The large congregation of Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto, Canada was ecstatic on Sunday (13 August) in welcoming home their Senior Pastor, Hyeon Soo Lim, held for more than two years of a life sentence in a North Korean labour camp. The church was also crowded with media personnel recording the significant and almost unexpected return.
Sam Shim, operations manager at Lim’s church said, “Everyone was excited when we heard the news that he was freed… There was crying, joyful crying.”
Looking happy and healthy, Lim told his congregation about his experiences in the labour camp. Overwhelming loneliness was the emotion he remembers most.
“From the first day of my detainment [late January 2015] to the day I was released, I ate 2,757 meals in isolation by myself. It was difficult to see when and how the entire ordeal would end,” Lim said through his English interpreter.
“During the winter, I had to dig holes that measured one-metre wide and one-metre deep. The ground was frozen. The mud was so hard that it took two days to dig one hole. It was incredibly challenging. My upper body was sweating. My fingers and toes were frostbitten. I also worked inside a coal storage facility, breaking apart coal,” he said. “In the spring and summer, I worked outside, eight hours a day, in the scorching sun, under the constant watch of two guards.”
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