North Korea Releases Californian Businessman Jun Young Su from Captivity

North Korea released a Californian businessman who had been imprisoned since November 2010 on charges of proselytizing.

Korean Central News Agency, North Korea's official news station, reported that the 60-year-old businessman from Orange County was released on humanitarian grounds.

KCNA reports The investigation proved that Jun committed a serious crime ... which he frankly admitted himself.

Although it is unclear exactly what charge Jun was held under, it is understood that he was accused of attempting to spread Christianity in a nation that worships only their Dear Leader (Kim Ilsung) and his successor and current leader Kim Jungil.

Robert King, the U.S. envoy for NOrth Korean Human Rights, successfully finalized Jun's release and escorted him out of the nation on May 28, 2011.

Prominent figures including former U.S. President Carter and Rev. Franklin Graham called for Jun's release.

Despite the joy that comes from Jun's release, North Korea ranks number one as a nation with the worst religious persecution, according to Open Doors 2010 World Watch List.

Victims of religious persecution are routinely tortured, mutilated, confined, tested for chemical and biological weapons, given slave labor in prison camps - and also murdered, sometimes extending the punishment to other family members.