North Korea Releases Detained Australian Missionary

ICC Note: In a sudden turn of events, North Korea has deported 75-year-old Australian missionary John Short after detaining him almost two weeks ago in Pyongyang for distributing Gospel literature. North Korea is one of the most hostile nations on earth towards Christianity with as many as 50,000 Christians believed to be imprisoned in camps around the country. ICC volunteers have been praying extensively for John’s release since he was detained. At least two other foreign missionaries, American Kenneth Bae and South Korean Kim Jung Wook, remain imprisoned in North Korea. 
3/3/2014 North Korea (Fox News) – North Korea on Monday deported an Australian missionary detained for spreading Christianity in the country, saying he apologized for his anti-state religious acts and requested forgiveness.
Authorities in North Korea had arrested John Short for secretly spreading Bible tracts near a Buddhist temple in Pyongyang on Feb. 16, the birthday of late leader Kim Jong Il, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.
The report said that Short, 75, admitted he committed a crime that hurt the Korean people’s trust in their leaders and that he apologized for his behavior.
“I now realize the seriousness of my insult to the Korean people on February 16th because I made the Korean people angry and for this I truly apologize,” Short was quoted as saying in a written apology, according to separate KCNA report. “I am willing to bow down on my knees to request this tolerance of (North Korea) and the Korean people.”
KCNA said North Korea decided to expel him in part out of consideration for his age.
Short arrived later Monday on a flight to Beijing, where he declined to speak to reporters saying he was too tired and was escorted to a vehicle from the Australian Embassy.
“Clearly this is welcome news for Mr. Short, his family and his supporters,” Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement. “Australian consular officials stand ready to provide assistance to Mr. Short to ensure he can return to his home in Hong Kong as soon as possible.”
North Korea’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but in practice only sanctioned services are tolerated by the government. Defectors from the country have said that the distribution of Bibles and secret prayer services can mean banishment to a labor camp or execution.
North Korea typically frees foreign detainees after they’ve admitted their crimes, but many say after their releases that their confessions were given involuntarily and under duress. Last week, North Korea presented to the media a detained South Korean Baptist missionary who apologized for allegedly trying to reach Pyongyang with Bibles, Christian instructional materials and movies in October.
North Korea has been holding a Korean-American missionary, Kenneth Bae, since November 2012. Bae, sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for hostile acts, held a similar news conference to apologize his behavior.
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