North Korea announced Monday it was releasing and deporting a South Korean citizen and US resident who was arrested back in April for illegal entry, South Korea's Unification Ministry said.

Joo Won-Moon, a 21-year-old student at New York University, was to be repatriated through the border truce village of Panmunjom on the inter-Korean border at around 5:30 pm (0830 GMT), the ministry said in a statement.