North Korea has sentenced a South Korean missionary to hard labor for life, after he was convicted of spying and setting up an underground church.
According to a report from the BBC, the state news agency said the man, named as Kim Jong-uk, had confessed to all his crimes.
Pyongyang is still holding another missionary, US citizen Kenneth Bae, who received 15 years hard labor in 2013.
Religious activity is restricted in the North, with missionaries arrested on multiple occasions in the past.
“Mr. Kim tried to infiltrate into Pyongyang after illegally trespassing on the border for the purpose of setting up an underground church and gathering information about the internal affairs of the DPRK (North Korea) while luring its inhabitants into South Korea and spying on the DPRK,” the KCNA news agency said.
The BBC reported the prosecution had reportedly been seeking a death sentence for the 50-year-old missionary.
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SOURCE: ASSIST News Service
Jeremy Reynalds
BCNN1 WP 