North Korea’s highest court has sentenced the Korean-Canadian pastor to hard labour for life for subversion.

Lim’s family said he had gone to North Korea last January as part of routine humanitarian work conducted in a nursing home, orphanage and nursery.

Hyeon Soo Lim, the head pastor at a Toronto church that is one of Canada’s largest, has been held by North Korea since February.

A spokeswoman for the Canadian Global Affairs Department had no immediate information about his sentence.

According to the court, Soo Lim confessed to all the charges and showed “deep remorse”, Xinhua said.

Canadian media reported that Lim had extensive business dealings in North Korea, including ramen and wig factories, gas stations, farms and fishing operations. He grew the congregation from about a dozen people in 1986 to more than 3,000 members today, Pak said.

Prior to his arrest, he had traveled to North Korea on allegedly humanitarian missions since 1997.

He also reportedly admitted to giving lectures that “North Korea should be collapsed with the love of “God”, and helping the US and South Korea to aid North Korean defectors.

Bae, whose detention received worldwide attention, suffered medical issues in detention.

Bae, who had been convicted of plotting to overthrow the North Korean regime, was released along with another American detainee as the result of a secret mission to Pyongyang by USA intelligence chief James Clapper. He is reportedly planning a book about his 2-year-ordeal in detention.

An Australian missionary detained for spreading Christianity was deported previous year after he apologized for anti-state religious acts and requested forgiveness.