N. Korea detains Peel pastor for ‘treason’

A South Korean news agency is reporting that an Ontario pastor detained in North Korea has confessed to “subversive plots” against the communist state during a televised news conference.

Yonhap says Rev. Hyeon Soo Lim of the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Mississauga, Ont., is quoted by the Korean Central News Agency as saying he was “a servant of the U.S. imperialists and South Korean puppet group.”

A church spokeswoman says Lim was on a humanitarian mission to North Korea when detained in early February. Lisa Pak says the 60-yearold Christian missionary entered North Korea on Jan. 31. She says Lim’s family didn’t want to comment on the reports of his alleged confessions.

A Foreign Affairs spokeswoman says the government is “deeply concerned” and continues to try to arrange consular access and a find resolution to his case. Assistance is difficult, however, because Canada has no diplomatic office there.

At Thursday’s news conference, Lim reportedly said he travelled to several parts of the country pretending to deliver aid, but his real purpose was “to build a base to overthrow the system of the country and create a religious state.”

He then went on to apologize for his “indescribable treason.”

“He’s not that kind of person who goes around and spy and agitates people. It’s not his nature,” said Toronto Councillor Raymond Cho, a close friend of Lim.

Pak says the pastor has a deep love for North Korean people, and has visited more than 100 times.

“I hope Rev. Lim will be pardoned. (North Korea) has an image problem . . . So who knows? Maybe it will be seen as a good gesture,” Cho said. With files from Laurent Bastien Corbeil