A 75-year-old Australian missionary held in North Korea for allegedly distributing religious materials has broken down after being released and deported to China.
Hong Kong-based John Short was arrested last month after leaving "Bible tracts’’ in a Buddhist temple in Pyongyang during a tour, and had faced a potential jail term.
Released after allegedly confessing and apologising, Mr Short arrived in Beijing on a flight from the North Korean capital, breaking down and crying when he was questioned by journalists.
"I’m really, really tired,’’ he said, adding that he planned "to rest’’ before he was ushered off by an Australian official and driven away.
The North’s state-run KCNA news agency said the "generous’’ decision to release and expel Mr Short had been taken in light of his advanced age and a signed ``confession’’ and apology.
A copy of Mr Short’s statement was released along with photos showing him affixing his thumb in red ink to the document which he also signed and read out.
"I realise that my actions are an indelible hostile act against the independent right and laws of the (North),’’ the confession read.
"I request forgiveness ... and am willing to bow down on my knees,’’ it said.
Confessions and self-criticisms - scripted by the authorities -- are normally a prerequisite for detained foreigners seeking release in North Korea.
Mr Short’s statement stated that US and other western media reports labelling the North as a closed country without religious freedoms were ``inaccurate and wrong’’.
Although freedom of worship is enshrined in North Korea’s constitution, it does not exist in practice and religious activity is severely restricted to officially-recognised groups linked to the government.
In his statement, Mr Short also admitted distributing religious texts on the Pyongyang subway during a previous tour to the North in 2012.
"I now realise the seriousness of my insult to the Korean people ... and for this I truly apologise,’’ it said.
Australia has no diplomatic representation in North Korea, but its foreign ministry said his release was "welcome news’’.
Short’s wife, Karen Short, said in Hong Kong that she was ”amazingly thankful’’.
According to Mr Short’s travelling companion, Chinese Christian Wang Chong, the Australian left a pamphlet about the gospel inside a Buddhist temple and their North Korean tour guide reported him to the authorities.
An employee of the Chinese company that booked the tour, BTG, told the ABC that Mr Short allegedly admitted he was in North Korea for more than just sightseeing.
Pyongyang views foreign missionaries as seditious elements intent on fomenting unrest and those who are caught engaging in any activities in the North are subject to immediate arrest.
Mr Short has lived in Asia for five decades and runs a publishing house in Hong Kong that distributes calendars, Bibles and tracts in Chinese and other languages.
He was banned from entering China for nearly two years after his second arrest in 1996. Authorities later let him back in and he was arrested several more times for "speaking out about the brutality against Chinese Christians,’’ said the Christian website Gospel ASttract.
Karen Short said he was visiting North Korea for the second time. His first trip was a year ago "so he knew what he was going into,’’ she said.
A number of missionaries - mostly US citizens - have been arrested in the past with some allowed to return home after interventions by high-profile US figures.
Pyongyang is currently holding US citizen Kenneth Bae, described by a North Korean court as a militant Christian evangelist.
He was arrested in November 2012 and later sentenced to 15 years’ hard labour on charges of seeking to topple the government.
A South Korean missionary, Kim Jeong-Wook, has also been detained since last October.
In a televised press conference staged in Pyongyang last week, Kim "confessed’’ to anti-government activities including helping organise underground churches for North Korean refugees in China and spying for Seoul’s intelligence authorities.
Seoul denied Kim’s involvement with the intelligence agency and demanded his immediate release.
from: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/north-korea-frees-detained-australian-missionary-john-short/story-e6frg6nf-1226843515644
