NORTH Korean authorities remain silent on the fate of imprisoned 75-year-old South Australian missionary John Short.

Despite worldwide publicity about her husband’s arrest and detention in the “hermit kingdom”, Karen Short is yet to hear a single word about his health and conditions.

Mr Short, a former member of the Unley and Elizabeth Global Hall Brethren, was arrested by the public security bureau of North Korea on Sunday and faces 15 years in jail under the harsh regime of Kim Jong-un for allegedly distributing religious material.

Opinion: Is John Short a well-meaning fool or just following his faith?

His arrest was first reported on advertiser.com.au on Wednesday afternoon.

A travel companion says Mr Short was arrested after leaving Christian pamphlets in a Buddhist temple.

Wang Chong said Mr Short left pamphlets at the temple during a tour, but his tour guide later reported this to local authorities.

Ms Short told The Advertiser this morning that her husband of 36 years, who was arrested on Sunday under suspicion of distributing religious pamphlets, is “well equipped mentally” to deal with his ordeal.

“He’s strong but not knowing what is happening to him is difficult to deal with,’’ Ms Short said from her Hong Kong home.

“I’m thankful that the story (of his detention) is out there now but it hasn’t led to any news coming out of North Korea.’’

Mr Short was swamped with worldwide media inquiries yesterday after Advertiser.com.au exclusively reported the story on Wednesday afternoon.

“I have never experienced anything like that,’’ she added.

“The media barrage was phenomenal — I shut the door to the office at 10pm because they were still ringing the doorbell.’’

News_Image_File: Karen Short, wife of imprisoned Australian missionary John Short, poses with a photo of her husband inside the Christian Book Room in Hong Kong. Picture: AP Photo/Kin CheungMr Short, who was born in Barmera in the Riverland, lives in Hong Kong with his wife and three children, but is a regular visitor to Adelaide.

The couple has lived in Hong Kong for almost 40 years and bought the Christian Book Room publishing house together 16 years ago.

They produce and distribute Bibles and pamphlets translated in several Asian languages.

The couple’s three children all grew up in Hong Kong but now live overseas.

Youngest son Ben Short, who is based in South Australia, felt compelled to respond to negative comments about his father appearing on Advertiser.com.au

Under the name of “Chi” he wrote:

“@Greg Thank you Greg. Ben Short here I am John Short’s Son. He is the unsung hero of our era. Thought and Prayers.”

Mrs Short, who is overwhelmed with the “worldwide support” her family has received, said she understood the emotions of her son but people were welcome to express their opinion, which was “the Australian way”.

“We Australians are particularly cynical but are all entitled to our view — I appreciate that,’’ she added.

“We always know what people are against but I prefer to know what you’re for and be a little more positive.

“Ben wanted to fly up and give me support but he has family and responsibility to care for.

“My other boys are steady and calm and supportive and I’m thankful. They all know their father and that’s what keeps his strong and steady.’’

Mr Short travelled to North Korea with his “manager”, Chinese Christian Wang Chong, a man Mrs Short calls a “can-do-man’’.

“The tour group that booked the trip (BTG) are trying to keep in touch with the North Koreans but he (Mr Chong) said they are not even answering the phone now,’’ she added.

“I’m pretty sure the Koreans will have seen what is happening in the Western media though.’’

News_Image_File: Karen Short, wife of imprisoned Australian missionary John Short, inside the Christian Book Room in Hong Kong. Picture: AP Photo/Kin CheungBTG employee Han Weiping said it had been informed by its parent North Korea company that Mr Short had admitted he didn’t enter the country “only for tourism”.

Karen Short confirmed that during her husband’s first trip to North Korea, in February 2013, he had been open about his faith and had read his Bible in front of government minders.

A South Australia member of Gospel Halls brethren, and an acquaintance of the family, said Mr Short had not been naive in going to North Korea,

``Some people are saying John was stupid but the reality is he knew the risks,’’ they said, asking not to be named.

“John was prepared to pay the price for his love of the Korean people.”

Former Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has warned it could be “very difficult to protect” Mr Short, given the North Korean dictatorship’s previous harsh stance on visitors promoting religion.

Mr Short has been questioned in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital and its largest city, about religious pamphlets printed in the Korean language and believed to be in his possession.

“It’s a fascist state and they would take a very dim view of anyone distributing information that doesn’t concur with the state ideology,” Mr Downer said.

“A worse place to be caught doing something like that is unimaginable.”

On Wednesday, Ms Short told of the family’s shock at his situation and their hopes for his safe return.

“We’re Christians and we’ve been here (in Asia) for 40 years,” Karen Short said from her home in Hong Kong.

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“He’s a frontline man — this is what he does. But North Korea is very different — that’s why his heart was to go there. I’m asking people to pray for him.”

Australia has no embassy in Pyongyang and North Korea closed its embassy in Canberra in 2008.

The Advertiser understands delicate negotiations to secure a release are taking place with the Australian consulates in Hong Kong and Jakarta, and Swedish and South Korean authorities based in Seoul, South Korea.

“That’s how these things work I understand,” Mrs Short said.

“Our best hope is that they realise he’s not a political campaigner and just throw him out of the country.”

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Mrs Short has been contacted by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) who told her: “This is totally out of the normal for us and a different and difficult case.’’

A DFAT spokeswoman said the Government was aware of Mr Short’s arrest.

“Australian has no diplomatic representation in North Korea and our capacity to deliver consular services there is extremely limited,’’ she said.

