US missionary freed by North Korea arrives in China

BEIJING - A US missionary arrived here Saturday after being released by North Korea, which had detained him for crossing into its territory on Christmas Day.

Robert Park, 28, landed at the Beijing International Airport and was awaiting transfer to a plane bound for the US, according to US embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson.

He did not want to make a comment to the media at this time, she said.

North Korea’s state-run Korea Central News Agency announced Friday that the government had decided to “leniently forgive and release him, taking his admission and sincere repentance of his wrongdoings into consideration”.

Park was detained by North Korea while wandering across the border with China on a religious mission. He announced beforehand that he intended to be arrested to provoke public interest in the human rights situation in North Korea.