(From Reuters)
North Korea’s highest court has sentenced a South Korea-born Canadian pastor to hard labor for life for subversion, China’s official news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday.
Hyeon Soo Lim, the head pastor at a Toronto church that is one of Canada’s largest, has been held by North Korea since February. Earlier this year, he had appeared on North Korean state media confessing to crimes against the state.
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.
The court held that he fabricated anti-North Korean propaganda as part of a US and South Korean-led “human rights racket” against the country.
The court said Lim confessed to helping people defect from North Korea, and said he had met the US ambassador to Mongolia regarding the plans, Xinhua reported.