North Korea freed a Canadian pastor serving a life sentence there on humanitarian grounds, the official KCNA news agency said on Wednesday, just hours after the United States warned it would counter any threat from the North with “fire and fury.”

The release came a day after Canadian officials said a delegation led by the country’s national security adviser had traveled to North Korea to discuss the case of Hyeon Soo Lim, sentenced to hard labor for life in December 2015.

North Korea had accused Lim, who served in one of the largest churches in Canada, of attempting to overthrow the regime.

“Rim Hyon Su, a Canadian civilian, was released on sick bail according to the decision of the Central Court of the DPRK on August 9, 2017, from the humanitarian viewpoint,” KCNA said, using the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

There was no obvious direct connection between the release and the standoff with the United States, but North Korea has in the past attracted the attention of Washington, and visits by high-profile Americans, with the detention and release of U.S. citizens.

Lim’s family had become more concerned for his welfare since the death in June of American student Otto Warmbier, who had been held in North Korea for 17 months.

Warmbier, sentenced last year to 15 years’ hard labor for trying to steal a propaganda item from his hotel during a tour, died in a Cincinnati hospital just days after being released in a coma. The circumstances of his death remain unclear.

North Korea is still holding three Americans. The U.S. State Department said last week it would ban U.S. nationals from traveling to the isolated country, beginning in September.

Lim’s Toronto-area church has said he visited the North more than 100 times since 1997 and helped set up an orphanage and nursing home. Last year, Lim told CNN he spent eight hours a day digging holes at a labor camp where he had not seen any other prisoners.

On Wednesday, North Korea said it was considering plans for a missile strike on the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, just hours after President Donald Trump told the North that any threat to the United States would be met with “fire and fury.”</s>North Korea has freed a Canadian pastor who was serving a life sentence of hard labour, one day after a Canadian delegation arrived to negotiate his release.

KCNA, North Korea's official news agency, said on Wednesday that Hyeon Soo Lim had been "released on sick bail… from the humanitarian viewpoint."

Lim, who is also known as Rim Hyon Su, served as pastor at one of the largest churches in Canada, Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Mississauga, Ont. He was sentenced to hard labour for life in December 2015 for what North Korea says was an attempt to overthrow the regime.

A spokesperson for his family — his wife and son live in the Toronto area — confirmed the news of his release in a statement to the media.

The 62-year-old, who was born in South Korea, is reportedly in poor health. He is said to need medication to treat high blood pressure.

CBC News reported on Tuesday that Daniel Jean, the national security adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, had arrived in North Korea to negotiate his release. The last attempt at such talks was made in late 2016. Canada does not have an embassy in North Korea, and has advised against all travel there.

The latest negotiations got underway amid heightened tensions between Pyongyang and Washington over the former's missile and nuclear weapons tests. The isolated state said it is considering an attack against the U.S. territory of Guam after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened it with "fire and fury like the world has never seen."

Church members 'so happy'

Lim's church has said he visited North Korea more than 100 times since 1997 and helped set up an orphanage and nursing home. Family and friends have previously said he was visiting those projects at the time of his arrest in February, 2015.

Word of Lim's release drew members of his congregation to their church, west of Toronto, Wednesday morning.

Charles Baik, an associate pastor with the church's English ministry, told The Canadian Press that members of the church are ecstatic at the prospect of Lim's return.

"We're so happy he's been released," Baik said from outside the church.

Baik said Lim's ordeal would not deter the church from future humanitarian projects in the country.

"Missions will never stop, no matter where they may be," he said.

Others detained

Lim was arrested on charges that included trying to use religion to destroy the North Korean system, disseminating negative propaganda about the North and helping U.S. and South Korean authorities to abduct North Korean citizens.

One month into his sentence, Lim told CNN he spent eight hours a day, six days a week, digging holes for apple trees in the labour camp's orchard. He said he had not seen any other prisoners.

North Korea released another foreign prisoner, U.S. tourist Otto Warmbier, in June, though he died just days later. (Kim Kwang Hyon/Associated Press)

North Korea released another foreign prisoner, U.S. tourist Otto Warmbier, in June. Warmbier had been sentenced in March 2016 to 15 years' hard labour for subversion but arrived home in a coma and died just days later. Pyongyang blamed the 22-year-old's condition on botulism.

