Pope: Intensify rather than stop humanitarian aid for North Korea

Receiving the new Japanese ambassador, Benedict XVI expressed hope that solutions to the North Korean crisis will be found through dialogue and bilateral and multilateral negotiations.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – International aid to North Korea should not be halted but intensified in order to avert serious consequences that would be borne by the civilian population. And the crisis involving Pyongyang should be resolved through dialogue and negotiations. While debate continues about what sanctions to impose on North Korea, Benedict XVI himself today illustrated the diametrically opposite view of the Holy See as regards the crisis created by the North Korean nuclear test.

Receiving the new Japanese ambassador, Kagefumi Ueno, who presented his letter of credentials, the pope started out by underlining the "ties of respect and sympathy" between the Vatican and Japan. He also dwelt on the contribution made by "Japan's rich spiritual and cultural traditions to the expansion of fundamental human values." He said: "The recognition of the spiritual dimension of society, engendering authentic dialogue between religions and cultures, cannot but encourage a shared life of brotherhood and solidarity, which alone allows for the holistic development of mankind. In effect, there are many potential fields of activity for inter-faith and intercultural collaboration, especially commitment in favour of a just society, world peace and the fight against poverty, in growing solidarity."

In this context, Benedict XVI affirmed that the search for peace "must be a priority of international relations". The crises facing the world, he continued, "will not find definitive solutions through violence: they are resolved, instead, through peaceful means, respecting commitments made. As is known, and as experience never ceases to show, violence can never be the right answer to society's problems, because it destroys the dignity, life and freedom of man that it claims to defend. To build peace, the avenues of cultural, political and economic order are important. All the same, in the first place, peace should be built in people's hearts."

On the basis of this premise, the pope exhorted Japan to commit itself to building a "just and stable" peace in the world especially in the Far East. "In the crisis currently experienced by the region," he said, "the Holy See encourages bilateral and multilateral negotiations, convinced that the solution should be sought with peaceful means and respecting the commitments taken by all parties involved, to attain the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."

He added: "In the same perspective, I vividly hope that the international community will continue and intensify humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable peoples, especially in North Korea, that possible suspension may not provoke very serious consequences for civilians."

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