◆ Will the Pope go to Pyongyang?
When South Korean President Moon Jae-in visited the Vatican on October 18 to meet with Pope Francis, he brought with him a request from Pyongyang. President Moon revealed that, at the inter-Korean summit in September, Kim Jong-un had asked for him to request a mass by the Pope in Pyongyang. The goal of the visit would be to help bring the North into the international community and to expand international awareness of inter-Korean peace efforts through the Pope's involvement.
In North Korea, freedom of religion is specified in the country’s constitution but, in reality, all faith-based activities are considered political crimes. Christian churches and Buddhist temples do exist, but they are only maintained by the Workers Party in order to create a facade of religious life in North Korea. The reality is that the country is the most religiously oppressive country in the world. This is, of course, known to the Vatican but, were Pope Francis to go to North Korea, it would represent an opportunity for the world to demand for Kim Jong-un to stop his regime’s policy of repression. It is understand that, given this opportunity, the Pope will seek a mass in Pyongyang.
Still, it must be kept in mind that Kim Jong-un’s motivation for inviting the Pope is to create an image of a normal nation in the eyes of the international community. In addition, the regime would be sure to tightly control any information regarding a mass in Pyongyang in order to block any potential impact domestically.
As when President Moon was welcomed in Pyongyang with a massive parade, if a mass were to go ahead, hundreds of thousands of people would be mobilized for the Pope’s welcome and emotional meetings would be produced with ‘devout believers’ hand-picked by the authorities. The mass would be broadcast on TV but, more likely than not, would be highly edited.
◆ The regime does not even allow fortune-telling- will it guarantee freedom of religion?
The North Korean Supreme Court under Kim Jong-un’s rule is neither bound by the constitution nor by the code of the Workers Party. Instead, it is governed by the “Ten Principles of Establishing the Party's Monolithic Ideology”. Here, it is stated that the entire nation and society must obey, with absolute loyalty, the perpetual reign of the Kim clan. It would be a violation of this code and a political crime to worship anyone other than Kim Jong-un, including God or Buddha.
The Kim Jong-un regime, which does not even allow fortune-telling, is not likely to ever protect the freedom of religion. If Pope Francis is to visit, he has a lot of convincing to do.
