North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has invited Pope Francis to visit, even though the long-isolated country has no permanent priests. Key points: Mr Trump says three or four locations are being considered for the meeting Mr Trump says three or four locations are being considered for the meeting He says he has a good relationship with Mr Kim and is optimistic about progress He says he has a good relationship with Mr Kim and is optimistic about progress Mr Kim has also sent an invitation for Pope Francis to visit Pyongyang In a gesture designed to highlight the peace efforts of North Korea, South Korean President Moon Jae-in will deliver an invitation from Mr Kim when he meets the Holy Father next week during a trip to Europe. Mr Moon will arrive at the Vatican on October 17 to reaffirm its support for peace on the Korean peninsula, presidential office spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said. "When he meets with Pope Francis, he will convey Chairman Kim's message that he will ardently welcome him if he visits Pyongyang," he said. As North Korea and the Vatican have no diplomatic relations, Mr Kim told Mr Moon of his wish to meet the Pope during a meeting last month, the spokesman added. But, with North Korea having strict rules about the practice of religion, it would be a surprising visit for the head of the Catholic church. North Korea's constitution guarantees freedom of religion as long as it does not undermine the state, but beyond a handful of state-controlled places of worship, no open religious activity is allowed. North Korea, which church officials estimated had a Catholic community of about 55,000 just before the 1950-53 Korean War, does not allow priests to be permanently stationed in the country. Priests from the South occasionally visit, usually accompanying aid deliveries or humanitarian projects. The invitation to a Pope is the first by a North Korean leader since Mr Kim's father, Kim Jong-il, invited Pope John Paul II in 2000, a trip that never happened. Paolo Affatato, the Asia editor for Fides Catholic news agency, said a visit by the Pope to North Korea would "provide concrete support for the peace process" on the Korean Peninsula. "North Korea can be seen in the framework of great attention that the Pope and Holy See are paying to East Asia," he said. Asked about the possibility of a trip, a Vatican spokesman said: "Let's wait for the invitation to arrive." He did not elaborate on the possible timing of a meeting, but the Pope has said he wanted to visit Japan next year. Progress made on second Trump-Kim meeting Sorry, this video has expired Donald Trump says second North Korea summit "won't be too far away" Mr Kim's gesture came as US President Donald Trump said plans were being made for his second summit with the North Korean leader. Mr Trump said "incredible" progress had been made in talks with the North Korea. "Well it is happening and we're setting that up right now," Mr Trump told reporters at the White House after announcing the resignation of US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. He said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had very good talks with Mr Kim over the weekend and that three or four locations were being considered. "Timing won't be too far away," he said. Mr Trump says he and Mr Kim have a very good relationship. ( AP: Evan Vucci Later Mr Trump said the second summit would be held after US congressional mid-term elections on November 6. Speaking to reporters as he flew to Iowa for a political rally, Mr Trump said: "It'll be after the mid-terms. I just can't leave now." Mr Pompeo echoed Mr Trump's comments when he briefly spoke to reporters at the White House. "While there's still a long way to go and much work to do, we can now see a path where we will achieve (our) ultimate goal, which is the full and final verified denuclearisation of North Korea," he said. Mr Trump and Mr Kim held a historic first summit in Singapore on June 12 at which Mr Kim pledged to work towards denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. However, his actions have fallen short of Washington's demands for a complete inventory of its weapons and facilities and irreversible steps to give up its nuclear arsenal, which could threaten the United States. Still, Mr Trump was upbeat on progress made so far. "You got no rockets flying, you have no missiles flying, you have no nuclear testing," Mr Trump said in the Oval Office. "We've made incredible progress — beyond incredible. "But I have agreed to meet. "We have a very good relationship with Chairman Kim. I like him, he likes me, the relationship is good." Mr Pompeo also said Mr Kim indicated he was ready to allow international inspectors into North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear testing site and the Sohae missile engine test facility as soon as the United States and North Korea agreed on logistics. Reuters<doc-sep>A state-run Korean Catholic Association also exists but, similarly, has no ties with the Vatican. According to news wire AFP, KCA estimates there are 3,000 Catholics in the country, while the UN puts the number at around 800.