N. Korea`s No. 2 leader meets with church council leader

SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's No. 2 leader, Kim Yong-nam, met with a
delegation from the World Council of Churches in Pyongyang on Monday, state media
said, as the Christians were on a religious and humanitarian trip to the North.
The delegation of the Geneva-based ecumenical organization, led by General
Secretary Rev. Samuel Kobia, arrived in the North on Saturday on a four-day trip
to meet with government officials and support humanitarian work there.
Kim, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, "met and had a
talk" with the delegation at the Mansudae Assembly Hall, the Korean Central News
Agency said. The one-sentence report did not say what the two parties discussed.
The visit comes amid North Korea's diplomacy to reach out to South Korea and
other regional powers, contrary to its earlier nuclear and missile tests.
North Korean church leaders are also expected to attend an international meeting
the world council will host in Hong Kong with an aim to promote reunification of
the Korean Peninsula. The North Koreans are expected to hold talks with South
Korean participants on the sidelines of the three-day event that will open this
week Wednesday.
Last week, Franklin Graham, son of renowned evangelist Billy Graham, visited
North Korea on a humanitarian mission. Graham, head of Samaritan's Purse, said he
hoped to "help improve better relations" between North Korea and the United
States.
The communist nation has four publicly accepted churches -- Pongsu Church,
Chilgol Church, Changchun (Catholic) Church and Jongbaek (Russian Orthodox)
Church. All were established after 1988 amid international criticism of its
alleged restrictions on religious freedom.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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