Pope Urges Korean Reconciliation

On the final day of his visit to South Korea, Pope Francis has called for reconciliation in the Korean peninsula.

Koreans, Pope Francis said, should reject a mindset of suspicion and confrontation to finding new paths of building peace.

He spoke at a Mass in Seoul's main cathedral attended by President Park Geun-hye and North Korean defectors.

The service coincided with the start of major US-South Korea military exercises.

The annual drills, called Ulchi Freedom Guardian, last for 12 days and involve some 80 thousand US and South Korean service personnel.

The exercises always enrage North Korea, which has in recent weeks conducted series of short-range missile tests - including one as the Pope arrived.

Source: BBC