“Australian interests in North Korea are currently represented by the Swedish Embassy. We are in close contact with Swedish officials in Pyongyang to seek their assistance in confirming the wellbeing of Mr Short and to obtain more information.”News_Rich_Media: A U.N. panel has released a 400-page report alleging widespread crimes against humanity in North Korea. The WSJ’s Ramy Inocencio speaks with Dr. John Delury at Yonsei University in Seoul to discuss how any action taken may hinge on China’s position.

Mr Downer said he believed the Australian Government could work with Beijing to try to help.

“Or the Swedes or the Brits could get involved but he could have a very difficult time of it,” he said.

“It would depend on how he was looking to distribute material but it’s a very dangerous place to be doing something like that — we can only hope for the best.”

North Korea has several sanctioned churches in Pyongyang, but frowns on the distribution of Bibles and other religious materials by foreigners.

Interaction between North Koreans and foreigners is strictly regulated.

Dr Leonid Petrov, who teaches North Korean political history at the Australian National University in Canberra, said Mr Short’s situation “could be complicated” by the release of a UN report on Monday detailing regime crimes against humanity. News_Image_File: North Korean children rollerskate in Kim Il-Sung Square. Picture: AP

Releasing the report, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, urged world powers to refer North Korea to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“If he was found to be networking directly with North Koreans to spread religious material it could be very bad for him and them,” Dr Petrov said.

“For locals, the whole family would be sent to the gulag (forced labour camps) with little chance of ever being released unless they repent (their religious views).

“For the foreigner, they could face a similar sentence to Kenneth Bae of 15 years with 16-hours-a-day hard labour.”

Mr Bae, a South Korean-born US citizen, was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment in April last year for attempting to topple the Korean regime.

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“They do treat white foreigners with some dignity compared to Korean-born ‘foreigners’,” Dr Petrov added.

“And foreigners are normally deported if they are distributing religious material.

“But I would expect them to videotape a confession and then hold a press conference before they let him go.”

Mr Petrov said religions were sanctioned in the country, but people were too scared to participate and Koreans had no idea about Christianity.

Christians suffered most in North Korea on the sole basis of their faith.

This is Mr Short’s second visit to North Korea, with the first time being in February 2013 as part of a large group.

This time he entered the country with only his Hong Kong-based manager, who was deported to China on Sunday soon after Mr Short’s arrest.

“His manager (in Beijing) thought he’d be out by now so our concern is growing,” Mrs Short added.

“I told him to take it steady and just have faith.

“I’m at peace. I know my husband and they won’t intimidate him.”

Mr Short is a member of the Gospel Hall brethren, a group of independent Christian assemblies throughout the world that share biblical doctrines and practices.

He has been arrested several times before, mainly in China, for his religious beliefs.

He was arrested in May 1996 in China and his entry visa was revoked.

He became “persona non grata” with the communist authorities for almost two years.

After demonstrating he had no political agenda, he was again allowed to visit China’s provinces to teach and distribute Christian pamphlets.

During the ensuing years he has been arrested on several occasions for speaking out about brutality against Chinese Christians.

Punishments of up to 15 years for distributing religious material have previously been handed down in North Korea under the leadership of Kim Jong-un.

News_Image_File: US citizen Kenneth Bae was arrested last year. AP Photo/Courtesy Terri Chung,

Mrs Short sees no advantage in going to North Korea herself to try having her husband released.

“I’m basing myself here to deal with everything that comes in,” she added.

“I’m keeping the family in the loop but our children know their father and this is what he does. They are tremendously supportive.

“But we are Asia people for life, our work is here. We’re in God’s hands.”

Mrs Short said she and husband had plans to return to South Australia to catch up with friends in April.

WHO IS JOHN SHORT?

John Short was born at Barmera, South Australia on Australia Day (January 26) in 1939.

He completed his secondary school studies at the Adelaide Boys High School and graduated as a dental technician from the Royal Adelaide Dental Hospital in 1960.

In 1962 he joined the staff of the Adelaide YMCA continuing in this work until he sailed for Hong Kong in 1964.

He worked in the Kowloon Peace Clinic with veteran missionary Miss Frances Wilks, extracting teeth for poor refugees.

During a visit to Australia in 1976, he met Karen, his future wife in Queensland.

They married in January 1978 in Bundaberg, Queensland, and have had three sons — all raised in Hong Kong.

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL HALL BRETHREN?

John and Karen Short describe themselves as “faith missionaries” associated with The Gospel Hall Brethren, a worldwide group of independent evangelistic Christian assemblies.

The group shares a set of shared biblical doctrines and practices and prefers to be called Christians rather than be categorised by a particular denomination.

At the heart of the movement is an evangelist zeal to spread the their Gospel beliefs to all parts of the world and especially those parts where religious persecution of Christians occurs.

They believe that the word church refers to a group of people, not a building, and prefer the term Gospel Hall for where people congregate to learn and pray.

Gospel Hall brethren believe their historical roots began with the first assembly of Christians in Jerusalem around AD32.

Gospel Halls around the world are involved in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ through various means including preaching, printed literature, radio broadcasts and visitations to community institutions including schools, prisons and hospitals.

The group has been strongest throughout Europe and the United States, but has experienced a wide expansion in the past 50 years through Canada, Mexico and Central and South America.

It recognises no central authority or leadership, but references the Bible as their authority.

Each assembly is required to operate autonomously led by a group of elders.