Hyeon Soo Lim
| Hyeon Soo Lim | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 16, 1955 Seoul, South Korea |
| Residence | Mississauga, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | Pastor |
| Known for | Imprisoned by North Korea |
| Hyeon Soo Lim | |
| Hangul | |
|---|---|
| Revised Romanization | Im Hyeon-su |
| McCune–Reischauer | Im Hyŏn-su |
Hyeon Soo Lim (born February 16, 1955) is a Canadian pastor of the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Mississauga. He is a South Korean-born Canadian citizen. He was operating humanitarian efforts in North Korea providing tens of millions of dollars worth of aid before disappearing in February 2015. The DPRK had arrested him and in December 2015, Lim was sentenced to life with hard labor for crimes against the North Korean regime.
In August 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent a Canadian government delegation to Pyongyang to discuss the case. Lim was released from detention on August 9, 2017, and arrived in Canada on August 12, 2017.
Lim was born in South Korea and grew up in Seoul. The family attended a devout Christian church that produced numerous pastors and missionaries. His father, who was born in North Korea, held an office job and his mother worked at a family supermarket.
A longtime friend, now a pastor in California, recalls that in high school it was already clear to the two of them that they "were going to do God's work." Lim was active with Campus Crusade for Christ.
Lim moved to Canada in January 1986, "as part of a missionary group." In Toronto, Lim studied theology at Knox College, a seminary of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. He became a Canadian citizen.
Lim joined or founded and became the senior pastor of the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Mississauga, (Greater Toronto Area) Ontario. Under his leadership the congregation grew from a dozen people in 1986 to more than 3,000 members in 2015. It operates from a complex that includes a 1,773 seat sanctuary, an education wing of numerous classrooms; a 5,260 square foot fellowship hall with a full commercial kitchen; a 6,650 square foot gymnasium and a 248-seat chapel. He also runs a second young person-oriented church in downtown Toronto.
In 1996, during the North Korean four-year famine that killed an estimated 500,000 to 600,000 people, Lim took an interest in helping North Koreans and used his church as a support base.
...
Wikipedia