Canadian pastor sentenced to life with hard labour by North Korean Supreme Court

The North Korean Supreme Court has sentenced Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim to life in prison with hard labour. The state prosecutors had actually sought the death penalty.

The Court described Lim's activities as crimes against the state. These included harming the dignity of the supreme leadership, attempting to use religion to destroy the North Korean system, and disseminating negative propaganda about North Korea to Koreans overseas. The charges also included helping U.S. and South Korean authorities to lure and abduct North Korean citizens, and helping them to assist defectors. Perhaps some of these charges are correct. Some of the charges would never merit punishment in many countries.

If harming the dignity of the leadership of the U.S., President Barack Obama, were a crime punishable by imprisonment, even the U.S. military-industrial-prison complex would be hard pressed to keep up to the demand for more prisons. North Korea joins a select group such as Egypt, the Gulf monarchies, and Thailand who consider any criticism of their Great Leaders as a crime.

Lim supports a nursing home, a nursery and an orphanage in North Korea. He has made more than 100 trips to North Korea. He was scheduled to return on February 4 this year after a visit but was detained by authorities.

Given that the authorities have allowed Lim to establish his humanitarian institutions in the North, and also to allow him to travel back and forth numerous times, it is strange that they should suddenly seize and charge him. They could have simply told him he was no longer welcome in North Korea before and not allowed him to return, or alternatively they could have kicked him out in February and told him he could not come back. Instead, the authorities apparently decided to make him some sort of example of how foreign humanitarian assistance is designed to undermine the Korean regime. The result will simply be to further strengthen negative international sentiment about North Korea.

Reverend Lim is pastor at the 3,000-member Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto. Lisa Pak, spokesperson for the church said:"There was a press conference in Pyongyang, and he was asked to go and say some statements about his allegations and charges. The Chinese media and the state media were there. That's the most that we know, that the press conference happened and he admitted, I use that word very lightly, to some charges."Quite possibly he was tortured but apparently those accused may admit guilt when they are promised a lighter sentence for doing so. Lim's lawyer noted Lim had confessed to his offences, asked for another chance, and had promised he would not do anything bad again.This probably saved him from the death penalty. Had Lim been a North Korean, he might just have disappeared or have received the death penalty.

The department of Global Affairs Canada Canada expressed dismay at the harsh sentence given Lim's "age and fragile health." He is hardly fit for hard labour. The department said that it made repeated attempts to meet with Lim in custody. Canada has no diplomatic relations with North Korea. Spokesperson for the department, Diana Khaddaj, said:"This is a serious violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the right of states to have consular access to their citizens, Like Mr. Lim's family and friends, the government of Canada remains concerned for his rights and well-being, and wishes to see him return to Canada."

There appears little consistency in how violations of the law are treated in North Korea. An Australian missionary, simply apologized for his missionary activity last year and was deported. North Korea has very stringent rules about religious activity. Just leaving a Bible in a public place could land a person in jail. Just last year North Korea released Kenneth Bae, an American Korean missionary who also was convicted of crimes against the state and was given 15 years. He had medical problems while in detention. US intelligence official, James Clapper, went to North Korea and arranged his release.

Perhaps something similar could be arranged to release Lim. Perhaps, Canada can enlist the aid of Dennis Rodman the NBA star who is a friend of Kim Jong-un. Kim is a huge fan of the NBA and he also loves attention. He might very well decide to show how "magnanimous" he is and release the Toronto pastor if some important person in the west, such as Rodman, asks him to do so.

New York Philharmonic to play in North Korea

Mehta says he doesn't think of politics but they will play the Star-Spangled Banner? Is that usually on the program of a classical concert? Even Gershwin's American in Paris is a very American work but at least it is a recognised concert piece.

N Korea concert to be aired on TV

The orchestra was recently conducted by Gustavo DudamelThe New York Philharmonic's historic concert in North Korea is to be screened on television.
The first US cultural event in the reclusive country's capital, Pyongyang, will be screened by US, South Korean, and European broadcasters.
The 26 February concert will feature the playing of the Star Spangled Banner and a programme of works including Gershwin's An American In Paris.
It is unclear whether North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il will attend.
Details of the TV broadcast have yet to be finalised.
Breakthrough
Orchestra president Zarin Mehta said it would show how "music can unite".
"We only play great music," he added when asked whether the choice of pieces had been politically inspired.
"We don't think about politics."

Detained Canadian aid worker freed by North Korea.

It seems that sometimes government officials can do good work behind the scenes. Harper didn't make an issue of this case and that may very well have helped facilitate developments out of the media limelight.

Detained Canadian aid worker freed by North Korea
Updated Mon. Jan. 28 2008 6:26 AM ET
The Canadian Press
TORONTO -- A humanitarian aid worker from Edmonton who was detained in North Korea for nearly three months is free.
A spokesman for Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Helena Guergis told The Canadian Press Monday that Je Yell Kim was deported to China on Saturday.
Jeffrey Kroeker said Kim was met at the Chinese border by Canadian consular officials who were working to reunite him with his family.
Kroeker also thanked North Korean authorities for allowing Canadian consular officials to visit Kim on two separate occasions.
Jess Dutton, a counsellor at Canada's embassy in Seoul, told The Associated Press that Kim has been reunited with his family, but declined to comment on his current location, citing their request for privacy.
Kim, who is in his 50's, has spent several years working in a poor area of North Korea where foreign aid workers are normally welcome.
He was reportedly detained on Nov. 3 on undisclosed "national security matters.''
According to the U.S. government-funded radio station Voice of America, during an interrogation, Kim wrote in a statement that he had criticized the communist North Korean regime and had tried to set up a church in the North. The report has not been confirmed.
North Korea nominally allows freedom of religion to its 23 million people, but the practice is severely restricted.
The U.S. State Department last year designated North Korea as a nation that persecutes people because of their religious faiths.
Last week, Ted Lipman, Canada's ambassador to South Korea, was reported to have led a diplomatic mission to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.
Guergis would not comment directly on the negotiations to gain Kim's freedom, but said: "I am very proud of the great work our Canadian consular officials did to make it possible for Mr. Kim to be reunited with his family.''