ROK urges DPRK to release detained missionary

SEOUL - The Republic of Korea on Wednesday urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to release a Christian missionary of the ROK who has been detained in the DPRK for about a year.

Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol told a press briefing that the government has been calling for the DPRK to set free Kim Jong-wook, who has been detained in the DPRK since October 2013.

Lim urged the DPRK to release Kim and repatriate him to the ROK as it set free Jeffrey Edward Fowle, one of three US citizens detained in the DPRK.

His comments came after Pyongyang released Fowle, who had been detained in the DPRK since April, on Tuesday.

The spokesman said the South Korean government sent a notice to the DPRK on Sept 12, which demanded the release of the South Korean missionary, after making various efforts to let the DPRK release Kim.

Kim was arrested on Oct 8, 2013, one day after crossing into Pyongyang from Dandong, China. In late May, the missionary was sentenced to a life hard labor in a trial held in the DPRK for the "anti-state" crimes.

He was convicted of plotting to establish underground churches, subvert the government, illegally entering into the country and conducting spy activities at the behest of the ROK's spy agency.