South Korean Christians Call on North Korea for Pastor Hyeon Soo Lim's Release

Hyeon Soo Lim
After the press conference, people head into the building of South Korea's Ministry of Unification to make a request on behalf of Hyeon Soo Lim, who is detained in North Korea. |

Hyeon Soo Lim
(Photo : Christianity Daily)
After the press conference, people head into the building of South Korea's Ministry of Unification to make a request on behalf of Hyeon Soo Lim, who is detained in North Korea.

Some 20 different Christian organizations in South Korea have come together to form "The Council of Christians for Hyeon Soo Lim's Release,' and called on the North Korean authorities to release Pastor Hyeon Soo Lim of Light Presbyterian Church. This group held a press conference on March 17 in front of the building of South Korea's Ministry of Unification, located in Seoul, and said, directed to North Korea, "Release Hyeon Soo Lim, who loved the North Korean people with his whole being!"

"If this incident is not resolved swiftly, it will bring about deep disappointment to all of the various organizations that have been helping North Korea with humanitarian aid, and may even lead to the decline and/or complete halt of support from these organizations and businesses, so ultimately, it will not be helpful even for North Korea," the council said. It requested help from the North Korean government, South Korean government, and the United Nations.

Lim has visited North Korea 110 times since the time of the North Korean famine in the 1990s, and has been actively involved in humanitarian work helping starving orphans and the poor. Lim has been offering practical help to the North Korean people by establishing noodle factories, ramen factories, and berry farms in Baekdu Mountain, and in 2013, he raised $240,000 from Korean churches in the Toronto area to send winter clothes to orphans in North Korea.

"Despite this selfless work that Lim has done to help the North Korean people, the North Korean government has detained Lim for two months with no explanation," the council said. "As a country that has been receiving so much help from Lim, North Korea is only returning evil for the good it has received."

Meanwhile, it had been confirmed that Lim was detained since his entrance into Pyongyang in late January. Initially, speculations for his lack of contact with family was directed to the possibility that he may have been quarantined for Ebola, but after it was confirmed that the government's quarantine on all foreigners had been lifted on March 2, most predicted that Lim had been detained. On March 5, the Canadian government confirmed that Lim is currently detained by the North Korean government.