Religious leaders have offered wishes for solidarity in their messages ahead of the new year.
 
The National Council of Churches in Korea also delivered a message Friday saying that the PyeongChang Winter Olympics may bring new hopes of peace on the peninsula.
 
The council also hoped for equal human rights against inequality and discrimination.
 
The
council said it wished for 2018 to be a year of healing and reconciliation and a world where all life coexist including nature destroyed by human greed.
 
Meanwhile the Christian Council of Korea also issued a message of overcoming confrontation and opening a new future of hope, emphasizing "freedom and restoration." 

Supreme Patriarch Jinje of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism delivered a message of hope on Friday that conflicts will give way to reconciliation, divisions to unity and selfishness to mercy.
 
He said he wished for a happy society for those who are suffering and marginalized.
 

He also called for realizing peace and unification on the Korean Peninsula, and for conflicts and wars around the world to end to create a peaceful global community.