SEOUL
South Korea’s government called on North Korea on Monday to release four of its nationals including a college student who was allegedly detained last month.
Pyongyang announced over the weekend that it had captured a 21-year-old New York University student -- identified as U.S. green card holder Joo Won-moon -- on April 22 for illegal entry through a city bordering China.
Lim Byeong-cheol, Unification Ministry spokesman, said in a statement Monday that it was "deeply regrettable that North Korea is detaining Joo Won-moon, who is a South Korean national, without any explanation to our government and his family."
Local news agency Yonhap quoted Lim as saying that Seoul "strongly demands the North immediately release Joo and return him to the arms of his family."
The statement also urged Pyongyang to release three other detained South Koreans, including a missionary arrested in Oct. 2013 and two other alleged "spies" caught earlier this year.
Baptist missionary Kim Jung-wook was sentenced to a life of hard labor after being accused of spying and establishing underground churches.
Meanwhile, Kim Kuk-gi and Choe Chun-gil were accused by Pyongyang late last month of being "heinous terrorists" and charged with spying on behalf of South Korea.
While a statement by the South’s Unification Ministry following the North’s announcement insisted that the "groundless claim" about the men was "very regrettable," it did not clarify whether they were linked to the country's state spy agency.
North Korea's case against the detainees is built on their apparent confessions to working on behalf of South Korea's National Intelligence Service to gather intelligence and undermine Pyongyang's authority.
The admissions of guilt follow a pattern seen among North Korean prisoners -- including the high-profile American missionary Kenneth Bae before his release last year.
South Korean nationals are barred from travelling to North Korea without permission -- the two sides are still technically at war despite the Korean War coming to an effective close in 1953.
