Canadian Pastor Missing after Aid Trip to North Korea

Canadian Pastor Missing after Aid Trip to North Korea

By Jeremy Reynalds, Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service (jeremyreynalds@gmail.com)   

 

TORONTO, CANADA (ANS. March 4, 2015) The senior pastor of a Canadian mega church has failed to return from a humanitarian mission to North Korea, and the Canadian government has reached out to try to locate him, his Toronto-based church said on Monday.

 

According to a story by Andrea Hopkins for Reuters, Rev. Hyeon Soo Lim, 60, has made hundreds of trips to North Korea. He helps support a nursing home, a nursery and an orphanage in the Rajin region, said Lisa Pak, a spokeswoman for the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in suburban Toronto.

 

North Korea and China have clamped down on Christian groups in the last year, and several American Christians have been detained by North Korea.

 

Reuters reported Pak said they have not heard from Lim since Jan. 31, but were not initially worried because he is an experienced traveler and knows the country well. They also thought he could be caught up by North Korea's quarantine of foreign travelers who may have been exposed to Ebola.

 

North Korea ended the quarantine program on Monday.

 

“This is not an unusual trip for him ... he’s not a tourist who got lost, he speaks Korean, he's been there many times,” Pak said. “We didn’t want to cause unnecessary hysteria, just make sure he is OK. He's very non-political; he just wants to help the people.”

 

The 3,000-member church, where Lim has been senior pastor for 28 years, has done humanitarian work in North Korea since about 1997, Pak said. Lim immigrated to Canada from South Korea in 1986 and has a wife and grown son, she said.

 

Lim left Toronto on Jan. 27, flew to South Korea, and planned to visit China and North Korea during his trip, Pak said. 

 

Reuters said after hearing from Lim on Jan. 31, the church expected him to be out of contact until Feb. 4. When he did not contact the church, it waited another 21 days to allow for a possible Ebola quarantine.

 

The Canadian government said consular officials are in contact with Lim's family members and have offered consular assistance, but declined to comment on Lim's situation.

 

According to a story by Jake Edmiston for the National Post, since immigrating to Canada from South Korea in 1986,  Lim has grown Light Korean Presbyterian Church from a group of five families into 3,000 members. That’s while leading missions to every continent –  in Cambodia, the Amazon, India and Kazakhstan.

 

So strong is his parish’s zeal for foreign aid, Lin built his new church building beside Toronto’s Pearson Airport.

 

“It’s shorter to list the countries he hasn’t been to,” said Pak, who spoke of the pastor as a “compassionate, non-political” man who likes ice fishing.

 

In North Korea, he has helped residents in the northern region open factories for noodles, tofu and yogurt, according to the church. In the past, he brought vitamins, medical supplies and winter coats into the country, the National Post reported Pak said. 

 

He knew the risks of doing it. But with no updates on Tuesday, the congregation was stuck with “nothing to worry about and nothing to not worry about,”  Pak said. So they prayed.

 

The North Korean government takes a hard line against proselytizing, seeing religion as a threat to the Kim family, which has ruled it since the end of World War Two and been portrayed as demigods in state propaganda.

 

A U.N. report this year cited estimates that between 200,000 and 400,000 of North Korea's 24 million people are Christians. 

 

Reuters said that number is impossible to verify because most Christians cannot worship openly.

 

Note: Please feel free to re-publish this and other ANS stories with attribution to the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net) 

 

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