North Korea

The Oct. 5-6 peace conference at The Catholic University of America is the sixth in an annual series and the first on U.S. soil since 2017.

Pope Francis, at a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, said he is willing to visit North Korea.

Clergy and laypeople from South Korea, the United States, Japan and other parts of the world also called for fewer military exercises between South Korea and the U.S. at the first-ever conference on the role of Catholics in building peace on the Korean Peninsula and more broadly in northeast Asia.

More than 750 Catholics called on President Donald Trump and Congress to seek diplomatic solutions to defuse rising tensions between the United States and North Korea and to assure that the U.S. remains a party to the Iran nuclear deal.

Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, New Mexico, said in a letter Oct. 3 to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson the threat of violence from the North Korean regime cannot be ignored, and the U.S. must work with others in the international community for a diplomatic solution based on dialogue.

The just-war criteria that would justify armed conflict with North Korea over its nuclear testing and threats to launch missiles have not been met, said ethicists […]

Diplomacy and political engagement are necessary to resolve the differences between the United States and North Korea and avoid a military conflict, the chairman of a U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops committee said in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Pope Francis and the Vatican are concerned about continuing tensions on the Korean peninsula “on account of the nuclear tests carried out by North Korea,” the Vatican spokesman confirmed.