(LEAD) Moon to meet Pope Francis at Vatican next week

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SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican next week to discuss peace on the Korean Peninsula and efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic, the presidential office said Friday.

The Oct. 29 meeting will take place as Moon is scheduled to visit Rome to attend the G20 Leaders' Summit before traveling to Glasgow to join the global summit of the COP26 climate change gathering, according to presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee.

It will be Moon's second meeting with Pope Francis since October 2018, Park said.

Moon and Pope Francis are expected to exchange wisdom to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula and resolve pending global issues, such as the pandemic, poverty and climate change, Park said.

The pope has called for peace on the peninsula and expressed a willingness to visit the North.

During a meeting with the pope in 2018, Moon delivered a verbal invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the pope said at the time he was willing to visit the North if Pyongyang sends him an official invitation.

No further progress, however, has been made amid a deadlock in talks between the North and the U.S.

kdh@yna.co.kr
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