North Korea has repatriated a 52-year old South Korean citizen surnamed Ma who was caught by North Korean authorities for illegally entering the communist country last month.
 
Unification ministry deputy spokeswoman Park Soo-jin told reporters Friday that the South Korean citizen returned to the South through the truce village of Panmunjom around 10:10 a.m. Friday as the North had suggested. The government plans to check Ma's health conditions and question him on the details of his entry into North Korea.  
 
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Wednesday that Ma had illegally entered North Korea at the end of last month, but as a humanitarian move, the North had persuaded him to return to the South where his parents live.
 
KCNA said Ma has admitted to have illegally entered the North and sincerely requested North Korea to allow him to live in the country as South Korea has only treated him as an insane person and restrained his liberty.