The Diocese of Pyongyang, in the capital of North Korea, will be consecrated to Our Lady of Fatima, the AIS Foundation announced this Monday | ACN Portugal.
According to a note from the AIS Foundation | ACN Portugal, the announcement was made by Cardinal Andrew Yeom, archbishop of Seoul, in a ceremony that recalled the beginning of the Korean war, 70 years ago, on 25 June.
The announcement of the consecration of the Pyongyang diocese was the most significant moment of the ceremony at Myeongdong Cathedral, in Seoul, where this year the date was set and prayed for the reconciliation of the Korean people, reads in the same note.
Andrew Yeom Soo-jung stressed the importance of peace and harmony on the Korean peninsula, recalling the nearly 3 million dead from the war that broke out on June 25, 1950, in addition to the tragedy that befell refugees, the family drama and the persecution of Christians by the North Korean regime, the statement said.
The AIS Foundation | ACN Portugal informs that this anniversary occurs “at a time of particular tension, with those in charge of the North Korean regime cutting off all communication channels with the South and blowing up, on 16 June, the building that served as the office of link between the delegations of the two countries in Kaesong ”.
“In fact, the two countries are still technically at war and the threat from the Pyongyang regime to develop new weapons of mass destruction is constant. The increase in tension in recent weeks has heightened the risks of a direct military confrontation and signifies a profound setback on the path of reconciliation initiated in recent years between the two countries, ”said the statement.
According to the AIS Foundation | ACN Portugal, the Catholic Church has been “particularly committed to the peace process on the Korean peninsula”.
A sign of this is the celebration of a daily mass for peace in South Korea from December to the next 28th of November.
The foundation also recalls the issue of religious freedom in North Korea.
The most recent AIS Foundation report on the persecution of Christians, released in Lisbon in October 2019, underlines that “North Korea is widely considered to be the most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian”, referring that the religious practice is “severely punished” in this country, reveals the press release.
Drawing on the testimony of people who fled North Korea, the AIS Foundation says that Christians discovered by the regime “face torture” and that many “are sent to forced labor camps” intended primarily for political prisoners.
“In these camps there may be between 50,000 to 70,000 Christians”, that is, “about half of the entire prison population”.
“Extrajudicial deaths, forced labor, torture, persecution, hunger, rape, forced abortion and sexual violence” are some of the situations that Christians are subjected to when caught in the tight surveillance network of the North Korean regime. communicated.
–
