Theresa Kim Hwa-young

Over the week-end more than 100,000 people demonstrated in Seoul. Some 20 Protestant clergymen go on a hunger strike. Agriculture Ministry delays resumption of imports. A rally is set for 10 June for a million people.

Over the past week, thousands of people have demonstrated all over the country against the agreement between Seoul and Washington on beef imports. Fears over the lack of safety controls, and for domestic production.

Criticism of the government, which has signed an import agreement without asking for safety controls on meat, at risk from mad cow disease. Fears over its final destination: possibly the cafeterias of state schools.

The diocese of Incheon wants the Grand Canal project scrapped. The plan, which is backed by newly elected President Lee, would cut the country in two. For many academics the new waterway would only destroy the economy.

The announcement comes from the Korea Muslim Federation. The elementary school, where prayer will not be obligatory, is financed in part by Saudi Arabia. Within three years, a secondary school and cultural centre are planned to open.

Last meeting of the Committee for the Lay Apostolate of Korea stresses the importance of educating the faithful to lead a “truly Christian life” so as to effectively contribute to evangelisation. It also calls for the beatification and canonisation of 124 Korean martyrs.

Seoul’s Unification Minister urges discussion over the northern border with North Korea, which has never recognised the frontier. But the military insists it is untouchable. Fresh aid from the South arrives in the North, devastated by the floods.

A delegation of Catholics, Protesantants, Buddhists (Won and traditionalists), Confucianists, followers of Chondogyo and of Korean ancestral religions visited the country’s most important places of worship and planted a commemorative tree in each.

The transfer of funds frozen in Macao concluded, North Korea invites a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency. USA and South Korea pledge to create a forum for peace, while a group accuses: over a million dead in the North Korean labour camps.

Following the transfer of 25 million North Korean dollars blocked in a Macao bank, Washington and Seoul push for the shut down of North Korea’s nuclear plants

The removal of a respirator which kept a comatose woman suffering from liver cirrhosis alive has sparked public debate over “mercy killing” and its judicial consequences. The health minister asks for “majority consensus”.

The bishops’ conference of Korea release statistics about the state of the Church in South Korea. They show that the total number of Catholics is up and now represents almost 10 per cent of the total population but that vocations and Sunday mass attendance are down.