North Korea has announced that it will send back a South Korean detainee at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.
 
A Unification Ministry official said that in a message sent from its Red Cross’ central committee, the North said it will return to the South New York University student Joo Won-moon who has been detained in the North since April 22.
 
The official said the South replied that it will receive Joo through the truce village of Panmunjeom as proposed by the North.
 
The official said the South Korean government is relieved that North Korea decided to repatriate the 21-year-old. The official then called on the North to promptly release other South Korean detainees, Kim Jeong-wook, Kim Kuk-ki and Choi Chun-gil.
 
The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency had announced earlier that Joo, a South Korean citizen who holds permanent resident status in the U.S., was detained after illegally entering the North by crossing the Amnok River from Dandong, China on April 22.