South Korea

| KOREA – RUSSIA

This is the estimate by the government-funded Korea Institute for Defense Analysis for North Korea’s shipment of weapons, men and technology to Russia. The supplies include 21,000 containers of weapons sent by sea. Between late 2024 and the start of 2025, North Korea sent almost 127,000 phishing emails to South Korean officials, journalists and researchers.


The 30th anniversary of the Committee set up by Card Stephen Kim, who celebrates a weekly Mass for peace and the reunification of the Korean peninsula, was celebrated in Myeongdong Cathedral. Archbishop Chung said: ‘It is disheartening to see that today hatred prevails over suspicion, over exclusion and hatred. Let us continue to walk together on the path of conversion of hearts’.

| 12/03/2025
| NORTH KOREA - SOUTH KOREA

As South Korea awaits the Constitutional Court's decision on impeaching the president, the leaders of the country's main religious groups call for unity and respect for the court’s decision. Tensions have risen after Yoon's recent release from prison, putting security forces on alert. Meanwhile, support for the ruling party is also up.

| 10/03/2025
| SOUTH KOREA

This trend reflects the country’s overall economic situation with unemployment on the rise. Among those with a doctorate, young people under 30 report the worst figure (47.7 per cent), while the number of those who voluntarily leave the job market is also increasing.

 

| 03/03/2025
| SOUTH KOREA

A Mass in Seoul Cathedral marked the anniversary of the foundation of the Society established by the Korean Catholic Church in 1975 for the missio ad gentes. Today it counts 87 missionaries in 9 different countries. Pope Francis' wish: “Your zeal in proclaiming the Gospel overcomes every barrier”.

| 27/02/2025
| SOUTH KOREA

The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) and the Saudi Film Commission (SFC) are set to work together to develop cooperation in the film industry. The two sides inked an agreement, based on a 2019 memorandum of understanding, to encourage cultural exchange, film co-production and technological innovation, with training and networking initiatives between industry professionals.

| 21/02/2025
| SOUTH KOREA – SAUDI ARABIA

The Seoul authorities denounce the ‘inhuman’ destruction of a place with a strong symbolic value. A gesture that continues the policy of shelving any prospect of reunification between North and South. Over the years, the facility on Mount Kumgang had hosted reunions between relatives separated by the conflict for decades: the last meeting was in 2018.

| 13/02/2025
| KOREA
Editor's choices
 
by Andrew Law
The incident took place on 23 March in the Diocese of Lüliang, but the authorities tried to hush it up. The intervention of special forces attracted other Catholics from the nearby village of Xinli, home to an old Catholic community. An officer ...
| 16/04/2025
| CHINA
 
by Fady Noun
An appeal on the anniversary of a conflict that has a starting date, but still no end date. The Maronite Church is ready to form a committee of elders called upon to overcome ‘conflicts and amnesia’. A warning also present in the ...
| 16/04/2025
| LEBANON
 
by Gianni Criveller
The PIME missionary died just before his 100th birthday. He was a pioneer in establishing contact with Catholics in China after the Cultural Revolution and founder of the Holy Spirit Study Centre in Hong Kong, for decades the most documented ...
| 15/04/2025
| ITALY - CHINA
 
by card. Luis Antonio Tagle*
Yesterday the pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelisation addressed the conference in Milan that marked the 175th anniversary of PIME’s foundation. The door of a house, sitting together at the table, songs of lament and joy, cultural and human ...
| 13/04/2025
| ECCLESIA IN ASIA
 
The implications of Trump’s trade war are being vetted in Beijing. For sociologist Sun Liping, it is time “to overcome the obsession with a production-oriented model of society” and instead increase “domestic consumption&rdquo...
| 10/04/2025
| RED LANTERNS
 
The metropolis will host the universal exposition from 13th April to 13th October, with the theme ‘Designing tomorrow's society for our lives’. Osaka had already hosted the event in 1970, the first in Asia, and today it retains the ...
| 08/04/2025
| JAPAN
 
The NGO, supported by the PIME Foundation, is bringing aid to the areas most affected by the earthquake of 28 March, aggravated by four years of civil war. In Mandalay and on Inle Lake thousands of houses have been destroyed, as the aid workers report. The ...
| 04/04/2025
| MYANMAR
 
by Steve Suwannarat
The highest US tariff announced last night is 49 per cent, which will affect imports from Cambodia. The Southeast Asian country fears serious consequences for growth and jobs. According to several observers, the real goal of the Trump administration ...
| 03/04/2025
| CAMBODIA - UNITED STATES
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”