Asia-Pacific

Christian missionary arrested in North Korea

Wife of Australian John Short (75) says he ‘won’t be intimidated by communists’

A protester in Seoul looks at a sign depicting US Christian missionary Kenneth Bae who has been held in North Korea for more than a year. A second missionary, Australian John Short, has been arrested in Pyongyang, according to his wife Karen. Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters.

Wed Feb 19 2014 - 09:19

An Australian man has been arrested while doing missionary work in North Korea, making him the second foreign Christian missionary to be held in the country.

The wife of 75-year-old John Short told Reuters her husband was arrested in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, on Sunday and had been open about his religious work on his second trip to the isolated state.

"He won't be intimidated by the communists," Karen Short said from Hong Kong by telephone.

North Korea has held American missionary Kenneth Bae for more than a year and convicted him of trying to overthrow the state.

READ MORE

A North Korean court sentenced Mr Bae to 15 years of hard labour and efforts by Washington to secure his release have been thwarted.

“I’m not upset, we’re Christian missionaries and we have tremendous support for what we do,” Ms Short said of her husband’s arrest.

While North Korea espouses freedom of religion it is ranked as one of the world's most oppressive regimes in terms of freedom of religion. A United Nations report issued yesterday cited lack of religious freedom in a state whose human rights abuses it likened to those of Nazi Germany.

Ms Short’s husband was making his second trip to North Korea, according to a statement by his family, and was in possession of religious materials that had been translated into Korean.

His wife said the Australian government, which does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea, was using its consulate in Seoul and the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang to handle the case.

“We are in close contact with Swedish officials in Pyongyang to seek their assistance in confirming the well-being of Mr Short and to obtain more information,” said an Australian Embassy spokesman in Seoul, adding that its capacity to deliver consular services in Pyongyang was “extremely limited”.

Ms Short said that on her husband’s first trip to North Korea, he had been transparent about his faith and had openly read his bible in front of government guides when in Pyongyang.

“He’s courageous, this is my husband’s character,” said Ms Short. “I hope things get better - he’s in God’s hands, we both totally believe that.”

LATEST STORIES