He was being held at a Pyongyang hotel and was in good health, CNN said.
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© KCNA KCNA / Reuters/REUTERS North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is involved in a power struggle with the United States.
He said that he spied on North Korea for “South Korean conservative elements” that he said filled him with “a hatred towards North Korea” and was given the job of “taking photos of military secrets and scandalous scenes”.
He added: “I think so”, when asked if his crime was being critical of the North Korean leadership.
“I admit I’ve violated this government’s authority, system and order”, Lim said in the interview aired on Monday.
Kim said he moved in 2001 to Yanji, a Chinese city near the North Korean border that acts as a trade hub between the two countries, and from there he commuted to Rason, an economic zone in North Korea.
The guards left the room, but the South Korean-born Lim, who speaks and understands English, said he had been told to answer all the questions in Korean – suggesting the conversation was being closely monitored.
A 60-year-old Canadian pastor, jailed for life with hard labor in North Korea, says he spends his days digging holes in an orchard in a prison camp where he is the sole inmate.
In the CNN interview, Lim said he receives three meals a day and regular medical attention; his church has said Lim has “very high blood pressure”.
He had visited North Korea more than 100 times in the past two decades to set up an orphanage and orphan home.
Lim, who was charged with attempting to overthrow the North’s government, also told CNN that he is being held in a labor camp with apparently no other prisoners.
On Sunday, the U.S. sent a B-52 bomber, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, on a low-level flight over South Korea.
The U.S. embassy in Seoul said it was aware of the report but did not have further comment.
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Earlier this week, the North Korean government announced that it had successfully conducted its first hydrogen bomb test, drawing worldwide condemnation and raising tensions with neighboring South Korea.