<doc-sep>SEOUL, South Korea — Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, which has been condemned as one of the worst suppressors of religious freedom in the world, has invited Pope Francis to visit his country, South Korea’s government said Tuesday. The invitation will be relayed by South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, a Roman Catholic, when he visits the Vatican for two days next week to seek the pope’s help in easing tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula, said Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman of Mr. Moon. Mr. Moon met with Mr. Kim in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, last month. “If the pope visits Pyongyang, we will give him a rousing welcome,” Mr. Kim told Mr. Moon, according to Mr. Moon’s spokesman. There was no immediate comment from the Vatican on whether Francis would accept the invitation, but it is considered highly unlikely.<doc-sep>A human rights activist has criticised North Korea’s invitation for the Pope to visit Pyongyang as an “impure manoeuvre” designed to fool the world into believing that the regime is becoming more open to religious freedoms. South Korea’s presidential Blue House announced on Tuesday that Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, extended the invitation during his summit in September in Pyongyang with Moon Jae-in, his South Korean counterpart. Mr Moon, a practising Catholic, will pass the offer on when he meets the Pope at the Vatican next week, part of his upcoming nine-day visit to Europe. Activists say Mr Kim’s offer is “propaganda”. “There are no religious freedoms in North Korea and the regime does not permit worship of anything other than the Kim family”, said Song Young-chae, a member of the Seoul-based Worldwide Coalition to Stop Genocide in North Korea. “The intention behind this impure manoeuvre is clearly to try to convince the rest of the world that they are changing, that they are improving their human rights record and that they can be trusted”, he told The Telegraph. “Mr Kim wants a public meeting with the Pope for propaganda reasons”.<doc-sep>
ROME -- Kim Jong Un, the once-reclusive leader of one of the world's most closed nations, appears to be continuing his recent international outreach by relaying an invitation for Pope Francis to visit North Korea. The invitation follows a series of meetings between Kim and American officials, including a summit with President Donald Trump, and with South Korea's head of state. Kim told South Korean President Moon Jae-in at a summit last month that he would "ardently welcome the pope if he visits Pyongyang," according to South Korean officials who were quoted widely in media Tuesday. The news of Moon's interest in a visit from the pope comes as Moon is about to begin a European trip that will include a private conference with Pope Francis at the Vatican where the South Korean president is expected to pass on Kim's invitation in person. Moon, a practicing Catholic, will meet with the pope on Oct. 18, Vatican spokesperson Greg Burke said. Prior to the meeting, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, will preside over a mass dedicated to peace in the Korean peninsula in St. Peter’s Basilica, which President Moon will attend, Burke said. Prior to North Korea's founding during the Korean War in the late 1940s in the aftermath of World War II, Pyongyang was known as the "Jerusalem of the East." But any form of worship is tightly controlled in North Korea, and some churchgoers are persecuted. The Holy See and Kim's government have no diplomatic ties. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church in Seoul has worked at keeping communication channels open with its neighbor to the north. The president of the Korean Bishops conference, Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-Joong, was present at a dinner for the South Korean delegation in Pyongyang last month, during the third summit between Korean leaders. Moon introduced the archbishop to Kim at the dinner, and the archbishop relayed a message from the pope of peace and prosperity for the Korean people, the Italian news agency Ansa reported. The South Korean Catholic leader and Kim had another occasion to speak on the last day of Moon’s visit to the North. The archbishop recounted on his return home that when he had told Kim he would tell the Vatican that the two Koreas were moving toward reconciliation and peace, Kim replied with a bow, saying, "Yes, please," Ansa reported. Pope Francis has made repeated public appeals for peace on the Korean peninsula, and led the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square in prayers for the U.S.-North Korean summit on June 10 this year. The pontiff made a five-day trip to South Korea in Aug. 2014, his first visit to Asia as pope, during which he called for peace and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula. "Korea’s quest for peace is a cause close to our hearts, for it affects the stability of the entire area and indeed of our whole war-weary world," Pope Francis said.