Pope Francis says he is willing to visit North Korea, should the country’s leaders ever invite him 

He told to a South Korean broadcaster in an interview released on Friday

I'll go there as soon as they invite me.I’m saying they should invite me. I will not refuse. The purpose of my visit is always brotherly love

North Korea allow only a few visitors to enter the country while citizens of the reclusive nation are generally not permitted to leave

The country has been locked down even tighter than usual since the coronavirus pandemic began

Pope Francis told KBS that he has noted how the two countries have survived war

Technically, the war that divided the peninsula into North and South Korea has never ended

No pope has ever visited North Korea, though the late Pope John Paul II was once invited