Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said she spoke briefly with her North Korean counterpart at a meeting in Manila on Sunday, days before Pyongyang released Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim from a prison where he was serving a life sentence.
OTTAWA: Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said she spoke briefly with her North Korean counterpart at a meeting in Manila on Sunday, days before Pyongyang released Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim from a prison where he was serving a life sentence.
„We were clear with North Korea that Pastor Lim needed to be released, and we are very, very glad that happened, “ Freeland told reporters at a press conference on Friday, a day after Lim arrived in Japan en route to his home in a Toronto suburb.
Freeland said the conversation with North Korean foreign minister Ri Yong-ho occurred Sunday on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting of foreign ministers.
Lim, who served as pastor of one of Canada’s largest churches, had been sentenced to hard labour for life in December 2015 after North Korea accused him of attempting to overthrow the regime.
