Hong Kong-based missionary detained in Pyongyang ‘knew risks’ of trip, wife says
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 19 February, 2014, 3:38pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 19 February, 2014, 9:27pm
Kristine Servando
[email protected]
Karen Short is holding a photo of John Short, who has been reportedly detained in North Korea. Photo: Nora Tam
The wife of a Hong Kong-based Australian Christian missionary reportedly detained in North Korea said on Wednesday that he “knew the risks” of bringing in religious material into the authoritarian state.
Watch: Hong Kong-based missionary detained in Pyongyang ‘quite willing to suffer', wife says
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John Short, 75, was on his second trip to Pyongyang with a tour group when he was detained, according to his wife of 36 years, Karen Short.
Sounding calm during a telephone interview with the South China Morning Post on Wednesday, Karen, who works for the nearly 100-year-old publishing firm Christian Book Room in Tsuen Wan, said that she first learned about her husband’s detention on Tuesday morning.
“This is out of the ordinary but we’re Christian missionaries so my husband knew what he was going into,” she said. “Ultimately we are in God’s hands and we totally believe that.
“He’s not reckless. He’s just not that sort of a person, but he’s a man of his convictions. The outcome is this because he was carrying Korean-language gospel material. They’re not happy,” she said.
Karen, who has lived with her husband in Hong Kong for 50 years, said that her husband had brought religious material into the country during his first trip, but had not encountered any problems. On his recent trip, however, he was repeatedly questioned by North Korean authorities.
“The first [visit] he was in a bigger tour group – a busload – and went in by train. This time he flew from Beijing and they came to his hotel on Sunday night and started questioning him, and the same [thing] was repeated three times the next day,” she said.
John Short with his wife Karen in Hong Kong. Photo: AP
She was told this information by the person travelling with her husband, a mainland Chinese man who was part of the tour group. Short said the companion was escorted to Pyongyang airport “and they [the officials] said they would send my husband as well but he didn’t arrive. So he’s still detained with the public security bureau”.
Asked why her husband chose to visit North Korea, she said: “It was of his own volition, because he cares for people that live in such difficult circumstances.”
Karen said she had contacted the Australian consulate in Hong Kong for assistance, but because it does not have direct ties to Pyongyang the case was directed to the Australian embassy in Seoul, which is “working with the Swedish consulate to determine where he is and what he has been charged with”.
She told Reuters that on her husband’s first trip, her husband had been transparent about his faith and had openly read his Bible in front of North Korean government guides when in Pyongyang.
Beijing Tourism Group, a Chinese firm identified by Short’s wife as the agency running the tour on which her husband went to Pyongyang, was non-committal when contacted by Reuters, and referred queries to the Chinese government.
It was unclear what charges, if any, John Short was facing. But Pyongyang has previously detained an American missionary, Kenneth Bae, for bringing in religious paraphernalia. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for “hostile acts”.
Additional reporting by Reuters
