Nuclear power is a monster which cannot coexist with living things, the president of the Korean bishops’ conference has warned, in an article urging the government to review its energy policy.

In the article for the conference-run monthly, Kyeonghyang Magazine, Bishop Peter Kang U-il of Cheju said it is “a lie” to say that nuclear power is a green or clean energy.

He said a visit to tsunami-hit Saitama and Sendai dioceses in Japan last month to deliver aid, made him question whether nuclear power is really safe.

Everyone needs to pay attention to nuclear power as it could lead to a catastrophe, he said.

Citing Pope Benedict’s encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, he said: “Our natural environment is God’s gift to everyone, and we must take of it as we have a responsibility towards the poor, future generations and humanity as a whole.”

Bishop Kang said the God-given right to rule the earth is not absolute.

“We must limit ourselves when it comes to nature,” he said, adding that nuclear power is beyond that limit.

Nuclear power is a potential “great disaster which can’t be controlled by any human technology,” he continued

He therefore urged people to reflect on society’s preoccupation with consumerism which has led to it consuming too much energy.

END

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