“Hate will never be a solution”: the Korean Church and its path to the reconciliation of two divided nations

Eight decades after the division of the Korean Peninsula, the Catholic Church in South Korea remains one of the few actors who, with perseverance and faith, keeps the hope of a reconciliation between the two Koreas alive.

“Hate and suspicion can never be a solution,” says the President of the Commission for Korean Reconciliation, Mons. Simone Kim.

The Korean bishop led a pilgrimage to the island of Kyodong on April 2, on the border with North Korea, in a gesture that made visible the commitment of the Church with the reconciliation of the two countries. The bishops toured the five -kilometer fence that divides the two countries from the Korean War, in the first three years of the fifties, and prayed because the two countries will leave their differences behind.

For 80 years, the soldiers on either side of the demarcation line in the Peace Village of Panmunjom, in the demilitarized area between the two Koreas, set up face to face, armed and under the pressure that any minimum incident could trigger a new war. In 2018, as part of the agreements between the two countries to generate mutual trust, the joint security area was free of firearms and military positions.

But this opening lasted very little. At the beginning of 2020, North Korea closed its borders by the Covid pandemic and returned to give orders to its soldiers to shoot at any movement on the border.

Mons. Kim that confirms that there is no exchange between the south and the north. “It is impossible to meet people, exchange letters or phone calls, and even send emails between the two parts of Korea,” he adds.

Indeed, since the failure of the diplomatic process that tried to restore communications between North Korea and the United States in 2019 and the closure of borders following the pandemic, the isolation has become total.

Five years without any exchange

“In the last five years, South Korea and North Korea have not had any official exchange, at the governmental or civil level,” he laments. Before that, “there were some meetings and some correspondence, but lately there has been no news.”

In any case, he assures that in this historical moment North Korea “is preparing to reopen the international community.” “It is rumored that embassies and international organizations are preparing to return to Pyongyang and that some areas are attracting foreign tourists,” he says.

During the pilgrimage this bishop “see the other side easily.” “I always experience the same feeling when walking next to the spike wire fence. The South and the north are really close,” explains the bishop.

This peace walk gave him a certain sense of closeness. “If someone on the other side had shouted, I could have heard it. I hope that the confidence between the south and the north is restored as soon as possible,” he remarks.

Tear and division between thousands of families

One of the most emotional moments of the day was the encounter with an old man who fled from the North during the Korean War and now lives in Seoul. Today he is 90 years old, but his age does not prevent him from returning every week to Kyodong Island.

“He arrived on the island fleeing from the Korean War and lived there for many years. He did not want to get away from his homeland,” said Mons. Kim. “Visit Kyodongdo almost once a week, although the round trip journey takes between 4 and 5 hours,” he says.

Its history exemplifies the tear that the division has left with thousands of families that have not been able to see years. “For 80 years, the north and south have lived with distrust and mutual hatred. Hate and distrust still have a great impact on our society,” laments the bishop.

Persecuted Catholic Church

During the Korean War, communist troops persecuted the missionaries, foreign religious and Korean Christians, chasing them to the south. In North Korea all monasteries and churches were destroyed. The monks and priests who could not flee, were sentenced to death.

Today, the Church in North Korea has neither clergy nor cult. However, according to official data, North Korean Catholics belonging to the Association of Corean Catholics, controlled by the communist regime, are about 4,000. This association, which does not recognize the role of the Pope in the appointment of bishops, has a single church in the country, in Changchung, considered as a showcase of the regime.

The Korean bishop wishes one day to be able to communicate with “the Catholic community in North Korea and also receive news from them.”

In this sense, he assures that the Catholic Church of South Korea is one of the few voices that try to build bridges despite hostility. “I know it is difficult to easily change this distrust of North Korea, because it is a feeling that has persists for 80 years. But the Church teaches us that we cannot build new relations with hate and distrust,” says Mons Kim.

Small initiatives for reconciliation

In recent years, the Catholic Church has organized international forums and meetings. For example, in 2022, the National Reconciliation Commission of the Korean Episcopal Conference, together with US institutions, organized a conference in Washington DC entitled “The role of religion for peace in the Korean Peninsula.” “In this event, bishops from Korea and the United States, government and legislative officials of both countries and academics of thought centers participated. The apostolic nuncio of the Vatican in the United States also attended, who expressed his solidarity for peace in the Korean Peninsula,” explains the bishop.

To this are added the peace forums made in 2023 with diocese of Japan and the US, and the income, in 2024, of several Korean, Japanese and American dioceses in the Network Partnership for a World Witout Nuclear Weapons (PWNW). For Mons. Kim, these initiatives are also a call to peace: “It is the duty of Christians from all over the world who know and practice the peace of Christ, constantly criticize and notice political leaders who promote military security based on nuclear weapons, so that they awaken of their illusion.”

Mons. Kim acknowledges that reunification does not awaken enthusiasm among South Korean young people, who live other emergencies. “It is a global phenomenon, but also in Korea a decrease in quality jobs is being observed. Although it is studied for many years, it is not easy to find a good job. Housing prices have increased considerably, which makes it difficult to buy a house,” he explains.

The generations of young people from South Korea fear that “if the exchanges between the north and the south increase, South Korea must help financially to the North. That is why some young people oppose that that happens. I understand perfectly.”

In any case, the bishop insists that if the internal conflicts caused by division are not resolved, “social stability, political integration and economic development will always be limited.”

“The teaching of Christ is to live as brothers. When we work together with courage to create a path to peace, the life of our descendants can improve,” he concludes.