A former South Korean prisoner of war has finally returned home, after spending more than a half-century in North Korea.

Seventy-two-year-old Kim Ki-jong escaped from the Stalinist North to China in early December last year and remained in the custody of Chinese authorities for more than 50 days before finally flying into South Korea on Thursday afternoon.

Kim was taken prisoner by North Korean soldiers in 1952 in the final stages of the Korean War.

Upon landing at the Incheon International Airport, Kim said he had always dreamt of returning to his homeland, adding that he would like to spend his remaining life with his brothers in South Korea.

Kim is the 35th POW to return from the North since the end of the Korean War.