Population- Catholics unknown | Denomination Roman Catholic Established 5 August 1920 Area 49,375 km² | |
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Cathedral Destroyed in Korean War Ecclesiastical province Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul | ||
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Hamhung is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in North Korea.
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Originally erected as the Apostolic Vicariate of Wonsan in 1920, the name has been changed twice, once to Kankoensis o Hameungensis in 1940, and finally, as the Apostolic Vicariate of Hamhung in 1950. Like the Diocese of Pyongyang, the Vicariate was elevated to a full diocese in 1962. The diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Seoul.
Persecutions
In 1949, 166 priests and religious were martyred in the Communist revolution of Kim Il-sung. This left the diocese bereft of priests. Father Josef Bonifatius Sauer, the abbot of Tokwon abbey, had died in 1950, and no bishop had been re-appointed to the diocese. Finally, in 1962, Timotheus (Franz Xaver) Bitterli, was appointed in absentia as the bishop of the diocese, and was the apostolic administrator for 20 years until his resignation in 1981. Since then, the diocese has remained vacant, and it will likely remain so as long as the persecution of Christians in North Korea continues.