Pope Francis expressed willingness to visit North Korea if formally invited during an audience in the Vatican on Thursday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the Yonhap agency quoted Moon's spokesman as saying. It said that Moon passed on a "verbal invitation" from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
"The pope said that 'I would give an unconditional response if an official invitation arrived and I can go'," Moon's spokesperson Yoon Young-chan said, according to Yonhap. Moon also met Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Monsignor Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States.
"During the cordial discussions, the parties evoked the good bilateral relations and the positive contribution offered by the Church in the social, education and healthcare sectors, as well as the promotion of dialogue and reconciliation between Koreans," the Vatican said in a statement. "Strong appreciation was expressed for the common commitment to fostering all useful initiatives to overcome the tensions that still exist in the Korean Peninsula, in order to usher in a new season of peace and development".
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