GWANGJU (SE): Father Nandana Manatunga thanked the people of South Korea for their continuous support of those struggling against repression and state violence throughout Asia as he was presented with the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights at the Culture Centre in Seogu on May 18 this year.
 

SEOUL (UCAN): According to figures released on April 13 by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, a total of 96,794 young Catholics were baptised—representing a drop of 12.9 per cent compared to 2016.
 
It is the slowest rate of growth in the last decade, leaving Church authorities concerned about a continued wind-down as parishioners, in line with Korean society as a whole, are greying at the temples.
 

Seoul (UCAN): As South Korea continues to modernise and with the number of single mothers on the rise, calls to decriminalise abortion have increased from sectors of society. In response, the Catholic Church launched a signature campaign on 3 December 2017 to keep the country’s anti-abortion law in place and has gathered over a million names to date. 
 

PAJU (UCAN): Peace on the Korean Peninsula calls for repentance and atonement between Pyongyang and Seoul a three-day symposium ending on December 3 in Paju City in South Korea on the role of Catholic people in fostering peace in the region has concluded.
 
But the symposium was closing just as the United States of America (US) and South Korea were launching military air exercises, heightening tensions between the two Koreas, as well as South Korea and China.
 

BANGKOK (SE): "A rare Catholic leader in Asia, South Korea's new President Moon Jae-in is a very faithful man, in a Catholic sense," Michael Sainsbury says in pointing to the great appeal he had to many people who hope he can break the dominance of big corporations over government.
 
However, while he won an overwhelming majority of the popular vote in the capital of Seoul, as many a prophet of good tidings, he was not nearly as welcome in his home town of Busan.
 

SEOUL (UCAN): The International Domestic Workers Federation was awarded the 20th Bishop Tji Hak-soun Justice and Peace Award at a ceremony in Seoul in South Korea on March 14.

Myrtle Witbooi accepted the award on behalf of the union of domestic workers at Sejong Centre for Performing Arts.