KOREA: The Catholic church in Korea is in the process of publishing the first Catholic Korean-language translation of the Bible. The new translation, begun in 1989 and completed in late 2002, will replace the existing joint Catholic-Protestant Korean translation, and will be released to the public in 2005 after being examined by the Korean bishops. Since 1977, the Korean Catholic church has used a version of the Bible that it co-produced with Protestant churches.

Fr. Callistus Jung Tae-hyun, one of the translators, said that the joint Catholic-Protestant Korean translation "was not faithful to the original [Greek] text, and reflected too much the taste of the Korean language." Jung said most Protestant churches have stopped using that version of the Bible, published by the Korean Bible Society. Nonetheless, Anglican and Catholic churches still use it.

Fr. Joseph Im Seung-phill, who led the latest translation effort, said that "the aim of the work was to produce a Bible faithful to the original text and [one that] uses smooth Korean language for Catholics." Im, who is also secretary of the bishops' biblical committee, said a complete edition that collates 28 books of the Bible into a single volume will be published after further corrections are finished, in 2005.

Briefs, gathered from news services, correspondents and staff, are compiled and edited by Gill Donovan.

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