Park Suhyun "Pope's Visit to North Korea Success is a Diplomatic Issue Between Bukhan and Vatican"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The Blue House remained cautious about whether President Moon Jae-in’s audience with the Pope and delivering a message during his attendance at the G20 summit would have a positive impact on the realization of the Pope’s visit to North Korea, stating that "the realization of the visit is a diplomatic matter between North Korea and the Vatican."

On the 28th, Park Soo-hyun, the Blue House Chief of Communications, said in an interview on YTN Radio’s 'Hwang Bo-seon’s Start of a New Morning,' "We are approaching this with cautious hope that it will help create conditions that advance the Korean Peninsula peace process even by a single step."

Park added, "Just because we have hopes, it doesn’t mean we should intervene or get deeply involved beyond a certain level," and said, "We expect that international attention will be drawn."

Regarding the recent expression of differing views on the declaration of the end of the war by the South Korea-US diplomatic and security teams, he acknowledged that "there may be some differences in perspective," but opposed interpreting this as a disagreement.

Park said, "Whether it is an inter-Korean issue or a North Korea-US issue, the path the Korean Peninsula peace process must take should be very cautious and gradual, and it is a path that must be taken step by step," adding, "I do not think it is right to have overly hasty expectations."

Regarding the decision to hold a state funeral for former President Roh Tae-woo, he said, "The decision was made after comprehensively considering various factors, including the request of the bereaved family," and added, "There are various opinions among our people as well, so we took all these aspects into account along with various laws and regulations before making the decision."