A South Korean Baptist missionary has been sentenced to hard labor for life in North Korea after he was convicted of spying and setting up an underground church.
North Korea’s state news agency said the man, named as Kim Jong-uk, had confessed to all his crimes.
South Korean Baptist missionary Kim Jong-uk has been sentenced to hard labor for life in North Korea after he was convicted of spying and setting up an underground church (photo AP)
Pyongyang is still holding another missionary, US citizen Kenneth Bae, who received 15 years hard labor in 2013.
Religious activity is restricted in North Korea, with missionaries arrested on multiple occasions in the past.
“Mr. Kim tried to infiltrate into Pyongyang after illegally trespassing on the border for the purpose of setting up an underground church and gathering information about the internal affairs of the DPRK [North Korea] while luring its inhabitants into South Korea and spying on the DPRK,” the KCNA news agency said.
The prosecution had reportedly been seeking a death sentence for the 50-year-old missionary.
The ruling comes three months after Kim Jong-uk read aloud a public apology on North Korean TV for his “anti-state crimes”.
Kim Jong-uk was arrested after crossing into North Korea from China last October.
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South Korean missionary Kim Jong-uk, who is detained in North Korea, has appeared before media to read from a statement publicly apologizing for “anti-state crimes”.
Kim Jong-uk, 50, said he was arrested after entering via China with religious materials in October.
Religious activity is restricted in North Korea, with missionaries arrested on multiple occasions in the past.
Foreign nationals arrested in North Korea sometimes make public confessions which they later say were under duress.
Merrill Newman, an 85-year-old US national, was briefly held last year. He was freed after confessing to committing crimes during the Korean War – a statement he said was given under duress.
Kim Jong-uk has appeared before North Korean media to read an apology
In his first public appearance since his arrest, Kim Jong-uk said he wanted to let his family know he was in good health.
He said he acted “under directions” from South Korea’s National Intelligence Services (NIS), setting up an underground church in Dandong, China, to collect information on life in North Korea to send back.
“I was thinking of turning North Korea into a religious country, and destroying its present government and political system,” Kim Jong-uk also told the news conference.
One report said Kim Jong-uk had been working in Dandong for seven years helping North Korean refugees.
Kim Jong-uk said he was unsure of his punishment and asked that he be released.
The North Korean state media in November said it had arrested an unnamed South Korean “spy”, a charge which South Korea’s intelligence agency denied.
On Thursday, South Korea’s Unification Ministry urged North Korea to release and repatriate Kim Jong-uk.