Heather Nauert, a U.S. State Department spokesperson, was asked about Lim's release at a news briefing in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday as it pertains to the three Americans known to be currently detained in North Korea.

Nauert said there was no update on their status, and that the U.S. will continue to work for their release, with the assistance of the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang.

They are:</s>While Donald Trump on Tuesday escalated tensions between with North Korea by promising the United States will bring “fire and fury” to the rogue nuclear power, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dispatched national security adviser Daniel Jean to Pyongyang, CNN reports.

According to Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Jean and his entourage arrived early Tuesday afternoon. Officials declined to discuss the nature of Jean’s visit, but reports indicate he is seeking the release of Toronto Presbyterian minister Rev. Hyeon Soo Lim, who’s been held in North Korea for the last two years.

Lim’s family has reportedly been seeking his release since the nation allowed American student Otto Warmbier to return in June. Warmbier arrived to the U.S. in a vegetative state and died six days after his release.

“Obviously, Pastor Lim’s health and well-being remain of utmost importance to the government of Canada and we are continuing to engage on his case,” Trudeau’s media relations manager Cameron Ahmad in a statement.

“As this is an active case, we will not provide any further comment,” he added.

A senior government official told CBC News while the primary focus of Jean’s visit is securing Lim’s release, the envoy is also able to “discuss other issues of regional concern.”</s>North Korea has freed a South Korea-born Canadian pastor serving a life sentence on humanitarian grounds, the official KCNA news agency says, right after the United States warned it would counter any threat from Pyongyang with "fire and fury".

The release came a day after Canadian officials said a delegation led by the country's national security adviser had travelled to North Korea to discuss the case of Hyeon Soo Lim, sentenced to hard labour for life in December 2015.

North Korea had accused Mr Lim — who is also known as Rim Hyon Su and who served in one of the largest churches in Canada — of attempting to overthrow the regime.

There was no obvious direct connection between the release and the standoff with the United States, but North Korea has in the past attracted the attention of Washington with the detention and release of US citizens.

Mr Lim's family had become more concerned for his welfare since the death in June of American student Otto Warmbier, who had been held in North Korea for 17 months.

Warmbier, sentenced last year to 15 years' hard labour for trying to steal a propaganda item from his hotel during a tour, died in a Cincinnati hospital just days after being released in a coma — the circumstances of his death remain unclear.

North Korea is still holding three Americans.

The US State Department said last week it would ban US nationals from travelling to the isolated country starting in September.

Mr Lim's Toronto-area church said he had visited the North more than 100 times since 1997 and helped set up an orphanage and nursing home.

Last year, Mr Lim told CNN he spent eight hours a day digging holes at a labour camp where he had not seen any other prisoners.

On Wednesday, North Korea said it was considering plans for a missile strike on the US Pacific territory of Guam, just hours after President Donald Trump said that any threat to the United States would be met with "fire and fury".</s>While U.S. President Donald Trump was threatening North Korea with “fire and fury” as tensions between the two countries escalated Tuesday night, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was taking a quieter line with Pyongyang—with great effect. His envoy achieved Canada's objective to secure the release of one of its citizens held in North Korea for the past two and a half years.

State-controlled news agency KCNA announced Tuesday that North Korea's top court was releasing Toronto Presbyterian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim "on sick bail" for "humanitarian" reasons, as reported by Reuters.

Canadian officials had notified Lim's son James over the weekend that the country would send a delegation to North Korea—including Daniel Jean, the prime minister's national security adviser, and a doctor—with a letter to North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un, a family spokesperson told CNN.

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The Canadian delegation's arrival in Pyongyang was officially confirmed on Tuesday. "[Lim's] health and well-being remain of utmost importance to the government, and we are obviously continuing to engage on his case, and given that it is an active case, we cannot provide any further comment at this time," Trudeau's press secretary Cameron Ahmad told journalists.

North Korea sentenced the 62-year old pastor to hard labor for life in December 2015, after he was accused of attempting to overthrow Kim's regime. His family said he had been traveling to and from North Korea on humanitarian trips to establish orphanages, nurseries and nursing homes and had visited the country more than 100 times in the past 20 years.

CNN interviewed the pastor in January 2016, finding he was forced to work eight hours a day, six days a week, in a camp where he had never seen another inmate. "Nobody knows if I will ever go home, but that is my hope. I miss my family. I am longing to see them again, and my congregation," he told the American broadcaster.

