S. Korea sending priests for Easter Mass in Pyongyang

S. Korea sending priests for Easter Mass in Pyongyang

N. Koreans would welcome visit Pope Francis, South Korean archbishop tells press after visit

JH Ahn 

December 8th, 2015

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The South Korean Catholic bishops who traveled to Pyongyang last week have announced that the South Korean Catholic Church will send priests to Changchung Cathedral in Pyongyang to hold Easter Mass with North Korean Catholics.

Their Pyongyang counterpart also told the South Korean archbishop that “North Korean Catholics are well aware of Pope Francis and the path he has walked,” and casually mentioned that a papal visit to Pyongyang would be “wonderful,” said the public relations office from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea (CBCK).

“Unless the future inter-Korean relationship walks in unexpected paths, we should be able to send South Korean priests to Changchung Cathedral in Pyongyang to hold mass starting next Easter,” said Archbishop Kim Hee-jong of Gwangju, one those who visited Pyongyang.

The visiting committee, whose name roughly translates as the “Special Bishops’ Committee for Korean Reconciliation” consists of five bishops from Gwangju, Chuncheon, Daegu, Uijeongbu and Waegwan Abbey, in addition to 17 other priests and staff.

Kim has told the press that he and Yeom Soo-jung, the Archbishop of Seoul and Cardinal of Korea, had already agreed to send priests to North Korea even before the trip.

On his fourth day in Pyongyang, Kim led mass with around 70 North Korean Catholics at Changchung Cathedral and blessed the Catholic in attendance with the sacrament and communion, reads PBC’sreport.

Lee Young-sik, public relations officer at CBCK, told NK News that the framework for further interactions with North Korean Catholics is set, but the details are yet to be filled in.

“Archbishop Kim told his North Korean counterpart that despite 300 years of religious persecution in Japan, Catholics still lived their life of faith under the shadow,” said Lee.

“The archbishop expressed his belief that despite ongoing religious persecution, some or a few Catholics would be still living the life of faith secretly in North Korea.”

Lee added that talks on the pope’s visit to North Korea were only part of “casual asking and answering” between the South Korean archbishop and his Pyongyang counterpart part and should not be directly interpreted as firm statement.

Featured image: Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea (CBCK)

Kim Jong Un’s aunt, her husband sue defectors for defamation

Kim Jong Un’s aunt, her husband sue defectors for defamation

Rumors prompting suit dealt with Kim Jong Nam ouster, use of ruling family funds for plastic surgery

JH Ahn 

December 2nd, 2015

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South Korean lawyer Kang Yong-suk, on behalf of Ko Yong Suk and her husband Lee Kang, said that they have filed suit against three North Korean defectors for spreading false information about Ko and her family.

Ko Yong Suk is the younger sister of Ko Yong Hui, the mother to Kim Jong Un and third wife of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

In 1998, Ko and her husband chose to relocate from Switzerland to the U.S., according to a 2013JoongAng Ilbo report.

The report noted that an anonymous South Korean intelligence source, who claimed that he had worked during former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung’s administration, told the paper that both Ko and her husband had gone through cosmetic surgery to change their identities and were living under the Central Intelligence Agency’s protection.

“The reason behind Ko’s defection to U.S. is still mainly unknown,” said Cheong Sung-chang, researcher at the Sejong Institute in Seoul.

“To my knowledge, Lee Kang was working as a North Korean diplomat and got into some trouble that was seen as problematic in the North Korean leader’s eyes.”

Cheong has also noted that Lee used to be called Park Kun prior to his defection to the U.S.

Lee visited the attorney on Monday to file suit against the three South Korean individuals, including a former officer from North Korea’s State Security Department, a former North Korean diplomat and the son-in-law of the former North Korean prime minister.

Their attorney stated that these three appeared on South Korean television programs from 2013 to 2014 and made false claims, including about Ko’s involvement in the ouster of Kim Jong Nam, older brother to Kim Jong Un, and the rumor that Ko paid for plastic surgery with Kim Jong Il’s secret funds.

“There is no way that these defendants would have known about the recent situation in North Korea as they defected back in the 1990s,” their attorney told Yonhap.

“Lee Kang asked why these defendants would claim such false information as if it were true.”

Yonhap said Lee showed his American passport to prove his identity to the attorney and has left Korea already.

Their attorney declined to provide NK News with additional details on the ongoing case.

Featured Image: Ko Yong Hui and a younger Kim Jong Un, from the North Korean movie 위대한 선군 조선의 어머님

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JH Ahn

Ahn is a NK News contributor based in Seoul. He previously worked as an Interpreter for U.S. Forces Korea.

Upon hearing Malcolm Turnbull's call for innovation in Australia, I've decided to be far more entrepreneurial and innovative in forcing higher penalty rates for myself and my excellent colleagues in all the human service industries. I'm sure that's what he meant. I'm sure he was talking to all of us.

