Pope hopes S. Korea will become a 'more human5 society

Press, 4 May 1984, Page 6

Pope hopes S. Korea will become a 'more human 5 society

NZPA-Reuter Seoul Pope John Paul arrived at Seoul yesterday after a meeting with President Ronald Reagan in Alaska to begin a four-day visit to South Korea. The Pope, in what is his custom wherever he goes, kissed the ground after descending from his special Alitalia aircraft at Seoul’s Kimpo airport. He had flown along the route used by a Korean airliner shot down by Soviet fighters in September last year after it had wandered from the route into Soviet airspace. He said a prayer in memory of the 269 victims of the disaster as his aircraft passed near the region where the incident, occurred. In a welcoming airport speech, the President, Mr Chun Doo Hwan, referred to the airliner incident and the bombing at Rangoon in

October in which four South Korean Cabinet Ministers were killed. Mr Chun told the Pope, “We ask for your prayers and encouragement that we will be able to meet with the North in a spirit of love and reconciliation and achieve reunification.” Mr Chun also called for prayers, “for our brothers in the North who, under the reins of totalitarianism, are deprived of their freedom of religion and cannot even express their belief in private.” Hundreds of women wearing colourful Korean costumes waved small Korean and Vatican flags as the blue-and-white Papal plane landed. Also at the airport to meet the Pope was the Archbishop of Seoul, Cardinal Stephen Kim. The Pope said in an airport address, “Today, Korea is known and admired by all for its courage, its industry,

and its will to build up a model nation from the ashes.

“The tragic division of a once-peaceful people imposed from without, the deep wounds from the Korean conflict, and further tragedies of more recent years — all this cannot, however, dampen or break your will to overcome obstacles and to be reunited again as one happy family.

“The untold sacrifices made to achieve this end through rapid industrialisation and economic growth will, I sincerely hope, bring about first of all a more human society of true justice and peace.” This was an apparent reference to human rights issues in South Korea, where Church radicals have joined dissidents and students in strong criticism of Mr Chun’s Government for what they call a lack of democracy, a controlled

press, and political bans on some politicians. The Pope said that the “more human society” he envisaged would allow people, “to work for the good of others, where to govern is to serve, where no-one is used as a tool, noone left out and no-one down-trodden, where all can live in real brotherhood ... “I pray that your beloved fatherland, now tragically divided into two for over a generation, will be reunited as one family,” he said. “Yours is a proud and sturdy people which, in meeting great cultures and neighbouring Powers, has remained true to its personal identity, bearing splendid fruits in art, religion, and human living.

"Your ancestors embraced such overwhelming spiritual worlds as Confucianism and Buddhism, yet made them truly their own,

enhanced them, lived them, and even transmitted them to others.” Meanwhile, the White House said that in the brief meeting in Fairbanks Mr Reagan and the Pope had agreed that the United States and the Vatican should discuss possible joint action to alleviate worldwide hunger and disease and to promote peace. Mr Reagan, by mistake, began his welcoming remarks before the United States and Papal anthems were played. He stopped after a word or two, then waited for the anthems before beginning his speech and saluting the Pope’s “quest for human rights and world peace.” Apart from its diplomatic significance, the meeting between Mr Reagan and the Pope was seen as politically beneficial for the President, who seeks re-election on November 6.