North Korea Deports Detained Australian Missionary

A 75-year-old Australian missionary held in North Korea for allegedly distributing religious materials arrived in China Monday after being deported, an Agence France Presse reporter saw.

Hong Kong-based John Short was arrested after leaving "Bible tracts" in a Buddhist temple in Pyongyang during a tour.

He arrived in Beijing on a flight from the North Korean capital, breaking down and crying when he was questioned by journalists.

"I'm really, really tired," he said, adding that he planned "to rest" before he was ushered off by an Australian official and driven away.

The North's state-run KCNA news agency said the "generous" decision to release and expel Short had been taken in light of his advanced age and a signed "confession" and apology.

A copy of Short's statement was released along with photos showing him affixing his thumb in red ink to the document which he also signed and read out.

"I realize that my actions are an indelible hostile act against the independent right and laws of the (North)," the confession read.

"I request forgiveness ... and am willing to bow down on my knees," it said.

Confessions and self-criticisms -- scripted by the authorities -- are normally a pre-requisite for detained foreigners seeking release in North Korea.

Short's statement stated that U.S. and other western media reports labeling the North as a closed country without religious freedoms were "inaccurate and wrong".

Although freedom of worship is enshrined in North Korea's constitution, it does not exist in practice and religious activity is severely restricted to officially-recognized groups linked to the government.

In his statement, Short also admitted distributing religious texts on the Pyongyang subway during a previous tour to the North in 2012.

"I now realize the seriousness of my insult to the Korean people ... and for this I truly apologize," it said.

Australia has no diplomatic representation in North Korea, but its foreign ministry said his release was "welcome news".

Short's wife, Karen Short, told AFP in Hong Kong that she was "amazingly thankful".

Pyongyang views foreign missionaries as seditious elements intent on fomenting unrest and those who are caught engaging in any activities in the North are subject to immediate arrest.

A number of missionaries -- mostly U.S. citizens -- have been arrested in the past with some allowed to return home after interventions by high-profile U.S. figures.

Pyongyang is currently holding U.S. citizen Kenneth Bae, described by a North Korean court as a militant Christian evangelist.

He was arrested in November 2012 and later sentenced to 15 years' hard labor on charges of seeking to topple the government.

A South Korean missionary, Kim Jeong-Wook, has also been detained since last October.

In a televised press conference staged in Pyongyang last week, Kim "confessed" to anti-government activities including helping organize underground churches for North Korean refugees in China and spying for Seoul's intelligence authorities.

Seoul denied Kim's involvement with the intelligence agency and demanded his immediate release.

North-South Korean relations have shown tangible signs of a thaw in recent months, but the start of South-U.S. joint military drills last week has soured the atmosphere, with Pyongyang conducting a series of short-range missile tests in an apparent show of strength.