After facing a 90-minute trial in North Korea’s highest court, Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim was sentenced to a life term of hard labor in a North Korean prison for committing “crimes against the state”.
Advertisement
Lim is a pastor at the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto.
North Korea’s supreme court said Lim had attempted to overthrow the North Korean government and undermine its social system with “religious activities” for the past 18 years, Xinhua reported.
He had led many aid missions there involving work with orphanages, nursing homes and food processing factories.
Following the election of the new Liberal government in Canada last month, Mr. Lim’s family released a statement asking for help in securing Mr. Lim’s release.
Lim’s lawyer asked the court to consider Lim as a fellow Korean, as well as the fact he confessed to everything the prosecution had brought up.
North Korea has, for years, attempted to shield its citizens from almost every potential outside influence.
Canadian media reported that Lim had extensive business dealings in North Korea, including ramen and wig factories, gas stations, farms and fishing operations.
He has spent a lot of time in North Korea, taking more than 100 trips there, according to his family.
North Korean officials detained Lim in February after he travelled to the totalitarian state on a humanitarian mission.
Lim, 60, ministers the 3,000-member Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto.
North Korea has quite strict rules against any religious or missionary activities that it sees as threatening the supremacy of its own ruling regime.
He was arrested in January after arriving in North Korea from China.
Advertisement
“Because of Harper’s previous “limited” (ie: none) engagement policy, Canada has little, if any, leverage with (North Korea)”, Marius Grinuis, former directorate general of global security at the Department of National Defence, told iPolitics in an email. Bae, who entered the North in late 2012, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for unspecified anti-state crimes. “However we are also very appreciative of the Canadian government’s effort to continue in diplomacy”. There are several places of worship in the North Korean capital, including the Protestant church where Lim appeared.
