Canadian pastor arrested in North Korea spends eight hours per day digging holes

A Canadian and an American claim they are international prisoners and are waiting for rescue

South Korea-born Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim attends his trial in North Korea (REUTERS/KCNA)

Two elderly men arrested in North Korea for alleged espionage and political dissent have claimed to foreign media that they are international prisoners, and one of them is spending up to eight hours a day digging holes in a labour camp.

The first man is 60-year-old Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim, who was interviewed by CNN in a North Korean hotel. He has been held in a labour camp since his trial in December where he digs holes eight hours per day, six days a week.

Lim has been sentenced to a life of hard labour for what he claims is speaking badly about the rulers of the country, where political dissent is forbidden.

Lim is a minister at the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto which has 3000 members. He has traveled to North Korea around 100 times to establish an orphanage and nursery home.

“I hope I can go home some day,” Lim said. “Nobody knows if I will ever go home, but that is my hope. I miss my family. I am longing to see them again, and my congregation.”

The second prisoner is Kim Dong Chul, who became a naturalized American in 1987, has spent the last 15 years criss-crossing from a city near the Chinese-North Korean border into North Korea to run his business where he employs North Korean workers.

The 62-year-old said he left his wife and daughter to become a spy for “conservative elements” in South Korea and was arrested in October last year. He only made $5,300 for his work.

"I was tasked with taking photos of military secrets and 'scandalous' scenes," he said.

“They [South Korean officials] asked me to help destroy the [North Korean] system and spread propaganda against the government,” he added.

His claims may have been made under duress.

He was allowed to speak to CNN in Korean and was marched into the interview room by two guards.

Kim said he was aware of the H-bomb test on 6 January and advised the US to work on a peace treaty.

CNN obtained his passport but the US State Department said they could not confirm whether Kim is a US citizen as “speaking publicly about specific purported cases of detained Americans can complicate our tireless efforts to secure their freedom”.

If his claims are true, he will be the only American prisoner in the country after two US nationals were released in November 2014.