UPDATE 7-North Korea sentences Canadian pastor to hard labour for life

* Pastor had visited North Korea more than 100 times -
church
* Lim has been detained since February
* Lim is only Western citizen known to be held now in N.
Korea

(Adds comment from Lim's church, paragraphs 14-15)
By Jack Kim
SEOUL, Dec 16 (Reuters) - North Korea's highest court has
sentenced a South Korea-born Canadian pastor to hard labour for
life for subversion, the North's official KCNA news agency
reported on Wednesday, a punishment Canada condemned as "unduly
harsh."
Hyeon Soo Lim, the head pastor at one of Canada's largest
churches, has been held by North Korea since February and has
appeared on its state media confessing to crimes against the
state. He had been doing humanitarian work in North Korea since
1997, according to his church.
Lim admitted during the trial to "not only viciously
defaming the highest dignity of Korea and its system but also
possessing the wicked intention of trying to topple the Republic
by staging an anti-state conspiracy," KCNA said.
The court said Lim had attempted to overthrow the North
Korean government and undermine its social system with
"religious activities" for the past 18 years, China's official
Xinhua news agency reported.
The prosecution sought the death penalty, but the defence
asked for leniency despite the gravity of his crimes.
The court sentenced him to hard labour for life, KCNA said.
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canadian
officials would continue to press for access to Lim.
"The issues of North Korea's governance and judicial system
are well known. We are very concerned about someone being
sentenced to life in North Korea," he told reporters.
KCNA did not specify what activities Lim engaged in, but
Xinhua reported that Lim confessed to helping people defect from
North Korea and had met the U.S. ambassador to Mongolia
regarding the plans.
Most defectors fleeing isolated, repressive North Korea
travel to South Korea via China and Southeast Asia. It is also
possible to defect via Mongolia.
A Canadian source familiar with the file said there was no
reason to believe any of the allegations were true, with the
trial clearly scripted. The source dismissed the idea Lim had
been plotting with the U.S. envoy to Mongolia.
"Is it possible that Pastor Lim crossed paths with the small
diplomatic community and the American ambassador while he was in
Ulan Baator at some point on his numerous travels to the
country? Maybe. Would it be unusual? No," said the source.
A spokeswoman for Lim's church, the 3,000-member Light
Korean Presbyterian Church, said that while Lim has been to
Mongolia, "he did not meet with any official there."
"The capitulation on that issue at the previous press
conference in the DPRK, therefore, was curious," church
spokeswoman Lisa Pak said in an email.

HANDS CLASPED
North Korea had previously sentenced Korean-American
missionary Kenneth Bae to 15 years of hard labour but released
him last year after holding him for two years.
Lim's church has said Lim had visited the North more than
100 times since 1997 and helped set up an orphanage and a
nursing home.
Lim, who has lived in Canada since 1986 and is a Canadian
citizen, has a "very serious health problem, very high blood
pressure," his church said. He was 60 at the time of capture.
He is the only Western citizen known to be held currently in
North Korea.
Both North Korea and neighbouring China have clamped down on
Christian groups in recent years.
Last year, Pyongyang released three detained Americans,
including Bae and another man who had left a copy of the Bible
at a club. It freed a South Korean national with a U.S. green
card in October this year after holding him for six months.
In June, the North's highest court sentenced two South
Koreans accused of spying for Seoul to hard labour for life. The
pair are among three South Koreans known to be held by the
North.

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