North Korea Gives Christian Pastor Life in Prison Lim Hyeon-soo had been in detention since February, was charged with ‘state subversive plots and activities’ By Jonathan Cheng….See note please
http://www.wsj.com/articles/north-korea-gives-christian-pastor-life-in-prison-1450257181
Little Kim goes unchallenged in human rights abuses…after the dismal policies of Clinton and Dubya Bush which supposedly “reset” relations with the thugs of North Korea…..rsk
Mr. Lim, the pastor of Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Mississauga, Ontario, is the latest in a string of Christian missionaries who have been detained and sentenced to hard labor in North Korea, which worships its founder, Kim Il Sung, as a deity and views the spread of organized religion as a threat to the ruling family’s grip on power.
Mr. Lim was accused of committing “state subversive plots and activities,” according to North Korea’s official mouthpiece, the Korea Central News Agency.
The agency said Mr. Lim had “committed anti-DPRK religious activities” and acted with U.S. and South Korean authorities “to lure and abduct DPRK citizens,” using the acronym for North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary, was detained by North Korea in late 2012 and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. He was released in November 2014.
Jeffrey Fowle, an American tourist, was detained in May 2014 after he left a Bible in a bar with the hope of spreading Christianity in the country. Mr. Fowle was released last October.
Mr. Lim was charged with having “malignantly hurt the dignity of the supreme leadership” of the country and spreading “false propaganda” against North Korea, KCNA said. The Associated Press said Mr. Lim was sentenced after a 90-minute trial in which prosecutors sought the death penalty.
In July, Mr. Lim appeared at a news conference and confessed to trying to overthrow the regime.
Many freed detainees, including Messers Bae and Fowle, have said they were coerced by North Korean authorities to confess to alleged crimes as a condition of release. But confessions don’t always result in freedom.
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