Colleague: S. Korean 'Spy' Detained in N. Korea is Missionary

A South Korean detained in North Korea for alleged espionage is a missionary who had been helping North Korean refugees hiding out in China, a fellow Christian activist said Wednesday.

The North earlier this month announced it had arrested a South Korean spy engaged in "plot-breeding" activities, but did not give his name.

The detainee is Kim Jeong-Wook, 50, a Baptist evangelist who for seven years had been providing shelter and food to North Koreans living in China's northeastern border city of Dandong, according to activist Ju Dong-Shik.

Kim crossed the Yalu border river early last month to establish the whereabouts of some North Korean refugees who had been arrested in Dandong by Chinese authorities and repatriated, Ju said.

"We've confirmed he was arrested in Pyongyang but we don't know exactly when and how," Ju told Agence France Presse.

"Mr Kim wanted to find out what happened to the repatriated North Koreans and take a first-hand look at the reality in North Korea."

The DongA Ilbo daily quoted a source in Dandong as saying that after Kim's arrest, three North Korean guards were also arrested for turning a blind eye as Kim crossed the border.

"I tried hard but failed to talk him out of his plan to enter the North", said Ju, also a Baptist.

Early this year Kim used his own money and donations to open a small noodle factory to help feed hungry North Koreans in China.

"He is not a spy. All the work he did was humanitarian in nature," Ju said.

South Korean officials have challenged the North to back up the claims of spying.

Christian missionary groups are involved in helping people who flee from the North into China.

If caught in China, the fugitives face repatriation to the North and possible severe punishment. Christian groups help them transit China to a third country, from where they can fly to South Korea.

Other Christians, including U.S. evangelists of Korean ancestry, have been arrested and jailed in the hardline North in recent years.

Some have been allowed to return home after interventions by high-profile U.S. figures.

In a still unsettled case, U.S. citizen Kenneth Bae has been in prison for about a year after entering the North's northeastern port city of Rason.

He was sentenced to 15 years' hard labor on charges of seeking to topple the government.

The North's judicial authorities have described Bae as a militant Christian evangelist who smuggled inflammatory material into the country.