Christians concerned about Korea nuke test

Christian leaders in South Korea have expressed grave concerns over North Korea's latest nuclear test and urged their government to establish dialogue with the North.
The communist state announced on May 25 that it detonated a powerful nuclear bomb and had fired three short-range missiles from its eastern coast to the sea.

This was the second time Kim Jong Il's regime has detonated a nuclear device. The first was in 2006.

According to Korean Central News Agency, North Korea's state-run news agency, the underground test was carried out in order to strengthen the country's self-defense capabilities. Father Raphael Seo Jong-yeob told UCA News that the latest blast was "a very grave situation compared to the first nuclear test." "There were exchanges among the two Koreas at that time (of the first test) but now no exchange activity is possible," he said.

"The nuclear test creates hostility toward North Korea. The big task for the Catholic Church is to ensure the faithful do not give in to such hostility," he added. "The government should not goad the North and make the situation worse. What is needed is not careless judgment, but waiting and listening."

Father Seo is the newly appointed executive secretary of the Committee for the Reconciliation of Korean People under the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea.

Reverend Hwang Phil-kyu said the nuclear test made reconciliation between the two Koreas harder to achieve.

"The current South Korean government's aggressive policy toward the North and inability to communicate with it, while strengthening its alliance with the United States is one of the main factors resulting in the test," said the director of the Justice and Peace Committee of the National Council of Churches in Korea.

He suggested that the South help the North have a direct dialogue with the U.S., which also needs to lift economic sanctions against North Korea.

The former two Presidents Kim Dae-jung (1998-2003) and Roh Moo-hyun (2003-2008) respectively initiated and continued a policy of engagement with North Korea and allowed initiatives such as food aid and visits to the North.

The new conservative President Lee Myung-bak, by contrast, has insisted that the North will receive economic aid only if it scraps all nuclear weapons or opens itself to the world.

A United Nations Resolution was passed in October 2006 after North Korea's first nuclear test, banning further atomic tests in the country as well as long-range missile launches. The resolution also imposed sanctions on North Korea that have been largely ignored and unenforced.