Calls are mounting for North Korea to free a popular Mississauga pastor sentenced Wednesday to life in prison by the world’s most secretive state.

From the GTA to Parliament Hill, news of the harsh sentence handed down to Rev. Hyeon Soo Lim, who heads one of Canada’s largest churches, rattled congregants and politicians alike.

“We pray to God for his release,” said Bernie Yun, who has known Lim for 30 years and is a long-time member of his 3,000-strong congregation at the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Mississauga.

“Christmas is coming... We hope the North Korean government will give us peace of mind by letting him go home to his wife and son and his church family in Canada,” Yun said.

The church is inviting anyone who would like to come out in support to attend a joint prayer gathering in the church’s main sanctuary at 7 p.m. Sunday.

North Korea’s Supreme Court sentenced Lim to life, including hard labour, for what it called crimes against the state. Among the charges he faced were harming the dignity of the supreme leadership, trying to use religion to destroy the North Korean system, disseminating negative propaganda about the North to overseas Koreans and helping U.S. and South Korean authorities lure and abduct North Korean citizens. State prosecutors had sought the death penalty.

In Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed Canada’s “tremendous concern” over Lim’s plight.

“Issues about North Korea’s governance and judicial system are well-known,” Trudeau told reporters on Parliament Hill. “We are very concerned about someone being sentenced to life in North Korea, and we certainly hope to be able to engage with this individual and stand up for his rights.”

Trudeau said the government’s immediate priority is to ensure Canadian diplomats get access to Lim. Apart from a brief glimpse at Lim’s court appearance, that has not happened, he said.

“We need to be able to meet with and ensure that Canadians are being properly treated everywhere around the world, including North Korea, and we will be continuing to press North Korea authorities.”

Lim, who came to Canada from South Korea in 1986, is a clergyman known for his caring and compassion. He has led more than 100 humanitarian aid missions to North Korea since the mid-1990s, his friends and colleagues have told the Star. He was on one of those missions, in which he supports a nursing home, a nursery and an orphanage, when he was arrested in February. Those missions, his friends and colleagues say, were about helping people and were not political.

In July, he appeared at a news conference organized by North Korean authorities in Pyongyang and confessed to plotting to overthrow the North Korean state, but other foreigners detained in North Korea and then released have said they were coerced into making similar statements and confessing guilt during their detention.

“Pastor Lim is a good servant of Jesus Christ. He never tried to overthrow any government. His only crime is he tries to share his love with other people, including the people in North Korea,” said Toronto City Councillor Raymond Cho, who has known Lim for years.

“We are relieved he wasn’t handed the death sentence, but even with the life sentence, it doesn’t make any sense. The new Canadian government needs to take leadership for the pastor’s safe return. We need to tell North Korean leaders that this is bad for their image.”

Lisa Pak, speaking on behalf of Lim’s family and the church, urged North Korea to “remember Rev. Lim’s heart for the people” of their nation.

“The family and the church hope for a demonstration of mercy and compassion,” she said in a statement Wednesday night.

“Finally, we ask the global community for your continued support in prayers.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

She said the church would be organizing a prayer vigil for Lim.

Conservative party officials also urged Ottawa to “pursue every means possible” to secure Lim’s release.

“Through his Toronto-based ministry, Rev. Lim has worked tirelessly and with great compassion to uplift the severely oppressed people of North Korea and has served as a strong voice for North Korean refugee resettlement to Canada,” said foreign affairs critic Tony Clement. “This sentence is a reflection of a cruel and unjust dictatorship that inflicts horrendous human rights abuses upon its own people, and threatens the world with its reckless nuclear ambitions.”

“This is a serious violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the right of states to have consular access to their citizens,” Lasalle told the Star.

Tina Park, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Responsibility to Protect, based at the University of Toronto, said North Korea has played “survival” politics for decades and is known to have used “force and brutality” as a means of control.

“This is a particularly sensitive one for our new government, which is trying actively to engage with the international community and increase Canada’s role. This is beyond the level of religious freedom and human dignity,” said Park, whose expertise focuses on Korean-Canadian relations.

“This is not just a diplomatic case, but a political case for Canada,” she added. “Canada has a very strong Korean diaspora. It can’t turn a blind eye to it and must manoeuvre the case and send a clear message to North Korea in terms of our principles, priorities and values.”

Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, said Ottawa only has so much influence in Pyongyang and must rally assistance from other countries such as China, Japan, South Korea and the U.S. for Lim’s release.

“Injustice is unpredictable in North Korea, and so is justice. Why suddenly a case is resolved and someone is released is similarly arbitrary,” said Neve. “It is important that Canada continues to work hard on the case and not to relent.”

With files from Bruce Campion-Smith and The Canadian Press

Read more about: