Interaction among Korean religions helps status in North Korea

Published: 2006-06-28

SEOUL, South Korea (CNS) -- Interaction between South Korean religions and their counterparts in North Korea has raised the status of religions in the communist North, said the president of a South Korean priests' organization. Father Albert Namgoong Kyoung, president of the Uijeongbu Priests' Association for National Reconciliation, said religious groups in North Korea have increased their social and political status because of their "economic power" from the support of South Korean religious groups. He described Buddhist, Catholic and Protestant "foreign currency earnings" as outstanding in comparison with other organizations, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. Father Namgoong, who is from the Uijeongbu Diocese, which borders North Korea, spoke at a June 22 seminar on the theme "North Korea's Religious Terrain." The Korean bishops' Committee for the Reconciliation of Korean People organized the seminar, part of an annual series the committee has conducted since 2000.

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