Canadian pastor gets life in North Korea prison
Hyeon Soo Lim sentenced to hard labor for 'anti-state conspiracy'
Published: 18 hours ago
North Korea’s highest court handed down a harsh sentence for Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim on Wednesday, ruling the South Korean-born spiritual leader’s so-deemed subversion against the government was worthy of hard labor for life.
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Lim, who was the head pastor at one of Canada’s largest churches, located in Toronto, confessed to crimes against the state on state-run media in North Korea earlier this year. And during his trial, he confessed to “not only viciously defaming the highest dignity of Korean and its system but also possessing the wicked intention of trying to topple the Republic by staging an anti-state conspiracy,” the government’s KCNA reported.
Specifically, court authorities found Lim guilty of overthrowing the government and undermining its social system with “religious activities” he conducted over a period of 18 years, China’s Xinhua reported.
He had faced the death penalty, the sentence sought by members of the prosecution. But the defense asked Lim be granted a lesser sentence, one that preserved his life, so that “he can witness for himself the reality of the nation of the Sun as it grows in power and prosperity,” KCNA reported.
Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert and Nina Shea have collaborated to create “Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians,” which confirms that groups like Pew Research, Newsweek and The Economist also identify Christians as “the world’s most widely persecuted religious group.”
It’s not clear what activities Lim participate in that warranted the crime charges against the state.
But the court ruled he made up stories about North Korea in order to further a “human rights racket” being run against the country by both South Korea and the United States.
The Canadian government did not immediately comment, Reuters reported.
Read more at
http://www.wnd.com/2015/12/canadian-pastor-gets-life-in-north-korea-prison/#QGjeiTkIVz1mdRqO.99
