[1] He was operating humanitarian efforts in North Korea providing tens of millions of dollars' worth of aid[2] before disappearing in February 2015.
[3] The DPRK had arrested him and in December 2015, Lim was sentenced to life with hard labour for crimes against the North Korean regime.
[4] In August 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent a Canadian international government delegation to Pyongyang to discuss the case.
[1] It operates from a complex that includes a 1,773-seat sanctuary, an education wing of numerous classrooms, a 5,260-square-foot fellowship hall with a full commercial kitchen, a 6,650-square-foot gymnasium and a 248-seat chapel.
[10] While his church blocked efforts to talk to people working with Lim for his safety, The Globe and Mail found evidence of extensive efforts to start businesses, import and export food, glasses, fuel, and other goods, feed thousands of people, and even buy the largest hotel in North Korea.
[11] Lim travelled to North Korea on January 31, 2015, crossing the land border with China to visit the northeastern city of Rajin,[12] and then disappeared.
[13] In a video released by a North Korean propaganda website in August, Hyeon appeared to read from a script to a nearly empty state-operated Pongsu Church in Pyongyang.
[10] According to the DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) 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.
"[8] According to China's official Xinhua news agency, "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".
[6][5][7] In a post-release interview, Lim attributed his arrest to a video clip of a speech he made at a Christian conference in the United States, where he stated that North Koreans should "believe in God instead of Kim Il-sung and Jesus instead of Kim Jong-Il", which was posted on the internet without his permission and noticed by North Korean authorities.