Seoul: North Korea test-fired five missiles as Pope Francis began a visit to its southern neighbour with a call for renewed efforts to forge peace.
Pyongyang, which has a long history of making sure it is not forgotten during high-profile events in the south, fired three missiles into the sea less than an hour before the pope landed in Seoul, and two more a short time later.
'Peace requires forgiveness, mutual respect'
In the first speech of his first trip to Asia, Francis said that peace required forgiveness and mutual respect.
Diplomacy must be encouraged, he said, so that dialogue replaced "mutual recriminations, fruitless criticisms and displays of force".
During his visit Francis plans to beatify 124 Korean martyrs and encourage a vibrant local church seen as a model for the future of Catholicism, in contrast to many other countries in Asia and Latin America.
He is also expected to continue to push for peace on the peninsula, in speeches and during a mass in Seoul's main cathedral on Monday.
North Korea has conducted an unusually large number of short-range missile and artillery test firings this year.
Pyongyang has expressed anger over annual military drills by the US and South Korea, which it says are invasion preparations. A new round of the drills, which Seoul and Washington call routine and defensive, is expected to start in the coming days.