After the death of Otto Warmbier in June, an American citizen detained in North Korea and only released when he had already suffered brain damage, Trudeau has faced increased calls to pressure Pyongyang to free the Canadian minister.

But Lim isn’t the only point of concern for Trudeau in dealing with North Korea, whose aim to develop nuclear missiles capable of reaching across the Pacific has Canadians worried they are in range. Trudeau addressed the concerns over Kim's ambitions and repeated missile tests in violation of U.N. rules in April.

“A nuclear power like North Korea that has shown a level of irresponsibility,” he said, pausing for several seconds as he searched for the right words, finally continuing, “fundamental irresponsibility—to not to use a word like crazy, which I will not use—is a real concern.”

He then added, Canada would “do whatever we can to ameliorate and defuse the situation with North Korea.”</s>North Korea has released a Canadian pastor serving a life sentence in the country on humanitarian grounds.

State media in the secretive country said Rim Hyon Su has been released on sick bail.

The move comes as fears grow of a nuclear war between the US and North Korea.

"Rim Hyon Su, a Canadian civilian, was released on sick bail according to the decision of the Central Court of the DPRK on August 9, 2017, from the humanitarian viewpoint," North Korean media said.

Also known as Hyeon Soo Lim, who served at one of the largest churches in Canada, he was sentenced to hard labour for life in December 2015 for what North Korea says was an attempt to overthrow the regime.

The US military today released pictures of supersonic B-1B bombers flying from Guam after North Korea threatened to strike an American airbase on the Pacific island.

Two US Air Force B-1B jets took part in 10-hour mission over the Korean peninsula just hours before Kim Jong-un revealed plans to strike the remote island.

Kim Jong-un's intentions were revealed shortly after Trump announced any threat to America would be met with "fire and fury".

US Democrats slammed Trump for his “bombastic” and “unhinged” comments, while White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway described them as “strong and obvious”.

Pyongyang said it was "carefully examining" a plan to strike Guam, which is home to about 163,000 people, a submarine squadron, an airbase and a Coast Guard group.

A Korean People's Army spokesman said in a statement carried by state-run KCNA news agency the plan would be put into practice at any moment once leader Kim Jong-un makes a decision.

Earlier this morning, the US Air Force released a statement describing how two B-1B bombers flew a practice mission over the Korean Peninsula yesterday.

After taking off from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, the B-1s assigned to the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, flew to Japanese airspace, where they were joined by Japanese F-2 fighter jets.

The B-1s then flew over the Korean Peninsula where they were joined by Republic of Korea Air Force KF-16 fighter jets.

They then performed a pass over the Pilsung Range before leaving South Korean airspace and returning to Guam.

The Air Force said: “Throughout the approximately 10-hour mission, the aircrews practiced intercept and formation training, enabling them to enhance their combined capabilities and tactical skills, while also strengthening the long standing military-to-military relationships in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.”

Guam Governor Eddie Calvo dismissed North Korea's threat and said the island was prepared for "any eventuality" with strategically placed defences.

He said he had been in touch with the White House and there was no change in the threat level.

"Guam is American soil... We are not just a military installation," Calvo said in an online video message.

North Korea also accused the United States of devising a "preventive war" and said in another statement that any plans to execute this would be met with an "all-out war wiping out all the strongholds of enemies, including the US mainland".

Washington has warned it is ready to use force if needed to stop North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear programmes but that it prefers global diplomatic action, including sanctions.

The UN Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday.

But Trump issued his strongest warning yet for North Korea in comments to reporters in New Jersey on Tuesday.

"North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen," he said.

North Korea has made no secret of its plans to develop a nuclear-tipped missile able to strike the United States and has ignored calls to halt its weapons programmes.

Pyongyang says its intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are a legitimate means of defence against perceived US hostility, including joint military drills with South Korea.

The United States has remained technically at war with North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended without a peace treaty.

Seoul is home to roughly 10 million people and within range of massed North Korean rockets and artillery, which would be impossible to destroy in a first US strike.

Tens of thousands of US troops remain stationed in South Korea and in nearby Japan, the only country to have been attacked with nuclear weapons.

Wednesday marked the 72nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city of Nagasaki by the United States.

"Tension is mounting when it comes to the international situation surrounding nuclear weapons," Nagasaki mayor Tomihisa Taue told a ceremony marking the attack.

