South Korea-born Canadian Pastor Hyeon Soo Lim was given a life sentence of hard labor in North Korea in 2015. He was accused of attempting to overthrow the regime. He was released in 2017 on humanitarian grounds.
Lim spoke at Liberty University‘s convocation. He told the audience, “I couldn’t move even a single step freely. I was a complete slave.”
Before his imprisonment, Lim’s Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Ontario had visited North Korea 100 times since 1997 and helped set up an orphanage and nursing home.
During his imprisonment, Lim was allowed little food and subjected to verbal abuse. He said his meals mainly consisted of salted cabbage and rice with stones.
While the guards prohibited him from watching television, listening to the radio or reading books, they allowed Lim to have one Bible, something the pastor likened to “the joy of finding living water in the desert.”
Lim passed the days by praying and reading Scripture while his captors attempted to find information about him; however, all they could find were the contents of his sermons.
Lim said that’s when he witnessed a notable change in their behavior, including starting to bring him more food. Some of the guards even began seeking the pastor out for family counseling.
Lim said, “Seeing this change, I realized more clearly that faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.”