S. Korea's Noted Cardinal Visits Korean School in Japan

S. Korea's Noted Cardinal Visits Korean School in Japan

Cardinal Kim visits a Korean primary school in Kyoto run by Chongryun.

Cardinal Kim Soo Hwan, a noted South Korean leader of the movement for democracy and national unification under the Park Chung Hee regime, on April 20 visited a Korean primary school and a consultative center for Koreans in Kyoto, Japan, both of which are under Chongryun(pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan). Rev. Kim, aged 80, was accorded a warm and compatriotic welcome by the faculty and pupils at the First Korean Elementary School of Kyoto and staff and elderly fellow countrymen at "Eruhwa," a consultative and welfare facility for local Korean residents. He was visiting Japan to meet believers at Roman Catholic district churches in Japan.

"I was extremely delighted and moved to see innocent and pure-hearted Korean kids singing Korean songs for me," he commented as he was greeted by the Korean children attending an attached kindergarten of the ethnic primary school, who gave a small cultural performance in welcome of him. He said he was also deeply impressed by the children wearing "saektong-chogori," ethnic child's coat with multi-colored sleeves, and speaking Korean though they were born and live in a foreign country.

In "Eruhwa," the seasoned religious leader in South Korea met first generation Koreans under Chongryun and had conversations with them in a cordial atmosphere full of compatriotism. They chorused the "Song of Eruhwa" for Kim, and he, in return, sang a South Korean pop song "I Love You."

Cardinal Kim showed deep interest in the histories of the ethnic school and charitable facility for the local Korean community and his sympathy for the difficulties, financial, in particular, facing them.

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