A South Korean born Canadian pastor has been sentenced to a lifetime of hard labor by North Korea’s highest court, according to Xinhua, NBC News reported.
Hyeon Soo Lim, the head pastor of a Toronto church has been held by North Korea since February. He appeared on the country’s state media confessing to crimes against the state, Reuters reported.
Lim appeared at a news conference in North Korea in July, confessing that he traveled to the country on the pretext of humanitarian work.
His church has said Lim, who is a Canadian citizen, visited the North more than 100 times since 1997 and has helped establish an orphanage and a nursing home there.
