REFILE-UPDATE 2-North Korea holding U.S. citizen for allegedly spying - CNN

(Fixes 8th paragraph to read "three meals a day")
SEOUL, Jan 11 (Reuters) - A Canadian pastor serving a life
sentence in North Korea for subversion said he spends eight
hours a day digging holes at a labour camp, while a naturalised
American citizen said he is being held by the state for spying,
CNN reported from Pyongyang.
If confirmed, Kim Dong Chul, who CNN said was 60 and
formerly of Fairfax, Virginia, would be the second Western
citizen known to be held currently in North Korea. He was being
held for spying for South Korea and asked the South or the U.S.
government to rescue him, CNN said.
Hyeon Soo Lim, a South Korean-born Canadian who was the head
pastor at one of Canada's largest churches, has been held by the
North since last February. Lim, who was 60 at the time of his
arrest, was sentenced to hard labour for life in December for
attempting to overthrow the North's regime.
"I wasn't originally a labourer, so the labour was hard at
first," Lim told CNN in Korean through an interpreter. "But now
I've gotten used to it."
The charges against Lim lacked specifics, but he said it may
be related to his open criticism of the North's three
generations of leaders.
"I admit I've violated this government's authority, system
and order," Lim said in the interview aired on Monday. Asked if
his biggest crime was speaking badly of the North's leaders, he
said: "Yes, I think so."
Lim was brought into a Pyongyang hotel for the interview,
his hair cropped short and wearing a grey padded prison uniform
bearing the number "036" on his chest. He said works eight hours
a day, six days a week digging holes in an orchard at a labour
camp where he has seen no other prisoners, CNN said.
Lim, who had lived in Canada since 1986, gets three meals a
day and regular medical attention, CNN said. His church has said
Lim had a "very serious health problem, very high blood
pressure."
Lim had visited the North more than 100 times since 1997 and
helped set up an orphanage and nursing home, according to the
church.
In a separate interview, Kim told CNN he spied on behalf of
"South Korean conservative elements" and was arrested in
October.
"I was tasked with taking photos of military secrets and
scandalous scenes," Kim said.
The U.S. embassy in Seoul said it was aware of the report
but did not have further comment.
A U.S. State Department official declined to comment on the
reports, saying that speaking publicly about specific cases of
detained Americans can complicate efforts to get them released.
If confirmed, Kim would be the first American to be detained
since the North released three U.S. citizens in 2014.
He said he had moved to the Chinese city of Yanji near the
border with North Korea and worked in the North Korean city of
Rason in a trading business, when a number of South Koreans
approached him
"They asked me to help destroy the (North's) system and
spread propaganda against the government," he said. He was being
held at a Pyongyang hotel and was in good health, CNN said.