The government has urged North Korea to swiftly release and send home a South Korean missionary who was sentenced to life with hard labor by a North Korean court.
 
The government made the call in a statement issued on Sunday under the name of the Unification Ministry’s spokesman.
 
The statement said it is regrettable that the North sentenced missionary Kim Jeong-wuk to life with hard labor through a halfhearted trial.
 
The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Saturday that Kim was convicted of crimes such as state subversion and espionage.