"Strong fears are spreading that nuclear weapons may be used in the not-so-distant future," he said.

A senior official at South Korea's presidential Blue House rejected talk of a crisis on the Korean peninsula, saying Seoul saw a high possibility of resolving the issue peacefully.

North Korea needed to realise that its repeated provocations are making the country more isolated and it should respond to the South's proposal for dialogue, the official said.

In Dandong, a Chinese trading hub across the border from North Korea, residents said they were unperturbed by the escalating rhetoric.

"North Korea always talks about war, war, war, but it never happens," said a restaurant owner who asked to be identified only by her surname, Yang.

"We now live in peaceful times. But if war does break out it will be us ordinary people that suffer," she said.

Tensions in the region have risen since North Korea carried out two nuclear bomb tests last year and two ICBM tests in July.

Madeleine Z. Bordallo, the US Congresswoman for Guam, said she was confident forces could protect it from the "deeply troubling" North Korean nuclear threat.

She called on Trump to show "steady leadership" and work with the international community to lower tensions.

Republican US Senator John McCain said Trump should tread cautiously when issuing threats to North Korea unless he is prepared to act.

"I take exception to the president's comments because you've got to be sure you can do what you say you're going to do," he said in a radio interview.

Former US diplomat Douglas Paal, now with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank in Washington, said Trump should not get into a war of words with Pyongyang.

"It strikes me as an amateurish reflection of a belief that we should give as we get rhetorically," said Paal, who served as a White House official under previous Republican administrations.

"That might be satisfying at one level, but it takes us down into the mud that we should let Pyongyang enjoy alone."</s>BEIJING/SEOUL, Aug 9 (Reuters) - North Korea freed a Canadian pastor serving a life sentence there on humanitarian grounds, the official KCNA news agency said on Wednesday, just hours after the United States warned it would counter any threat from the North with "fire and fury".

The release came a day after Canadian officials said a delegation led by the country's national security adviser had travelled to North Korea to discuss the case of Hyeon Soo Lim, sentenced to hard labour for life in December 2015.

North Korea had accused Lim, who served in one of the largest churches in Canada, of attempting to overthrow the regime.

"Rim Hyon Su, a Canadian civilian, was released on sick bail according to the decision of the Central Court of the DPRK on August 9, 2017, from the humanitarian viewpoint," KCNA said, using the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

There was no obvious direct connection between the release and the standoff with the United States, but North Korea has in the past attracted the attention of Washington, and visits by high-profile Americans, with the detention and release of U.S. citizens.

Lim's family had become more concerned for his welfare since the death in June of American student Otto Warmbier, who had been held in North Korea for 17 months.

Warmbier, sentenced last year to 15 years' hard labour for trying to steal a propaganda item from his hotel during a tour, died in a Cincinnati hospital just days after being released in a coma. The circumstances of his death remain unclear.

North Korea is still holding three Americans. The U.S. State Department said last week it would ban U.S. nationals from travelling to the isolated country, beginning in September.

Lim's Toronto-area church has said he visited the North more than 100 times since 1997 and helped set up an orphanage and nursing home. Last year, Lim told CNN he spent eight hours a day digging holes at a labour camp where he had not seen any other prisoners.

On Wednesday, North Korea said it was considering plans for a missile strike on the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, just hours after President Donald Trump told the North that any threat to the United States would be met with "fire and fury". (Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Soyoung Kim,; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Nick Macfie)</s>BEIJING/SEOUL: North Korea freed a Canadian pastor serving a life sentence there on humanitarian grounds, the official KCNA news agency said on Wednesday, just hours after the United States warned it would counter any threat from the North with "fire and fury".

The release came a day after Canadian officials said a delegation led by the country's national security adviser had travelled to North Korea to discuss the case of Hyeon Soo Lim, sentenced to hard labour for life in December 2015.

North Korea had accused Lim, who served in one of the largest churches in Canada, of attempting to overthrow the regime.

"Rim Hyon Su, a Canadian civilian, was released on sick bail according to the decision of the Central Court of the DPRK on August 9, 2017, from the humanitarian viewpoint," KCNA said, using the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

There was no obvious direct connection between the release and the standoff with the United States, but North Korea has in the past attracted the attention of Washington, and visits by high-profile Americans, with the detention and release of U.S. citizens.

