S. Korean president meets with pope on N. Korea, global issues

By Byun Duk-kun

ROME, July 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met with Pope Benedict XVI Thursday for discussions on issues of mutual concern, including North Korea's poor human rights conditions and improving ties between Seoul and the Vatican, South Korea's presidential office said.

The South Korean president is on a four-day trip here for the Major Economies
Forum being held on the sidelines of the G-8 summit in L'Aquila, central Italy.
"Noting South Korea's Catholic church has made significant contributions to the
improvement and protection of the rights of the socially less well-off, President
Lee invited the pope to visit South Korea to help expand the country's Catholic
church," the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said in a press release.
The pope agreed to visit South Korea at an appropriate time, it added.
"The pope then stressed the need for the international community to increase its
support and efforts to resolve various humanitarian problems facing poor nations,
such as poverty and food shortages," it said.
The South Korean president later held talks with the Vatican's Secretary of State
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
"Cardinal Bertone expressed the Vatican's keen interest in improving human rights
and food conditions in North Korea and said he hoped the Catholic church will
continue to support the development and prosperity of South Korea," the press
release said.
Lee's trip to Italy will end Saturday when he will head to Sweden for talks with
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. The South Korean leader is on a
three-nation trip that earlier took him to Poland.