A Korean-Chinese pastor who previously managed the largest church in Changbai Korean Autonomous County, Jilin Province, was found dead last Saturday, a South Korean Christian media outlet reported Sunday.

Pastor Han Choong-ryeol left the church at 2 p.m. Saturday and was found on the Chinese side of the Changbai Mountain at 8 p.m. with knife and axe wounds in his neck.

Activists and local journalists suspect he was assassinated by North Korean agents.

Han in 1993 established the Changbai (Jangbaek) Church in the county, which borders the North Korean city of Hyesan via the Yalu river. The church has