A giant mass will take place at the Imjingak Pyeonghoa-Nuri Park in Gyeonggi Province on Friday to pray for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

The event is being hosted by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea and will begin at 11 a.m. It will be the first large-scale mass held for the purpose of praying for peace and unification on the Korean Peninsula since 2003.

The Catholic conference said it organized the mass to urge the two Koreas to seek true forgiveness and reconciliation at a time when inter-Korean dialogue has been cut off and provision of humanitarian aid to the North is being restricted. Aid to the North was severed following the North’s sinking of the Cheonan naval ship and shelling of Yeonpyeong Island.

Priests from 16 parishes and religious orders nationwide as well as some 20-thousand devotees will take part in the mass.