A Canadian pastor, detained in North Korea for 10 months,
has now been sentenced to life in prison there "for subversion." The Rev. Hyeon Soo Lim was found guilty of
anti-government activities and of spreading false propaganda, the Chinese state
news agency Xinhua said.
"The supreme court announced that Lim was guilty of
joining the United States and South Korea in anti-DPRK human rights 'racket'
and fabricating and circulating false propaganda materials tarnishing the
country's image," Xinhua said.
His punishment: A lifetime of labor, the agency said.
Lim, 60, ministers the 3,000-member Light Korean
Presbyterian Church in Toronto. He is a Canadian citizen who emigrated from
South Korea in 1986.
He traveled to North Korea from China on January 30 on a
routine humanitarian trip, a spokeswoman for his family said. He was detained
in February.Lim had visited the country over 100 times, his family
said.
On this trip, he planned to tend to aid projects
established by his church in the northeastern city of Rajin, including an
orphanage, a nursery and a nursing home.
"It is this tremendous love for the people of the
DPRK that motivated Mr. Lim to travel to the nation over 100 times," said
family spokeswoman Lisa Pak.
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