However, the writings of the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci, who was resident at the imperial court in Beijing, had been already brought to Korea from China in the seventeenth century.

[citation needed] Largely because converts refused to perform Confucian ancestral rituals, the Joseon government prohibited the proselytization of Christianity.

[citation needed] A large number of Christians lived in the northern half of the peninsula where Confucian influence was not as strong as in the south.

[6] Kim Jong-il invited Pope John Paul II to Pyongyang after the 2000 inter-Korean summit, but the visit failed to materialize.

[2] An invitation for the KCA to attend a Papal Mass in Seoul on 18 August 2014, during a 4-day visit to South Korea by Pope Francis, was declined by the association.

[10] In 2016, the KCA released a fiery communique concerning then-South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, denouncing her and her "satanic hordes" of supporters, saying Catholics were united with their fellow DPRK citizens in opposing her leadership.