North Korea Decides to Expel Detained Japanese Tourist

August 27, 2018

Seoul- North Korea has decided to expel a Japanese tourist detained for violating the country's laws, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday.

KCNA identified the Japanese tourist as Tomoyuki Sugimoto.

North Korean authorities "decided to leniently condone him and expel him from the DPRK on the principle of humanitarianism," KCNA said, using the abbreviation of the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korea is expected to repatriate the man to Japan. But KCNA did not say when he will be released, if he is safe and what he is suspected of having done.

A Japanese government source has said a Japanese man was detained in the western North Korean city of Nampo early this month after entering from China for sightseeing.

Sugimoto is reported to be in his late 30s, a native of Shiga Prefecture, western Japan, and working in the video industry.

North Korea detained a former Japanese newspaper reporter between 1999 and 2002 on suspicion of spying.

On Aug. 7, North Korea released a South Korean man detained for illegally entering the North. Jiji Press