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North Korea: Canadian 'Confesses' State Crime

North Korea: Canadian 'Confesses' State Crime

A Canadian pastor held in North Korea has been paraded in front of the country's media to "confess" to crimes of trying to overthrow the state.

According to North Korea's official news agency, KCNA, Hyeon Soo Lim "honestly admitted to all crimes" he was accused of committing.

The news agency quoted the pastor, who is from Toronto's 3,000-member Light Korean Presbyterian Church, as saying that he had travelled to North Korea pretending to be an aid worker, but instead seeking information for sermons outside the country.

The aim of his work 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", he was quoted as saying at Pyongyang's People's Palace of Culture.

"I have so far malignantly defamed the dignity and social system of the DPRK, pursuant to the scenario of the US and the South Korean regime."

Mr Lim told the news conference that he also worked with South Korean and American authorities to "lure and abduct" North Koreans to help the country's defectors.

Mr Lim has visited North Korea dozens of times since 1997, helping start an orphanage and a nursing home there, his church supporters say. He was detained there in January.

He is South Korean-born but has lived in Canada since 1986 and is a Canadian citizen.

Canada suspended diplomatic relations with North Korea five years ago and officials at Canada's Foreign Affairs say they are "deeply concerned" and "continue to advocate for consular access and for a resolution".

Lisa Pak, a spokesman for his church in Canada, said she was aware of the North Korean reports, adding: "That's the most that we know: that the press conference happened and he admitted - I use that word very lightly - to some charges."

Mr Lim's family would not comment, except to say that the "humanitarian aid projects that Mr Lim has both initiated and supported in the DPRK have been for the betterment of the people".

Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been pictured attending an air show where he told the nation's pilots to improve their skills and prepare for a "settling of accounts" with "US imperialists" and the "South Korean puppet regime".

Kim was quoted as speaking after the air show, at Kalma Airport in the port city of Wonsan, and saying pilots must "respect the Party's training philosophy and objectives and further improve upon their aviation skills".