'Australians all let us rejoice for we are blonde and free, all nature's gifts bestowed on us, a nuclear dump girt by sea...''

A Nuclear Dump Girt by Sea

I note our Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull saying that Australians are living in the most exciting time, ever, and that all we need to do is to be more innovative, and also get rid of Penalty Rates for Nurses, Shop Assistants, and all those folk who don't matter a fuck..//...and, damn it, I agree with him. As an Australian born free thinking man I can do without Penalty Rates, and I can do without my own toilet for that matter, too. I'm happy to defecate and piss anywhere, as has been the lucky fortune and life story of our Prime Minister...leading by example...and what an example this shallow, primitive, rich cunt is.
Yes, of course, my country, and Malcolm's country would be a good place to store the world's nuclear waste...after all, it's just a shit-country anyway..and it would make a buck for a few years...and that's all that matters.
Makes me wonder why other advanced nations aren't doing the same right now...makes me wonder why they need us for them to be safe, unpolluted and respected in the long haul of the years. A Nuclear Dump? can we fit that into the National Anthem...a Nuclear Dump Girt By Sea perhaps.

This week in North Korea

The week ahead in North Korea

President’s Commission on Unification Preparation at UCSD​

• Stephan Haggard will be hosting three members of President Park Geun Hye’s Presidential Commission on Unification at a public panel discussion at 4:30 on Monday (December 7) at the Robinson Auditorium at the Graduate School of Global Policy and Strategy.
• Dr. Chong-wook Chung, Dr. Chung-in Moon, Dr. Byung-yeon Kim, and Prof. Susan Shirk will be speaking.
• For more information, click here.

North Korean Human Rights Seminar at King's College​

• As a part of the 3rd North Korea Freedom Week in Europe, a seminar will be held in order to address the ​current situation of North Korean ​human rights. As ​a ​part of the event, four North Korean defector representatives will give public lectures at ​the Strand Campus of ​King's College London on the topic of North Korean human rights. 
• The event will be taking place from 18:00 to 20:00 on Monday 7th December.
• For more information click here.

UN council to meet on North Korea rights violations

• The UN Security Council will hold a meeting on December 10 to discuss human rights violations in North Korea, only the second time that such a session will been held.
• This year's request for a meeting was made by Britain, Chile, France, Jordan, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and the United States, which holds the council presidency this month.

Planning for Korean Unification: What Is Seoul Doing?​

• South Korean President Park Geun-hye has made Korean unification a central tenet of her foreign policy strategy. Chung Chong-wook, Moon Chung-in and Kim Byung-yeon will be holding a discussion on reunification policy chaired by Bruce Klingner.
• The event will be taking place form 12 to 1:30 pm on December 10th at the Heritage Foundation.
• For more information and to RSVP, click here.

Realizing Freedom of Information in North Korea ​

• Choi Jeong Hoon. Oh Joong Seok, Ishimaru Jiro, Kim Seung Chul and Nat Kretchun will be discussing the problems of getting information into and out of North Korea at the Kim Koo Museum and Library in Seoul.
• The event will be taking place from 2 to 5pm on 10th December.
• For more information contact 02-889-7470 or Kakao id yaheung0503.

North Korean Human Rights Film Screening at Korean Cultural Centre​

• ​As a part of the 3rd North Korea Freedom Week in Europe, a film screening will be held to feature the ​dire situation ​of​North Korean human rights. The film screening session will screen a documentary 'On the Border' ​at the Korean Cultural Centre. 
• The event will be taking place from 17:00 to 19:00 on Friday 11th December at the Korean Cultural Center in London.
• For more information click here.

Inter-Korean Relations in Historical Context​

• Jongdae Shin, Professor of political science at the University of North Korean Studies, Seukryule Hong, Professor of history at Sungshin Women’s University, and James Person, historian and Coordinator of the Wilson Center’s Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy will be discussing current and forthcoming inter-Korean negotiations.
• The event will be taking place from 3:30 to 5:00 pm on Friday 11th December at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

China promises road for every village

English.news.cn   2015-12-04 22:45:40

LANZHOU, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- China will try to connect every village with an asphalt or concrete road by 2019, as part of a campaign to reduce rural poverty, Minister of Transport Yang Chuantang said on Friday.

China still has 28,000 poverty-stricken villages that lack access to asphalt or concrete roads. They are mostly located in mountainous areas where road construction remains difficult, Yang said at a conference in northwest China's Gansu Province on poverty reduction.

He said transportation would be a "vanguard commander" and lay foundations for the poverty reduction campaign.

China has 70 million rural residents officially classified as poor. It has pledged to lift them out of of poverty by 2020.

China has invested heavily to improve transportation in underdeveloped areas, making access easier to 42,000 villages by opening bus services, renovating ports and building bridges over the past five years, according to Yang.