Subversion confession in N. Korea

On Friday, North Korea's official news agency said that a Canadian pastor who had been facing charges relating to an attempt to overthrow the state had made a confession.

KCNA quoted Lim Hyeon Soo, who heads Toronto's 3,000-member Light Korean Presbyterian Church, as saying his travels to North Korea had been under the guise of humanitarian work and that his real purpose was to "overturn [North Korea's] social system by taking advantage of the hostile policy against it sought by the South Korean authorities and set up a base for building a religious state."

Lim was also quoted by the news agency of attempting to "lure and abduct" North Koreans while assisting defectors.

Lim's church had previously said the pastor was detained during a humanitarian trip to North Korea. According to the church, Lim has traveled to North Korea more than 100 times since and helped establish an orphanage and a nursing home.

Church spokeswoman Lisa Pak was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying she had heard about the North Korean reports but "that's the most that we know, that the press conference happened and he admitted – I use that word very lightly – to some charges."

Canadian media have also reported that Lim has extensive business dealings in North Korea, including factories, gas stations, and farm and fishing operations.

Lim was born in South Korea but is a Canadian citizen who has lived there for nearly 30 years. He was quoted by KCNA as saying he read a "report on what is going on in North Korea before tens of thousands of South Koreans and overseas Koreans at a sermon on Sundays at my church and during preaching tours of more than 20 countries including Canada, the US, South Korea, Japan and Brazil."

The news agency reported that Lim said "each time, I malignantly slandered the dignity and social system of the DPRK," referring to North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

mz/jil (dpa, Reuters)