The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) supported a South Korean priest's return home through the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), the official KCNA news agency reported Wednesday.
Han Sang Ryol's visit to the DPRK was "warmly welcomed" by all Koreans as a "righteous act" to preserve and implement the joint declaration and achieve national reconciliation and reunification, a spokesman for the DPRK Committee for Implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration said, Xinhua reported.
The declaration to work towards peaceful reunification was signed after an historic North-South summit in 2000.
But the spokesman said South Korea had issued a "warrant of arrest," saying they would arrest and punish Han for violating the "National Security Law" when he returned. And they let the South Korean Red Cross make inhuman remarks that it would not accept the return of Han to South Korea, he said.
He appealed to the South Korean authorities to stop the unfair repression at once and, if they arrested Han, they would not be able to escape strong protest and condemnation from home and abroad.
Han has been lauded as a pro-reunification figure by the DPRK's media. He arrived in Pyongyang on June 12, visited many places and met many people in the DPRK.
The Red Cross Society of the DPRK has sent notices twice to the South Korean Red Cross, asking them to guarantee the safety of Han after his return.
According to the local reports, the South Korean authorities said they did not approve Han's return to South Korea through the MDL.