North Korea is going to release an American citizen, who was detained in the country on unspecified charges for the past six months, Reuters reported.

U.S. rights envoy Robert King, who was in North Korea for a five-day visit, won the release of Jun Young Su, a businessman from California, on Friday as he wrapped up his visit.

Sweden, which looks after U.S. interests in North Korea in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, informed the U.S. State Department that Su would be set free, Reuters reported.

We welcome North Korea's decision to release him on humanitarian grounds, said State Department spokesman Mark Toner in Washington.

Jun was arrested last November, and admitted committing a crime against the state during an investigation, KCNA reported. According to media reports, Jun had been doing missionary work in the isolated North.

King visited the North, the first ever visit by a rights envoy, to assess the state's pleas for food aid. However, Jun case didn't have any connections with the food issue, along with broader questions regarding the future of multilateral talks on North Korea's nuclear program, said Toner.

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