Seoul (AsiaNews) – The Pope’s Letter to the Church in China “is the a catalyst which convinced the North Korean regime to open itself to the world”; in fact Pyongyang, “has learned from the Chinese experience and understands that it can have international economic deals, as well as religious freedom, without loosing its own identity”. Fr. Gerald Hammond, a Maryknoll w westerners to have regular access to the northern reaches of the Asian peninsula is convinced of this.
According to Fr. Hammond, part of this is seen in the Vietnamese Communist Party secretary’s visit to Pyongyang, the first in 50 years, which began this morning: “North Korea – he tells AsiaNews – has long been Hanoi’s ideological partner, but this friendship has never translated into fact. Now this visit by Secretary Nong Duc Manh shows us that something is changing”.
The missionary underlines how “this trip will not just be about trade issues: both regimes have felt the influence of that magnificent letter by Benedict XVI to Beijing and they will also reflect on international issues as well as religious freedom. The Churches situation in the three countries is of course very different, but the relationship between Vietnam and the Vatican is certainly being studied by the Korean communists”.
This analysis also explains the “recent incredible moves in foreign policies by North Korea: not only its concession to the United States but also its renewed rapport with other Asian nations, first among them South Korea. Pyongyang knows that it owes its very survival, in this historic phase, to aid from the international community. Moved by the Popes’ words it seems to have understood that it can obtain this support through diplomacy and not by threats”.