U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives at a commemoration ceremony for Armistice Day, 100 years after the end of the First World War at the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris, France, November 11, 2018. Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo thanked North Korea and Sweden for cooperating to secure the release of a U.S. citizen, Bruce Byron Lowrance, who has been detained by Pyongyang since entering the country illegally from China in October.

“The United States appreciates the cooperation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the embassy of Sweden in facilitating the release of an American citizen,” Pompeo said in a statement, which did not identify the American.