Pastor ‘admits bid to build Christian state in N Korea’

Last week South Korea’s Yonhap news agency cited “credible intelligence” that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un had personally ordered a satellite launch to mark the anniversary.

The KCNA report said Mr Lim gave a press conference on Thursday in Pyongyang where he admitted to using humanitarian work as a “guise” for “subversive plots and activities in a sinister bid to build a religious state”.

The aim of his work was to “overturn (North Korea’s) social system by taking advantage of the hostile policy against it sought by the South Korean authorities and set up a base for building a religious state”, he was quoted as saying at Pyongyang’s People’s Palace of Culture.

Jong-Un said that the recent military drills were designed to “bring about a radical turn” and would “round off preparations for a war with the U.S. imperialists” and the “South Korean puppet group keen to escalate the confrontation with the fellow countrymen and that of social systems”.

In early May, state media quoted Kim as saying the North would launch satellites into space at the time and locations chosen by the ruling party.

Construction to upgrade North Korea’s main rocket launch site now appears complete amid expectations in rival South Korea that a launch could take place in October, a US research institute said Tuesday.

Lim’s family said in a statement that it had no comment regarding the charges and allegations, “except that the humanitarian aid projects that Mr Lim has both initiated and supported in the DPRK [Korea] have been for the betterment of the people”.

Lisa Pak, a church spokeswoman in Canada, told National Post Lim was on a humanitarian mission to North Korea.

Canadian media have also reported that Lim has extensive business dealings in North Korea, including factories, gas stations, and farm and fishing operations.

A Foreign Affairs spokeswoman says the government is “deeply concerned” and continues to try to arrange consular access and a find resolution to his case.

‘I’m sure that we will have a great, grand celebration, ‘ Jang Illinois Han told a rare press conference, convened at North Korea’s permanent mission to the United Nations.

According to North Korea’s official news agency, KCNA, Hyeon Soo Lim “honestly admitted to all crimes” he was accused of committing.

The pressure on Pyongyang is showing in the statements North Korean diplomats recently made in Beijing and Moscow, according to Straub and other analysts.

38 North and Airbus Defense & SpaceMuch of the concern over North Korea’s development of ballistic missile capabilities is that they could be used to deliver nuclear weapons.

Pak said the pastor has a deep love for the North Korean people, which is the reason he has visited the country more than 100 times.