As his son, Jeff, and security officials led him away, he fielded questions from a couple of dozen reporters. Despite his captivity and the long flight, Mr. Newman displayed flashes of wit in his short answers.

Asked what he would do once he got home, he said, “I think I’ll be taking my shoes off.”

Asked to describe the food in North Korea, he said, “Healthy.”

Asked whether he would return there, he said, “Probably not.”

Mr. Newman did not answer any questions about the time he was held in the North, where he had gone to revisit his Korean War past.

North Korea decided to release him after Mr. Newman read a stilted apology a week earlier in which he expressed regret for his actions during the war and during his visit to the country. While serving in Korea, Mr. Newman helped train anti-Communist guerrillas, working with a unit that was particularly despised by North Korea for its daring raids on its territory.

On his visit, at least according to the apology and an email released by North Korea, he planned to try to meet any surviving guerrillas and connect them with their old comrades in the South. North Korea, which considers itself under threat from outside forces, maintains rigid control over its citizens, who are generally allowed to know little of the world beyond their border.