural adaptation center called Hanawon, operated by the Ministry of Unification.

Catholic reconciliation committees have cooperated with the Ministry of Unification in providing education programs, cultural events, home visits with ordinary South Korean families, and various welfare programs for residents of Hanawon. According to Sister Oh Hye-jung, who has spent 20 years visiting North Koreans in Hanawon, and maintains contact with them after their release into South Korean society, they experience warmth from the host families in the Catholic home visit program. After finishing their stay at Hanawon, they receive housing from local government bodies, but many have difficulty adapting to South Korean life. Many are women who had succeeded in crossing the border into China, and entered South Korea only after struggling financially. Sister Oh Hye-jung says that if they receive decent job training they can find places to work. On the other hand, if they cannot find opportunities they may very likely go back to China, where conditions are more familiar.

At a recent forum this author attended, there was a moving story about how Stephen Yoon and his family have lived as practicing Christians in North Korea for nearly 20 years, engaged in effective medical rehabilitation efforts of the severely handicapped.[10] Other Christians from different countries have been inspired to follow their example. There is a training program for them in South Korea to lessen the risk of burnout.

Fr. Gerard Hammond is a Maryknoll missionary in South Korea who has made 60 visits to North Korea during the last 40 years. He has maintained good relations by observing three regulations of the government, namely, working for peace, avoiding foreign interference in North-South Korean relations, and not engaging in direct evangelization. He says he was thereby able to operate several works of charity, such as the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis, and has established genuine relationships with ordinary people.

Despite the difficulties due to poverty, the restrictions on electricity, and other strict regulations, these Christians who have lived in North Korea testify that the demonization of North Korea practiced by the U.S. and other nations is not a fair assessment of North Korean society. They acknowledge that there are serious human rights abuses, but challenge others to learn the whole story.

Education and Research for Peace

The Committees for Reconciliation of the Korean People are effectively organized on a national level. Such committees are maintained by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Korea (CBCK), involving each of the 15 dioceses, as well as several congregations of consecrated life. The diocese-level committees, in addition to their own activities, collaborate with reconciliation action groups in the parishes. The CBCK committee publishes a periodical, Hwahaewa Nanum (Reconciliation and Sharing) recording the activities of these many committees of reconciliation. The most recent publication (December 2022) provides 60 pages of news, such as the Minor Franciscan Friars’ home for North Korean young men preparing for appropriate employment, the signature campaign for a peace treaty to end the Korean War, and the tremendous amount of support given by religious women.

A three-year CBCK project to publish a textbook on peace and reconciliation has resulted in a very useful text for peace education. It introduces the concept of a “just peace” to replace the “just war” theory, provides realistic assessments of the geopolitical situation, and inspires Christians to grow in a spirituality of reconciliation and peacebuilding. It is being used for parish education, youth education projects, and is also being complemented with audio-visual presentations.

International advocacy for a peace treaty

Several Catholic reconciliation organizations are participating in a worldwide signature campaign demanding a peace treaty to end the Korean War. In the face of increasing militarization in Northeast Asia this campaign is a prophetic voice and a call to peace inspired by faith, rather than a political strategy. The Reconciliation Committee of CBCK, the Uijeongbu Diocese, and congregations of consecrated life, both of men and women, are very active. Pax Christi Korea has made securing a peace treaty to be a major objective, according to Park Eun Mee (Helena), who was its representative until recently. They receive cooperation in this from Pax Christi International. CBCK is promoting “peace treaty education” for the youth of Korea, and set up a booth promoting such a peace treaty at the 2023 World Youth Day activities in Lisbon.

Long-term geopolitical engagement for peace

Two peace centers in particular have been founded in places of geopolitical significance and continue to sponsor peace research, reconciliation, peace education and conferences. One of them is close to the North Korean border and the demilitarized zone (DMZ). The other is on Jeju Island, south of the Korean peninsula.

The Uijeongbu Diocese, north of Seoul, was able to get government funding as well as Catholic and other sources of donations, to found the Church of Repentance and Atonement, which also houses the Catholic Institute of Northeast Asia Peace (CINAP), directed by Fr. Ju-Seok Kang. The ordinary of the diocese, Bishop Peter Lee Ki-heon, was born in North Korea and still has family members there. This center is only 20 kilometers from North Korea.

The Jeju Diocese has founded the St. Francis Peace Center in Gangjeong Village through the efforts of those opposing the construction of a naval base on the seacoast near that village. The director of this peace center, Jesuit Father Kim Seong-hwan Kolbe, describes three geopolitical aspects of its location. First, Jeju Island suffered a massacre of thousands of its citizens when the South Korean army crushed an uprising against the outcome of the 1948 presidential election that was excluding North Korea. Second, the Gangjeong naval base represents cooperation with the U.S. policy of containment of China rather than protecting Korea’s security. Third, the center is also near the remains of a Japanese airfield that was used as a reloading point for Japan’s Nanjing Massacre of 1937, during the second Sino-Japanese war.

