Justice and Peace Priests' Group Resumes National Prayer Meeting, Calling Japan's Contaminated Water a "Unfilial Crime"

18th Monday National Prayer Meeting After Two Months
"Han Government Justifies Japan's Radioactive Water Discharge"

The Catholic Priests' Association for Justice (hereinafter referred to as the Catholic Priests' Association) will resume the Monday National Prayer Meetings. After two months, the Monday National Prayer Meeting will begin in Busan. This prayer meeting will be the 18th, following the 17th Mass held on August 14.

The Catholic Priests' Association Emergency Response Committee announced on the 6th, "On Monday the 9th, we will hold a national prayer meeting in front of the statue of General Jeong Bal in Choryang-dong, Dong-gu, Busan."

On the afternoon of April 10, in front of Seoul City Hall, members of the Emergency Committee of the Catholic Priests' Association for Justice held a Monday national prayer meeting condemning the government.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

In this second half of the year’s national prayer meetings, the Catholic Priests' Association will express concerns about the "polluted sea and the shaking democracy." This is in response to Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) starting the second ocean discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident at 10:18 AM on the 5th.

The Catholic Priests' Association stated, "A completely different world is unfolding before humanity. The sea is expected to remain a permanently polluted area beyond recovery," and sharply criticized, "South Korea has come to defend Japan’s heinous crime of poisoning the common well of humanity."

They continued, "It is utterly absurd to think about how a system that justifies and supports Japan’s nuclear contaminated water ocean dumping has emerged on this land."

Busan, where the Catholic Priests' Association is holding the second half national prayer meetings, is a city close to Japan. The area around the prayer meeting venue, near the Japanese Consulate, is also an anti-Japanese street featuring statues such as the Forced Laborers Statue and the Statue of Peace.

Previously, the Catholic Priests' Association held national Masses every Monday across the country. During that time, the priests condemned the 'Yoon Suk-yeol government’s' submissive policy toward Japan and called for the "resignation of the prosecutorial dictatorship Yoon Suk-yeol and the restoration of sovereignty."

Catholic Priests for Justice Seoul National Mass in April [Photo by Yonhap News]

At the national prayer meeting held in Andong, Gyeongbuk in July, they especially focused criticism on the prosecution. The priests pointed out, "The prosecution magnifies even the tiniest speck of dust on others into a mountain, yet hides and conceals the details of its own special activity funds."

They added, "If you wanted to become a stricter prosecutor who dispels the darkness of injustice, cares for the powerless and marginalized, and follows only the truth, then put your hand on your heart and think at least once about who the master you serve truly is," offering advice.

At the last national prayer meeting of the first half held at Sungnyemun in Seoul in August, they also remembered the World Day of Remembrance for the Japanese Military Comfort Women. At that time, the priests mentioned successive disasters and said, "I got goosebumps recalling the heartlessness that did not move a finger even when hundreds of young people were crushed to death on the streets of Itaewon, or dozens of citizens drowned in the underground passage."