Lim's family had become more concerned for his welfare since the death in June of American student Otto Warmbier, who had been held in North Korea for 17 months.

Warmbier, sentenced last year to 15 years' hard labour for trying to steal a propaganda item from his hotel during a tour, died in a Cincinnati hospital just days after being released in a coma. The circumstances of his death remain unclear.

North Korea is still holding three Americans. The U.S. State Department said last week it would ban U.S. nationals from travelling to the isolated country, beginning in September.

Lim's Toronto-area church has said he visited the North more than 100 times since 1997 and helped set up an orphanage and nursing home. Last year, Lim told CNN he spent eight hours a day digging holes at a labour camp where he had not seen any other prisoners.

On Wednesday, North Korea said it was considering plans for a missile strike on the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, just hours after President Donald Trump told the North that any threat to the United States would be met with "fire and fury".</s>BEIJING/SEOU - North Korea freed a Canadian pastor serving a life sentence there on humanitarian grounds, the official KCNA news agency said on Wednesday, just hours after the United States warned it would counter any threat from the North with "fire and fury".

The release came a day after Canadian officials said a delegation led by the country's national security adviser had travelled to North Korea to discuss the case of Hyeon Soo Lim, sentenced to hard labour for life in December 2015.

North Korea had accused Lim, who served in one of the largest churches in Canada, of attempting to overthrow the regime.

"Rim Hyon Su, a Canadian civilian, was released on sick bail according to the decision of the Central Court of the DPRK on August 9, 2017, from the humanitarian viewpoint," KCNA said, using the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

There was no obvious direct connection between the release and the standoff with the United States, but North Korea has in the past attracted the attention of Washington, and visits by high-profile Americans, with the detention and release of U.S. citizens.

Lim's family had become more concerned for his welfare since the death in June of American student Otto Warmbier, who had been held in North Korea for 17 months.

Warmbier, sentenced last year to 15 years' hard labour for trying to steal a propaganda item from his hotel during a tour, died in a Cincinnati hospital just days after being released in a coma. The circumstances of his death remain unclear.

North Korea is still holding three Americans. The U.S. State Department said last week it would ban U.S. nationals from travelling to the isolated country, beginning in September.

Lim's Toronto-area church has said he visited the North more than 100 times since 1997 and helped set up an orphanage and nursing home. Last year, Lim told CNN he spent eight hours a day digging holes at a labour camp where he had not seen any other prisoners.

On Wednesday, North Korea said it was considering plans for a missile strike on the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, just hours after President Donald Trump told the North that any threat to the United States would be met with "fire and fury."</s>North Korea freed a Canadian pastor serving a life sentence there on humanitarian grounds, the official KCNA news agency said on Wednesday, just hours after the United States warned it would counter any threat from the North with “fire and fury.”

The release came a day after Canadian officials said a delegation led by the country’s national security adviser had traveled to North Korea to discuss the case of Hyeon Soo Lim, sentenced to hard labor for life in December 2015.

North Korea had accused Lim, who served in one of the largest churches in Canada, of attempting to overthrow the regime.

“Rim Hyon Su, a Canadian civilian, was released on sick bail according to the decision of the Central Court of the DPRK on August 9, 2017, from the humanitarian viewpoint,” KCNA said, using the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

There was no obvious direct connection between the release and the standoff with the United States, but North Korea has in the past attracted the attention of Washington, and visits by high-profile Americans, with the detention and release of U.S. citizens.

Lim’s family had become more concerned for his welfare since the death in June of American student Otto Warmbier, who had been held in North Korea for 17 months.

Warmbier, sentenced last year to 15 years’ hard labor for trying to steal a propaganda item from his hotel during a tour, died in a Cincinnati hospital just days after being released in a coma. The circumstances of his death remain unclear.

North Korea is still holding three Americans. The U.S. State Department said last week it would ban U.S. nationals from traveling to the isolated country, beginning in September.

Lim’s Toronto-area church has said he visited the North more than 100 times since 1997 and helped set up an orphanage and nursing home. Last year, Lim told CNN he spent eight hours a day digging holes at a labor camp where he had not seen any other prisoners.

On Wednesday, North Korea said it was considering plans for a missile strike on the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, just hours after President Donald Trump told the North that any threat to the United States would be met with “fire and fury.”
North Korea releases imprisoned Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim on "sick bail."