Francis urges Koreans to unite

Marking the end of his first visit to Asia on Monday, the pope urged Koreans from north and south of the border to find new ways to forge peace on the peninsula.

Pope Francis celebrated a reconciliation mass in Seoul's main Myeongdong cathedral, attended by South Korean President Park Geun-hye, as well as defectors from North Korea. In the mass, he called on Koreans to embrace a spirit of forgiveness as "the door which leads to reconciliation."

"All Koreans are brothers and sisters, members of one family, one people," the pope said, as he wound up a five-day visit to South Korea.

At the mass, the people also met seven elderly women who were forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military during World War Two.

Highlights of the pope's visit have included his beatification of 124 Koreans who were killed for being Christians by the Joseon Dynasty, amid a purge on Western influences more than 200 years ago.

The pope's address came as South Korea and the US launched a military drill on Monday, which drew condemnation from the North. According to the South Korean Defense Ministry, the largely-computerized "Ulchi Freedom Guardian" exercise simulates the response to the nuclear threat.

Threat of 'merciless' response

North Korea has repeatedly demanded the cancelation of the exercise. Last week, Pyongyang's military chiefs threatened to "mercilessly open the strongest... pre-emptive strike" if it goes ahead.

On his visit, South Korean church officials sent several requests to Pyongyang for members of the Catholic Church in North Korea to be allowed to visit Seoul for the mass. The North declined the offer, citing the drill as the reason.

At the moment that Francis arrived in South Korea on Thursday, North Korea launches a series of short-range rockets off its eastern coast. Pyongyang later said it had no intention of upstaging the pope's visit, insisting the tests were to coincide with the anniversary celebrating the North's liberation from Japanese rule.

The Catholic Church is allowed to operate in the North, but only under tight restrictions and within the confines of the state-controlled Korean Catholics Association. While South Korea has some 5 millions Catholics, the size of the North Korean community is thought to number between 800 and 3,000.

rc/av (AFP, AP, dpa)