Off the wire
• Big men equal big pay packets, but women suffer with size: study  • Tokyo stocks rise 1.22 pct in morning on U.S. stocks gains, TPP hope  • East Asia Pacific to grow 6.5 pct in 2015: World Bank  • Interview: China's pledge of peacekeeping force helps meet "critical" gaps: UN peacekeeping chief  • Flamengo keep top-four hope alive  • Portuguese ruling coalition wins general election  • Brazilian soccer standings  • Brazilian soccer results  • New Zealand finance chief to seek trade expertise at IMF, WB meetings  • Salt and pepper: Bayern flavors Bundesliga top game with five goals  
You are here: 　 Home

DPRK to release detained S. Korean student: Seoul

Xinhua, October 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

South Korea's unification ministry said on Monday that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK) notified the ministry of its plan to release a detained South Korean student having studied in New York University later in the day.

The ministry said in a statement that DPRK's Red Cross sent a notice in the morning to South Korea on its plan to set free Joo Won-moon, 21, a New York University student of South Korean nationality who has been detained in the DPRK since April 22.

The notice said Joo will be returned back to South Korea through the truce village of Panmunjom at 5:30 p.m. local time.

He was arrested by DPRK border guards on April 22 as he illegally crossed into the DPRK territory from Dandong in China's Liaoning province. The student with a U.S. green card had been residing in New Jersey before detention.

The ministry hailed the DPRK's decision to return Joo back, calling for the release of three other South Koreans who have been detained in the DPRK.

Kim Jung-wook, a South Korean missionary, was sentenced last year by a DPRK court to hard labor for life after being convicted of espionage and setting up underground church. He was arrested in October 2013.

In March, the DPRK authorities told a press conference in Pyongyang that Kim Kuk-gi and Choe Chung-gil were arrested on charges of spying activity for South Korea's spy agency. Endi