A South Korean missionary has received a life sentence of hard labor for the crimes of espionage and setting up an underground church.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency said that prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Kim Jeong-wook, but the agency said that a life sentence was issued after Kim “sincerely repented.”

“He committed anti-DPRK religious acts, malignantly hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK overseas and tried to infiltrate into Pyongyang,” the report said, “…for the purpose of setting up underground church and gathering information about the internal affairs of the DPRK while luring