Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim has been in North Korean detention since January 2015.

That was 900 days ago. And counting.

The leader of Mississauga’s Light Presbyterian Church went missing during a humanitarian mission in a northern region where Lim was so well-known for his charity work, he’d been granted a frequent access visa.

Weeks later, North Korean authorities confirmed they’d arrested Lim, now 62, ostensibly for plotting to overthrow Kim Jong Un’s authoritarian regime. The pastor was sentenced to life in a hard-labour camp where he told an American journalist, given unique access to Lim, that he digs holes eight hours a day, six days a week.

Now, there is renewed — but cautious — hope for Lim’s release.

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Last Friday, North Korean officials arranged a meeting “in the humanitarian spirit” between the imprisoned Canadian and a Swedish Embassy diplomat in Pyongyang, according to state media outlet Korean Central News Agency.

The timing of the July 14 meeting has also commanded attention: It came four weeks after American university student Otto Warmbier was released from a North Korean prison, in a coma, and died just days after arriving home.

“Any type of contact is always good,” said Toronto lawyer Jack Kim, a special adviser at HanVoice, the largest Canadian organization advocating on behalf of North Korean human rights and refugees.

“It means the North Koreans haven’t forgotten about Rev. Lim and are at least continuing the dialogue, even if it’s on humanitarian grounds.”

Details surrounding Lim’s disappearance more than two years ago have been scant. The Star has since learned the pastor vanished the same day he entered North Korea after two men approached him and invited him to the capital, Pyongyang.

Kim described the North Korean regime as “one of the most opaque countries in the world” and noted last week’s meeting did not include an official from Global Affairs Canada, the ministry tasked with securing Lim’s release.

“The fact that it was not someone from Global Affairs, but the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, to a certain degree, tempers my enthusiasm about this,” said Kim, who has met Lim.

“I think you could look at this (meeting) with guarded, perhaps minimal, optimism.”

North Korean officials have permitted two prior Canadian consular visits, the last one in December 2016.

Lim has also met previously with Swedish Ambassador Torkel Stiernlöf, who is based in Pyongyang. It’s unknown if Stiernlöf was in the Friday meeting; the Swedish Embassy did not respond to an email from the Star. Canada does not have a diplomatic presence in North Korea and the Swedish Embassy acts as Canada’s protecting power.

Canadian Senator Yonah Martin, deputy leader of the opposition in the Senate, is a friend of Lim’s. She said the North Korean gesture in arranging the meeting provides an opening for Canada to engage the regime more urgently “because there is great and growing concern about Rev. Lim’s health.”

Lim has high blood pressure and requires medication. The North Koreans have allowed medication to be sent to him.

“Rev. Lim has lost a considerable amount of weight — between 60 to 80 pounds — and he isn’t well,” Martin said from her Burnaby, B.C., home.

“I hope this is an opportunity for Canada to follow up in whatever way will bring Rev. Lim home. I don’t want to say ‘now or never,’ but I hope something can come out of this,” she continued.

The North Korean news story also invited the Canadian government to resolve Lim’s case.

Lim asked the unnamed Swedish diplomat “to convey his request to the Canadian government for making active efforts to settle his issue,” according to an English language report citing the original article. In addition, the story stated the meeting was organized “on the basis of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and in the humanitarian spirit.”

Global Affairs has said little publicly during Lim’s detainment other than to state frequently that his imprisonment “is absolutely a priority.”

The ministry did not answer a list of questions about the July 14 meeting from the Star or confirm that it occurred. Instead, ministry spokesperson Jocelyn Sweet emailed this statement: “The Government of Canada is very concerned about the health, well-being, and continued detention of Mr. Lim. This case is absolutely a priority for us. We have been actively engaged on this difficult case and consular officials are ‎working actively to secure Mr. Lim’s release.

“As there are privacy considerations and this is an active case, we are unable to disclose further details,” Sweet added.

Lim’s wife, Geum Young Lim, and son, James, have remained silent since the pastor disappeared; friends say mother and son have long trusted the Canadian government to handle the sensitive negotiations and don’t want to be distractions by granting interviews.

However, Warmbier’s death appears to have deeply affected the Lims. The mother and son released a statement through family spokesperson Lisa Pak two days after the 22-year-old died in Cincinnati.

“We are heartbroken at the news of Otto’s passing. What has happened is tragic. We strongly urge the Canadian government to place more attention on Reverend Lim’s case,” according to the June 21 statement.

