South Korea says its citizen Won Moon Joo was due to be repatriated after he read a statement last week admitting he entered North Korea illegally

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

North Korea announced on Monday it was releasing and deporting a South Korean citizen and US resident who was arrested in April for illegal entry, South Korea’s Unification Ministry has said.



North Korea prepared to launch missiles 'at any time', says ambassador Read more

Won Moon Joo, a 21-year-old student at New York University, was to be repatriated through the border truce village of Panmunjom on the inter-Korean border at around 5.30pm, the ministry said in a statement.

Joo was presented to the media in Pyongyang on 25 September and read out what appeared to be an officially approved statement, admitting his guilt and singing the country’s praises.

Unlike some other foreign citizens detained in the North, he was never put on trial.

“This morning North Korea’s Red Cross sent a message saying it would repatriate Joo at 5.30pm through Panmunjom,” the ministry statement said.

It welcomed Joo’s release but urged Pyongyang to follow through by repatriating three other South Korean nationals.

Joo was arrested after crossing the Yalu River into the North from the Chinese border city of Dandong on April 22.

Ask a North Korean: what happens when you die in the DPRK? Read more

He told CNN in an interview in May that he had crossed two barbed-wire fences and walked through farmland until he reached a large river. He followed the river until soldiers arrested him.

“I thought that by my entrance .... some great event could happen and hopefully that event could have a good effect on the relations between the North and [South Korea],” he said at the time.

Joo, who has permanent US residency, was born in Seoul, moved to Wisconsin with his family in 2001 and then moved again to Rhode Island.