Canadian officials meet pastor sentenced to life in prison in North Korea

North Korea’s state media says Canadian officials have met with a detained Ontario pastor who has been sentenced to life in prison in the country. Hyeon Soo Lim, a pastor with the Light Korean Presbyterian Church of Mississauga, Ont., was sentenced last December by a North Korean court to life in prison with hard labor for what it called crimes against the state.

A Canadian government delegation led by Sarah Taylor, director general for North Asia and Oceania for Global Affairs Canada, arrived in North Korea for a three-day visit to discuss Lim’s case and other issues.

Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency said the Canadian officials met Lim, but provided no further details.

Lim’s relatives have said the pastor, who is in his 60s, traveled in January 2015 on a regular humanitarian mission to North Korea. They said Lim has made more than 100 trips to North Korea since 1997 and that his trips were about helping people and were not political.

[Canadian Press]

This entry was posted in Humanitarian Aid and Relief, Prison Camps by Grant Montgomery.