“Canada’s political leadership must stand up for the rights of a Canadian humanitarian. We are desperate to see our husband and father home, and we are pleading for an active escalation in diplomatic efforts. Our hearts and prayers are with the Warmbiers. This ordeal of all families involved has to end,” it concluded.

Martin said with Lim detained for so long — he became a grandfather for the first time while in the labour camp and that grandchild is now 10 months old — the family is now “beyond frustrated.”

“They are exasperated, they are so exhausted from just hoping and waiting for something to happen,” Martin said.

Martin also wondered: “It’s been over 900 days. Why has he been forgotten?”

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Lim, his wife and son — the Lims’ only child — are all South Korean natives. The family immigrated to Canada in 1986 when Lim had the opportunity to obtain his Master's degree at the University of Toronto’s Knox College. Lim is a Canadian citizen.

After graduating, Lim began ministering in Canada with the Light Presbyterian Church, which then had only about five families. He became a strong preacher and, under his spiritual direction as senior pastor, the church grew to 3,000 members. A new, multi-purpose facility for the burgeoning church opened in May 2009 near Goreway Dr. and Derry Rd. in Mississauga.

Lim’s passion for humanitarian work took him and church associates around the world: Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea. But it was in North Korea where he found his calling, visiting there about 110 times.

The federal government does not want Canadian citizens travelling to North Korea, which is officially called the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

There is a warning on the Global Affairs Canada website: NORTH KOREA — AVOID ALL TRAVEL.

The ministry explains that the advisory exists “due to the uncertain security situation caused by North Korea’s nuclear weapons development program and highly repressive regime” and that “the ability of Canadian officials to provide consular assistance in North Korea is extremely limited.”

Lim had been travelling to North Korea since 1997 and, according to friends, felt comfortable bringing basic human necessities, including food and other nourishment, to a needy population. Lim’s comfort level was evident in that he brought his son James, now 34, with him on about 28 humanitarian missions, friends said. James now lives in the United States.

Lim visited two places on missions: The capital of Pyongyang (via flights from Seoul and Beijing) and in the north, Rajin, which is in a region known as Rason (via flights from Seoul to the Chinese autonomous prefecture of Yanbian, then a two-hour drive to a North Korean border entry point near Rajin).

To piece together Lim’s final trip, the Star interviewed his friends, reviewed documents related to his humanitarian travels and obtained a missing persons profile filed to Toronto Police Services. Some of Lim’s friends asked not to be identified for fear of jeopardizing Lim’s safety or discussions regarding his release.

Based on new information, this is how the pastor’s 2015 mission unfolded:

On Jan. 27, 2015, Lim flew from Seoul to Yanbian in China.

On Jan. 30, Lim and a Canadian colleague, who was already in Yanbian, drove two hours in an SUV to the North Korean border point. The men were cleared to enter Rajin as representatives of the Light Presbyterian Church and an associated program, Global Assistance Partners.

Their plan was to check on a seniors’ nursing home and orphanages sponsored by the church and the assistance program.

The Canadian men had only been in Rajin for a few hours when they met with two men; one a local, the other possibly from Pyongyang, according to the missing person’s profile. The missing persons profile (filed to police by Pak on behalf of the family) contained information relayed by Lim’s Canadian companion, who declined to be interviewed for this story.

Information submitted to Toronto police stated one North Korean man “suggested Rev. Lim make a visit to Pyongyang with him in a car; he assured that a necessary visa and exemption from the (Ebola) quarantine will be arranged.”

At that time, North Korea apparently had a mandatory 21-day Ebola quarantine period for all foreigners, according to information in Lim’s missing person’s profile.

The two Canadian men became separated, friends say, and Lim’s companion did not see Lim get into a vehicle. Lim had not visited Pyongyang “in some time,” the missing persons profile noted.

On Jan. 31, the other Canadian returned to China.

On Feb. 4, Lim was scheduled to depart from North Korea and return home but did not appear in Rajin or Yanbian. His whereabouts were unknown and “after repeated attempts, as of Monday Feb. 23, 2015, there has been no news” of Lim, according to the missing persons report.

Senator Martin said she hopes Canadians “are paying attention” to Lim’s plight as much as his family and congregation — which held a public prayer vigil in June — are.

“He’s a man of God, a man of great faith and a man of deep conviction; there is a real presence about him when you meet him,” Martin said of Lim.

“The fact that he has such a large congregation and he had people across the country and around the world supporting his (humanitarian) work speaks to his character.”

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