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A Canadian Pastor Has Gone Missing While Doing Humanitarian Work in North Korea

A Canadian Pastor Has Gone Missing While Doing Humanitarian Work in North Korea

A 60-year-old pastor from Canada named Rev. Hyeon Soo Lim has gone missing after traveling to North Korea on January 30. His church and family say that he was scheduled to come home on Feb. 4, but hasn’t been heard from since the day after he left. Lim’s church, Light Korean Presbyterian Church, helps operate an orphanage, children’s nursery and nursing home in the country, and the pastor has reportedly visited the area dozens of times.

The church said he never showed up at the humanitarian facility this time. Initially, church members believed that Lim may have been held as part of the country’s strict Ebola prevention measures, and thought he was being quarantined for 21-days—the typical incubation period for the virus. Now, however, there are growing concerns that Lim is being detained liked several other religious missionaries have been in the past. Evangelizing is prohibited in the country, where even possessing a Bible could be met with severe punishment. His church says Lim was familiar with the rules and would not have broken them. A friend of Lim’s told AFP that the pastor was summoned to meet with officials before going missing: “As far as I know, he was asked by officials to come to Pyongyang on Jan. 31 before he went incommunicado” …

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