The local Catholic Church has kicked into high gear the beatification process for Korean martyrs who were killed or who disappeared after being persecuted by the North Korean regime before and during the 1950-53 Korean War.

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea said Thursday it will conduct a preliminary inspection in late November to determine whether the former bishop of Pyongyang, Francis Borgia Hong Yong-ho, and his 80 companions are qualified for beatification.

The conference said its special committee for canonization and beatification will analyze history records and relics to confirm their lives, saints' virtues as well as suffering from persecution.

Most of those on the list were executed or disappeared during the persecution of the Korean Catholic community by then North Korean leader Kim Il-sung after the division of the Korean Peninsula in 1948.

Hong was imprisoned in 1949 and later disappeared. Among the 80 others is Patrick James Byrne, an American-born Catholic missionary and bishop who served as the first apostolic delegate to Korea. He died while in the custody of the North in November 1950.

The beatification process began when the Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the South Korean bishops' request to open it in April 2013. (Yonhap)