Pope Francis left a Twitter message in Korean shortly after arriving in Seoul on Thursday, garnering thousands of retweets and favorites that flaunted his social media presence.

The pontiff, who uses the Twitter handle "@Pontifex," wrote in Korean: "May God bless Korea, especially the elderly and the young people."

The tweet posted around noon, or shortly after his arrival at the Vatican Embassy, was retweeted nearly 4,000 times in a matter of 30 minutes.

On Thursday morning, the pope touched down at an air base just southeast of Seoul for a landmark five-day trip that involves a Catholic youth festival and a ceremony that beatifies centuries-old Korean martyrs.

A previous, Korean-language tweet written by the pontiff had said: "As I begin my journey to Korea, I ask you to join me in praying for Korea and all of Asia." (Yonhap)