The Associated Press says the United States has, for the first time, granted asylum to a North Korean escapee residing in Russia in line with the 2004 North Korean Human Rights Act.

AP quoted Chun Ki-won, head of the Durihana Missionary Foundation, as saying that 42-year-old Han Dong-man will leave Russia and arrive in Los Angeles, California on Wednesday.

Han went to Russia in 1993 as a logger and refused to return to the North in 1998. He was granted refugee status by the United Nations in 2007.

With Han’s entry, the total number of North Koreans that have been granted asylum in the U.S. now stands at 62.