A 46-year-old man who claims to be a North Korean refugee was temporarily released on Thursday from a detention center in Omura, Nagasaki Prefecture, after being held for 20 months, immigration center officials said.
Lawyers representing Kim Yong Hwa have completed the paperwork for his release from the Omura Immigration Center, where he had been detained after Japanese justice and immigration officials rejected his appeal for asylum.
Kim's lawyers and supporters will take care of him after his release and say he will live in Kyushu. He is reportedly in poor health and undergoing treatment for high blood pressure.
Kim says he escaped from North Korea to northeastern China in 1988 to avoid being held responsible for a late train delivery when he worked as a railway official in North Korea.