A Korean American imprisoned in the United States since 1996 on charges of spying for South Korea was moved Saturday to a prison near his home in Virginia, ahead of his upcoming release in about six months.

Robert Chaegon Kim said in a telephone interview with Yonhap News Agency that he was told by U.S. law enforcement authorities that he will be held at the prison in Winchester, Virginia, just 75 kilometers away from his home, until July 27. He had previously been held at a facility in Pennsylvania.

Kim will then be released, although he will not be allowed to leave his town and is to be kept under surveillance for three years.

The former officer of the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) was sentenced to nine years in prison for providing intelligence on North Korea to Baek Dong-il, then military attache for South Korea's mission in Washington.

Kim, however, is scheduled to be paroled in July, mainly due to his advanced age and his status as a model prisoner, on the condition he carries an electronic monitoring device on his person.

The South Korean government has unsuccessfully petitioned the U.S. to parole Kim over the past few years, saying the information provided by him should not be categorized as classified since it was widely reported in the media, and that the espionage charge should not have been leveled in a case involving South Korea, one of Washington's closest allies.