The Honourable Chrystia Freeland
Minister of Foreign Affairs
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, ON K1A 0G2
RE: Rev. Hyeon Soo Lim, detainee in North Korea since early 2015
Dear Minister Freeland,
I am writing as a follow-up to our November 2016 letter to Minister Dion regarding the plight of Rev. Hyeon Soo Lim, Pastor of the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Mississauga.
As you are aware, Rev. Lim is now in his 30th month of incarceration in a North Korean hard labour camp, sentenced for alleged “hate crimes against the state.”
Over a period of 20 years, Pastor Lim travelled to North Korea more than 110 times; delivering much needed humanitarian relief to a nursing home, a nursery and an orphanage. In 1996, Rev. Lim rallied his large (3,000+ member) church in Mississauga, Ontario to respond with aid to the people of North Korea during the four-year famine that killed an estimated 600,000 North Korean citizens.
In January 2015, Rev. Lim travelled to North Korea on one of his humanitarian trips, and disappeared one month later. Global Affairs Canada confirmed in March 2015 that North Korean authorities had indeed detained Rev. Lim. Ten months later, on December 16, he was sentenced to life in prison for alleged crimes against the North Korean regime.
Concerns regarding Rev. Lim’s health are growing with each month the 63-year-old spends under the harsh conditions of a North Korean labour camp. The sole prisoner in his camp, Rev. Lim is forced to dig holes and lift rocks for eight hours a day, six days a week, activity that would physically challenge even a young man.
Concerns for Rev. Lim’s well-being have intensified following the recent release and subsequent death of 22-year-old American, Otto Warmbier, who suffered a severe brain injury while detained in a North Korean prison. Warmbier was serving a 15-year sentence for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster.
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) is the national association of evangelical Christians in Canada. Together with the Lim family – his wife, Geum Young Lim, son, Sung (James) Lim, and the members of the Light Presbyterian Church – the EFC calls on the Government of Canada to hold this case in the highest priority, and to do all it can to secure the immediate release and safe return of Rev. Lim to Canada.
Sincerely,
Julia Beazley, Director, Public Policy
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
c.c.: Hon. Peter Kent (Conservative Party of Canada)
Hélène Laverdière (New Democratic Party)
Luc Thériault (Bloc Québécois)
Author:
Julia Beazley