Supporters of jailed Canadian pastor hope for his release despite North Korean outburst

Supporters of a Canadian pastor convicted of subversion and sentenced to hard labour for life by North Korea say they hope a war of words between Pyongyang and Ottawa will not derail behind the scenes efforts to have the man released.

On Tuesday, North Korea blasted Canadian officials and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for their “slanderous” reaction to the sentence handed to Hyeon Soo Lim, a South Korean-born Canadian.

A spokesman for North Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) accused Canada of “recklessly spouting rubbish against the DPRK.”

Rev. Lim, who runs the Light Korean Presbyterian Church west of Toronto, was arrested in North Korea in February for crimes against the state.

(click to listen to the interview with Rev. Lisa Pak, spokesperson for Lim’s family and the Light Korean Presbyterian Church)

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Last Wednesday, after a 90-minute trial, North Korea’s Supreme Court sentenced him to life in prison with hard labour, saying Lim had attempted to overthrow the government and undermine its social system with “religious activities” for the past 18 years, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported. State prosecutors had sought the death penalty.

Canadian officials called the sentence “unduly harsh.”

“The issues of North Korea’s governance and judicial system are well known,” Trudeau said. “We certainly hope to be able to engage with this individual and stand up for his rights.”

The statement seems to have infuriated North Korean officials.

“Public officials of Canada, including its premier, have been rashly unleashing malicious slander against our republic about the hard labour for life sentence against him,” the North Korea’s KCNA news agency quoted the DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.

“We cannot suppress outrage that the Canadian government dares to pick a quarrel with our fair and just judicial decision speaking of ‘concern’ and ‘violation of international law’ when its citizen has committed a vicious crime against us.”

Canada’s unreasonable position would only complicate the case, the spokesman was quoted as saying, without elaborating.

Officials with Global Affairs Canada said they “continue to work towards a resolution” of Lim’s case.

“While we remain disappointed with the life sentence handed to Mr. Lim, Canada is thankful that consular access has finally been granted to Mr. Lim,” François Lasalle, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, wrote in a carefully worded statement. “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.”

Rev. Lisa Pak, a spokesman for Lim’s family said in an odd way the fact that the pastor has been finally sentenced opens the way to try reach a diplomatic settlement with North Korea.

“We were taken aback by the severity of the sentence,” Pak said. “But at same time we recognize that this is now an open door for discussion.”

She said the family and the church were very grateful that Lim was granted consular access by the North Korean authorities.

“They were finally able to get access to Rev. Lim and hear that he’s doing OK and he was at peace in terms of knowing that there are a lot of supporters of him,” Pak said.

“If the allegations against the DPRK and their human rights history are indeed untrue – and that’s an if – we then understand their outrage, because nobody wants to be accused of such heinous crimes,” Pak said. “Now having said this, we hope that this might be an opportunity for magnanimous demonstration of mercy and compassion in releasing Rev. Lim and returning him home as soon as possible. We feel that it will go a long way in showing the international community that the DPRK may just be grossly misunderstood.”

Lim’s church has said he had visited the North more than 100 times since 1997 and helped set up an orphanage and nursing home.

Lim, who has lived in Canada since 1986, had a “very serious health problem, very high blood pressure”, his church said. He was 60 at the time of capture.

With files from CBC News and Reuters