Jailed pair tell of plight in N Korea

SEOUL: A Canadian pastor serving a life sentence in North Korea for subversion said he spends eight hours a day digging holes at a labour camp, while a naturalised American citizen said he was being held by the state for spying, CNN reported from Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, yesterday.

If confirmed, Kim Dong Chul, who CNN said was 60 and formerly of Fairfax, Virginia, would be the second Western citizen known to be held currently in North Korea. He was being held for spying for South Korea, and asked the South or the US government to rescue him, CNN said.

Hyeon Soo Lim, a South Korean-born Canadian who was the head pastor at one of Canada’s largest churches, has been held by the North since February. He was sentenced to hard labour for life last month for attempting to overthrow the North’s regime.

The charges against Lim lacked specifics, but he said it may have had to do with his open criticism of the North’s three generations of leaders.