The government has urged North Korea to repatriate a South Korean pastor who has been detained in the North for ten years.

The Unification Ministry made the call in a statement on Sunday, saying that today marks ten years after South Korean missionary Kim Jung-wook was arrested in Pyongyang in 2013.

The ministry said that six South Korean citizens, including Kim, remain detained in North Korea for a long period of time, condemning the incarceration as “illegal and inhumane.”

The ministry then strongly urged Pyongyang to return South Korean citizens detained in the North.

The ministry added that it will continue its efforts to find out the whereabouts of the detainees and win their repatriation in cooperation with civic groups, noting that it set up a related task force directly under the unification minister last month.

Missionary Kim Jeong-wook was arrested by North Korea in 2013 while doing missionary work in the border area between North Korea and China and has been detained in North Korea on charges of spying for South Korea's intelligence agency.