[Top Stories]25/07/23 Vatican-Korea officials recommit for peace in Korean Peninsula

[성기화 요셉]

The visit on July 23 came ahead of the 72nd anniversary of the end of Korean War

South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik (left) and Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik shake hands while posing for a photo at Dokgae Bridge in Imjingak Peace Park in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, on July 23. (Photo: Catholic Times of Korea)

By UCA News reporter

Published: July 24, 2025 11:48 AM GMT

Updated: July 24, 2025 12:28 PM GMT

A Vatican official and South Korea’s National Assembly Speaker paid a visit to a park near the border with North Korea to pray and express hope for the end of hostilities on Korean Peninsula.

Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik, the prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Clergy, and National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik visited Imjingak Pyeonghwa Nuri Park in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a heavily fortified, four-kilometer-wide buffer zone straddling South and North Korea, on July 23.

They visited the park’s “Song of Longing for Home” monument, which has the lyrics of the popular Korean song “Lost 30 Years,” by Sul Woon Do, and the popular “Statue of Peaceful Girl on the Road to Unification.”

“South and North Korea are the same nation and the same people, yet they live as the only divided country in the world,” You said during the visit.

The visit was arranged ahead of the 72nd anniversary of the signing of an armistice on July 27, 1953, that ended the Korean War (1950-53).

Considered one of the deadliest conflicts of the 20th century, the war left an estimated four million people killed and up to 10 million displaced. South and North Korea did not officially sign a peace treaty, which means both countries are technically still at war.  

Cardinal You, former bishop of Daejeon, visited North Korea four times. He said he has requested Pope Leo XIV to visit the North.

“Pope Leo XIV is American, so I expect him to contribute to improving North American relations,” You said. “As a Korean clergyman who is close to the Pope, I will also do my part.”

Speaker Woo pointed out that both nations have spent more than 70 years after the armistice in “mutual distrust and fear.”

“If the Pope visits North Korea while visiting South Korea for the 2027 World Youth Day (WYD), it will be a message of hope for the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula,” Woo said.

Japan’s colonial rule in Korea (1905-1945) ended with the Japanese surrender to Allied Forces during World War II. However, Korea split into two largely due to disagreements between the US and Soviet governments.

Failure to reintegrate Korea and conflict between Korean nationalists and communists led to the deadly war in 1950 when North Korean communist forces invaded the South. The communists retreated after UN forces, backed by the US military, intervened, leading to the armistice.

“Statue of Peaceful Girl on the Road to Unification” is a park was erected in April 2019 to commemorate the first anniversary of the Panmunjom Declaration.

The Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Reunification of the Korean Peninsula was signed by the North and South Korean governments in 2018.

The agreement was suspended in 2023 by North Korea over alleged military provocations and plans to deploy military forces along the military demarcation line. South Korea suspended the declaration on June 4, 2024.

Woo pointed out that there are movements to remove the statue of the Peaceful Girl, "which symbolizes human rights sacrificed by war and violence.”

“We ask for the Catholic Church's cooperation in preserving the statue,” the South Korea's National Assembly Speaker said, to which You agreed.

They visited the “Unification Wish Mailbox,” which has been set up to help separated families and people located in South Korea to express their desire for reunification through postcards.

They then visited a steam locomotive that suffered damage during the Korean War, and also walked across the Dokgae Bridge, which was constructed using remains of the Imjin River Bridge destroyed by bombings during the war.

This report is brought to you in partnership with the Catholic Times of Korea.