Cardinal Appointment News Expected

The Bishop’s Council of the Korean Catholic Church announced yesterday that “there will be an important official announcement made on February 22.” A press conference is scheduled for the conference room at the Central Council of the Catholic Church in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul at 8:00 p.m. on that same day.

It is expected that the announcement will be the naming of Korea’s second cardinal by the Vatican.

The director of the council, Choi Won-ho, said in a telephone interview that “the announcement will be made at the same time as an announcement from the Vatican at 8:00 p.m.”

An appointment would give Korea’s Catholic Church multiple cardinals, 37 years after the first and only appointment of a cardinal in Korea in 1969 when Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan (84) was appointed.

One church official said, “Archbishop Chung Jin-suk is most likely to be appointed as the new cardinal.”

Korea’s ambassador to the Vatican, Sung Yeom (64), said during an interview on February 22 with Pyunghwa Broadcasting Corporation, “Pope Benedict XVI has great interest in missionary work in countries under communist regimes, and previous instances show that age is not a problem when appointing cardinals.” He implied that Archbishop Chung, who is currently the Catholic Church’s acting Pyongyang district leader, is most likely to be appointed.

Jeong-Gook Yoon Seung-Hoon Cheon jkyoon@donga.com raphy@donga.com