Freedom to choose one’s own religion is guaranteed by law of the Republic of Korea. However, the World’s spiritual leader, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is not allowed to set foot in our country. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is an activist that represents non-violence, humanity, and peace, and most importantly is a simple Buddhist monk.
Furthermore, he is recognised by the World as a spiritual leader that advocates peace, transcends all religion and race, and practices loving kindness and compassion.
We, the Preparatory Committee for the Visitation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the Republic of Korea, cannot be convinced why a simple monk is not allowed inside of our country.
Each time we have told His Holiness the Dalai Lama of our goal to invite His Holiness to our country, he simply smiled and warmly said, one day he hopes to join his Korean brothers and sisters in Korea.
For many years, as a group, and as individuals, we have tried many ways to convince the Korean government to approve His Holiness the Dalai Lama to visit our country.
Pope Francis visited the Republic of Korea in mid-August, where he honoured 124 Korean Christians who died during the 17th and 18th Centuries. If the Roman Catholic pope is allowed to visit the Republic of Korea through his religious mission, by laws of religious freedom of the Republic of Korea, His Holiness the Dalai Lama should also be allowed to visit our country. The Korean government is overlapping political and economic factors over religious factors making the issues complex and ambiguous. Thus, we will not be silenced regarding disapproving His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the1989 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, to visit the Republic of Korea.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has formally relinquished his political and administrative powers in 2011. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has progressively distanced himself from a direct political role and expressed a desire to live as a simple Buddhist monk. Therefore, the visitation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the Republic of Korea will not be a political one, but a religious one that has the opportunity to bring forth a revolution of peace through interfaith interactions. The Korean government should approve and allow His Holiness the Dalai Lama to visit the Republic of Korea on the sincere stand point to bring forth peace as our people still carries on the scar of being the only divided country in the World. The visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Korea, can serve as a way to promote interfaith, and to further propagate peace within our divided nation and ease our daily pain.
Therefore we strongly and firmly demand the Korean government to approve the Dalai Lama”s visit to the Republic of Korea.
The Preparatory Committee for the Visitation of HisHoliness the Dalai Lama to the Republic of Korea
The open letter, dated July 5th, 2014, states that while Pope Francis was allowed to enter the country through his religious mission, "... by laws of religious freedom of the Republic of Korea, His Holiness the Dalai Lama should also be allowed to visit our country."
