College Student From Tenafly Released By North Koreans

TENAFLY, N.J. -- A borough college student who deliberately crossed illegally into North Korea so “some great event could happen” was freed Monday after almost five months of detention by the communist dictatorship, NJ.com reported.

Joo Won-Moon, a Tenafly college student, was released by the North Korean government Monday after five months detention. Moon said he crossed the Amnok River, also called the Yalu River, pictured here, in April to "provoke a great event."
Photo Credit: *Jack Upland , Wikipedia*

Mary K. Miraglia

10/09/2015 4:00 a.m.

Joo Won-moon, 21, crossed the Amnok River near the Great Wall of China on April. 22, and was arrested some distance into the country.

In May, he told CNN that after crossing the river he traveled on foot over farms, scaled two barbed wire fences, and followed a river before he was arrested by North Korean troops, the report said.

Moon is a citizen of South Korea but lives in Tenafly, according to NJ.com. He graduated from Tenafly High School in 2012 and was a junior at New York University's Stern School of Business, although not currently enrolled in classes.

In the May interview he said he thought that some great event could happen that could have a good effect on the relations between the two Koreas. He said he wanted to be arrested and would accept his punishment, according to NJ.com.

The state news agency of North Korea released a statement saying Joo was freed on humanitarian grounds into a truce village called Panmunjom in South Korea, according to Yonhap News Agency, NJ.com said.

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