The geopolitical significance of the Gangjeong village opposition to building a naval base there was highlighted by the 30 women international peacemakers who in 2015 made a historic crossing from North Korea through the DMZ into South Korea. Several of them then visited Gangjeong village to take part in the ongoing demonstrations opposing the construction of the naval base. In December of 2022 the St. Francis Peace Center sponsored a showing of the 2021 documentary film “Crossings” portraying these events.[11]

Fr. Kolbe emphasizes the geopolitical implications of opposition to the Gangjeong naval base in strong language. “The people opposed the base because they knew it would have the function of ‘containing China,’ or, in case of a geopolitical confrontation, even launching an attack. The South Korean government has several times used the excuse of ‘national security’ to promote government projects that are not really concerned with national security. I would like to call such action ‘national security idolatry’.”

Korean bishops seek coalition with US bishops

The Catholic Korea Peace Forum 2022[12] provided an opportunity for Korean bishops to try to influence U.S. policy in Northeast Asia. Four Korean bishops, representing the reconciliation activities of the Korean bishops’ conference, met with four U.S. bishops of the justice and peace committee of the U.S. bishops’ conference. The U.S. bishops provided talking points to take up with U.S. state department members, pre-conference. They included views on the opinion that sanctions should be reconsidered, asking whether they really achieve their goal.

Pope Francis’ influence on peace for the Korean peninsula

The visit of Pope Francis to South Korea in 2014 focused on Korean reconciliation and on papal encouragement of a Catholic Church still growing in numbers and maintaining prestige among the Korean people, although suffering the diminishing participation of youth. The pope also encouraged human rights, social justice and concern for the alienated, in a country showing increasing disparity between rich and poor.

During a Mass for Peace on the Korean Peninsula celebrated by Pope Francis, the pope referred to Koreans as “one family that uses the same language.” His words gained much media attention and aroused an ardent hope for Korean reconciliation among Catholics and other Koreans as well. There were several further meetings between Catholics of the South and of the North in the year 2015.

Pope Francis’ high international prestige raised the possibility that North Korea might possibly invite him to visit. This possibility gained some traction in 2018 and 2019 during the thaw in North-South relations and the summit meetings between Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un. The Vatican made it clear that if North Korea would invite Pope Francis he would certainly respond favorably. This year, in March, Kim Jin Pyo, the speaker of the South Korean National Assembly, made a visit to the Vatican in which his guest, Cardinal Lazzaro You, mentioned that Pope Francis is still hoping for a papal visit to North Korea.[13]

Realism and belief that all will be reconciled in Christ

There is still no peace treaty to end the Korean War. However, Christians have prayer, compassion, as found in the Heart of Christ, the love of each human person, dialogue among people of different faiths, openness to coalitions among all people of good will, and encouragement from those among world leaders, including Pope Francis, who do not give up hope.

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.32009/22072446.0923.3

[1]. “Camp Humphreys: A sprawling symbol of the SK-US alliance where war and life blur”, in Hankyoreh (english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_na- tional/1091859.html), May 15, 2023.

[2]. SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), Military Expenditure Database 2023 (www.sipri.org/research/armament-and-disarmament/arms-and-military-expenditure).

[3]. “(Chronologie) Les grandes dates des relations intercoréennes sous le gouvernement Park Geun-hye”, in Agence de Presse Yonhap (fr.yna.co.kr/view/ AFR20151212000900884?site=lang_fr), December 12, 2015.

[4]. “Ruling party refers opposition lawmaker to ethics committee over remarks about Cheonan’s captain”, in The Korea Herald (www.koreaherald.com/ view.php?ud=20230608000476&ACE_SEARCH=1), June 8, 2023.

[5]. Cf. Twenty-fifth Session of the Human Rights Council, Agenda item 4: “Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention. Report of the detailed findings of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”.

[6]. Cf. G. Bernal, “Kim Jong Un-ism: Leader seeks ‘new’ ideology for North Korea”, in Nikkei Asia (asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Asia-Insight/Kim-Jong-Un-ism-Leader-seeks-new-ideology-for-North-Korea), January 11, 2022.

[7]. Cf. “What is the Kaesong Industrial Complex?”, in BBC News (www.bbc.com/news/business-22011178), February 10, 2016.

[8]. Cf. “Chinese envoy to Seoul openly critical of Yoon administration at meeting with opposition leader”, in Hankyoreh (english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/1095310.html), June 9, 2023.

[9]. Cf. “Antagonism grows between S. Korea, China as both ramp up rhetoric on envoy’s remarks”, in Hankyoreh (english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/1095727.html), June 13, 2023.

[10]. Cf. Ignis Community (www.igniscommunity.org).

[11]. An MU film directed by Deann Borshay Liem.

[12]. Cf. Ju Seok Kang (ed), Catholic Korea Peace Forum 2022, Catholic Institute of Northeast Asia Peace.

[13]. K. Arin, “At Holy See, speaker pitches South Korea’s bid to host papal event”, in The Korean Herald, March 14, 2023.