North Korea sentences South Korean to life of hard labor for spying

31 May 2014 11:17 | 786

North Korea sentenced a South Korean missionary to life with hard labor on Friday after convicting him of espionage and setting up an underground church, SIA reports.

North Korea's official KCNA news agency reported that the South Korean, identified as Kim Jong Uk, had admitted his guilt at a court trial held on Friday.

The ruling followed a recent exchange of fire between forces of the tightly-controlled communist North and Western-allied South Korea. Both sides are still technically at war since the 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce.

"The accused admitted to all his crimes. He tried to infiltrate into Pyongyang after illegally trespassing on the border for the purpose of setting up 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," KCNA said.

Kim, a South Korean Christian missionary, was put on show at a televised event in February and confessed to spying for the South Korean intelligence agency as well as to his church activities. Pyongyang has rejected calls from Seoul for his release and for his family to visit him.

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