South Korean President Moon Jae-in tried to convince Pope Francis to visit North Korea, at a meeting at the Vatican on Friday.
The two leaders discussed peace efforts, according to the Yonhap news agency.
Moon gave Francis one of 136 crosses created with barbed wire from a fence in the demilitarized zone, the pision across the peninsula for the past 68 years.
The president said if the pope were to visit North Korea “when an opportunity arises,” such a trip would provide “momentum for peace”, presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee told the South Korean news agency.
On his part, Francis replied he was willing to go if he received a letter of invitation from Pyongyang, according to the report.
The Vatican said the pontiff discussed the “promotion of dialogue and reconciliation between Koreans” with Moon, who is in Italy for the G20 summit.
During his first meeting with the pope in 2018, Moon delivered a verbal invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for Francis to visit the North.
In 214, Francis traveled to South Korea in which he held a mass in Seoul dedicated to reunification.
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