PYONGYANG, North Korea (Zenit) — Twenty-four leaders of the seven most representative religions of South Korea have visited their northern neighbour with the hope of re-establishing dialogue between the two Koreas.

The group, formed by members of the Korean Conference of Religions for Peace (KCRP), were sent from Seoul to Pyongyang, via China, on a four-day visit.

This visit “could have an important function in improving relations between the two countries,” said Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-jong of Kwangju, the president of the KCRP.
The religious leaders intended “to take to North Korea a message of peace of the religions and thus contribute to open a path to reconciliation and cooperation between the two Koreas,” they pointed out in a joint statement.

According to Eglises d’Asie, the news agency of the Foreign Missions of Paris, the programme included a series of visits on September 22 to places that are representative of different religions.

Scheduled for the following day was a time of prayer for peace on Mount Baekdu, regarded as the cradle of Korean civilisation. The group returned to Seoul on September 23.