Canadian Megachurch pastor imprisoned in North Korea gets help from Swedish Ambassador

1 de May de 2017

A North Korean Foreign Ministry official met with the Swedish ambassador Thursday for talks on consular access for the Rev. Hyeon Soo Lim, a 60-year-old Canadian pastor who was born in South Korea and was arrested and given a life sentence of hard labor by a North Korean court in December 2015.

The Swedish ambassador also raised the issue of consular affairs for at least two American detainees being held for alleged espionage, subversion and other anti-state activities, the newswire said, adding, however, that the Pyongyang official said North Korea would deal with the issues in line with a wartime law. The official didn’t explain what that law is.

Lim is the pastor of the 3,000-member Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Mississauga, Ontario. Although he was visiting North Korea for a humanitarian purpose, state prosecutors accused him of using the “false pretense” of humanitarian aid to enter into North Korea to use religion to attempt to overthrow the Kim regime.

KCNA said at the time that Lim was guilty of “[committing] anti-DPRK religious activities, [conducting] false propaganda among overseas Koreans, and [taking] active part in the operation of the U.S. and (a South Korean) conservative group to lure and abduct DPRK citizens […] in their programs for ‘aiding defectors from the North.’”

In January, Will Ripley of CNN got to interview Lim in North Korea. The pastor said he was receiving regular meals and medical treatment as part of his time in prison.

“Lim has been held in a labor camp. He appears to be the only inmate. He has not seen any other prisoners. Lim works eight hours a day, six days a week, with rest breaks, digging holes for the planting of apple trees in the prison orchard,” CNN said. “There are always two guards watching over him. He is serving a life sentence of hard labor. He has no contact with the outside world.”

In December, about 1,000 people held a prayer vigil for the imprisoned pastor at Light Presbyterian Church.

According to Open Doors, anywhere from 50,000 to 70,000 Christians are suffering in labor camps in North Korea