Japanese Man Held in N. Korea Returns Home

August 29, 2018

Tokyo- A Japanese man who was expelled by North Korea following detention arrived at Tokyo International Airport at Haneda aboard a commercial flight Tuesday night.

At a press conference earlier in the day, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said that the government plans to hear details of what happened from the man.

The government specifically plans to ask the man about circumstances surrounding his detention, including how he was held, to analyze North Korea's intentions behind its release of the Japanese national.

According to a Japanese government source, the man is from the western Japan prefecture of Shiga and works in the video industry. He does not have any health problem, the source said.

North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday that Pyongyang had decided to expel the man, a tourist, whom it identified as Tomoyuki Sugimoto, on humanitarian grounds after detaining him for committing an illegal act in the country.

He is believed to have been held in the western North Korea city of Nampo in early August after entering the country via China, informed sources said.

After learning about the detention of the Japanese national, Tokyo had continued negotiations for his early release through its embassy in Beijing and other channels.

After being released on Tuesday, the man moved to Beijing from Pyongyang by air before flying back to Japan from the Chinese capital, according to the sources.

The man arrived at Haneda shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday (11 a.m. GMT), but did not appear at the arrival gate, where dozens of reporters gathered to wait for him to show up. The man is believed to have left the airport using a different route. Jiji Press