On March 1, 1995, the Archdiocese of Seoul established the Korea Reconciliation Committee to fulfill the role and responsibility of the Catholic Church for national reconciliation and unity on the divided Korean Peninsula, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of liberation.

The Korea Reconciliation Committee has continued to carry out various pastoral activities for peace and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula based on the founding principles of ‘prayer,’ ‘education,’ and ‘sharing.’

Today, the situation on the Korean Peninsula is becoming increasingly distant from peace, reconciliation, and unity. Even if the relationship between the South and the North is in a dark state, we Catholics cannot remain in despair.

We must renew our hope that we can overcome division because hope will certainly bring true peace to our country.

On March 7, 1995, the late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan (then Archbishop of Seoul and Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Pyongyang), who celebrated the ‘First Mass for Reconciliation and Unity of the People’ with the aim of reconciliation and peace on the Korean Peninsula, said in his homily, “We must all forgive, reconcile, and unite with one another.”

We ask for your continued prayers and interest in the pastoral activities of the Korea Reconciliation Committee so that all people living on the Korean Peninsula can “turn hatred into love, discord into reconciliation, and division into unity.”