North Korea refuses invitation to send Catholics to papal mass in Seoul

North Korea appears to have declined an invitation to send Catholic believers to a mass by Pope Francis in Seoul later this month, a South Korean church official said yesterday.

In a letter, the North's Korean Catholics Association (KCA) cited Seoul's refusal to cancel an upcoming joint military drill with United States forces as the main reason for its decision.

Pope Francis is to conduct a special Korean reconciliation mass in Seoul on the last day of his August 14-18 visit to South Korea, and church officials in the South had sent several requests to Pyongyang to send a group of Catholics to attend.

But the day of the mass coincides with the launch of the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint military drill, which the North had condemned as a rehearsal for nuclear war.

"Under these circumstances, coming to Seoul would be an agonising step," the KCA said.

An official at the South Korean Catholic Bishops' Conference said: "We interpret this as meaning the North finds it difficult to accept the invitation."