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Moon made the comments during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at Seoul’s presidential Blue House. Wang made his first visit in four years amid efforts to patch up relations damaged by South Korea’s deployment of a US anti-missile system China perceives as a security threat.

“The process for the complete denuclearizing of the Korean Peninsula, meaning North Korea, and permanently stabilizing peace is at a critical crossroads,” Moon said. “I would like to ask for continuous support from the Chinese government until the new era of a peaceful and denuclearized Korean Peninsula opens.”

Wang called for stronger “strategic communication” between Beijing and Seoul and took a jab at the Trump administration, which is locked in a trade war with Beijing, saying that international order was being threatened by “unilateralism” and “forcible politics.”

“China and South Korea as neighbors should strengthen dialogue and cooperation to jointly uphold multilateralism and free trade,” Wang said, AP reported.

The Blue House said Moon during his meeting with Wang called for stronger bilateral efforts to facilitate tourism between the countries and expressed hope that Chinese President Xi Jinping would visit South Korea at an “early time” next year.

Wang told Moon that China would continue to play a “constructive role” in the efforts to peacefully resolve the nuclear crisis despite “recent difficulties in the political situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula,” the Blue House said.

Wang on Wednesday met with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-Wha and discussed issues related to North Korea and details of a trilateral summit between Seoul, Beijing, and Tokyo planned later this month in China. They also discussed facilitating high-level exchanges and arranging a possible visit to South Korea by Chinese President Xi Jinping next year, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said.

His visit comes after years of tensions over the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, the system placed in southern South Korea and amid concerns that a US-led diplomatic push to resolve a nuclear standoff with North Korea is beginning to fall apart over disagreements in exchanging sanctions relief and disarmament.

With the talks faltering, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has intensified his missile testing activity while issuing an end-of-year deadline for the Trump administration to offer mutually acceptable terms for a deal to salvage the diplomacy.

There’s also uneasiness over the US-China trade war, which has hurt South Korea’s export-dependent economy and included US demands that South Korean companies stop using equipment from Chinese technology giant Huawei based on security concerns.

Wang last visited South Korea in 2015, a year before relations soured over Seoul’s decision to deploy THAAD, which China claimed could be reconfigured to peer deep into its territory. South Korea has said China retaliated by limiting Chinese tour group visits to South Korea, whose economy is increasingly dependent on Chinese tourism, and demand for its industrial products.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying mentioned THAAD among issues affecting the bilateral ties that the sides had “agreed to continue to properly deal with.”

Hua also reiterated China’s position that North Korea’s “legitimate concerns… In terms of security and development should be taken seriously,” and that the North should be offered sanctions relief “in light of the development of the situation so as to encourage all parties to move forward in the direction of political settlement.”

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Forced conversion, also known as “Deprogramming”, is a social issue that causes human rights violations by kidnapping and detaining the members of religious groups labeled as “cults” by their opponents in order to compel them to abandon their faith.

More than 80 participants including legal experts, journalists, and civil society representatives reviewed the current situation of forced conversion and discussed solutions to defend the freedom of faith and human rights that have become the norm of the international community.

On 29 November, Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR) from Italy and Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF) from Belgium hosted a seminar on human rights entitled “Intolerance and Discrimination Against New Religious Movements: An International Problem”.

Massimo Introvigne, Managing Director of CESNUR as well as an Italian sociologist, stressed that forced conversion is conducted through the mainstream by saying, “Korean deprogrammers are specialized pastors from the mainline churches, most of them Presbyterian.”

“The protests that commemorate the victims from forced conversion were mentioned in the 2019 U.S. State Department Report on Religious Freedom, including violations of religious freedom in the year 2018. However, there were new cases of deprogramming even after their death,” he criticized.

Regarding the multi-dimensional strategy to solve such phenomenon, Willy Fautré, Founder and Director of HRWF stated several suggestions; pointing at the responsibility of the leadership of the Presbyterian Church which tolerates, endorses, and maybe encourages such a practice; developing advocacy at the UN and in organs defending freedom of religion or belief; prosecuting those who encourage people to perpetrate an act of abduction and confinement.

In an open letter, signed by 15 international NGOs including CAP-LC and HRWF, to the South Korean President Moon Jae In on July 24^th, it said, “South Korea may well be the last democratic country in the world where deprogramming is still tolerated” and asked the President to “investigate in-depth accusations of forcible deprogramming, put a stop to this obnoxious practice, and hold those responsible fully accountable.”

Meanwhile, South Korea was elected to serve the 5th term on the United Nations Human Rights Council on October 17th. South Korea’s mission to the UN said that it plans “to participate in the international efforts to respond to human rights crises around the world.” Participants urged the Korean government to respond to the issue of forced conversion which is still threatening the human rights of its people.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Seoul is trying to restore its relations with Iran to its peak, stressing optimism about the prospects of Tehran-Seoul ties.

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