South Korea has called for North Korea to release a missionary who has been detained in the country for the past 10 years, as well as five other South Korean nationals being held by Pyongyang. In the statement released Tuesday, the Ministry of Unification criticized the DPRK’s refusal to provide even basic information about the detainees' conditions or whether they are alive, prolonging their families' anguish over the years.

North Korean authorities arrested Choi Chun-kil on allegations of committing espionage in Dec. 2014, sentencing him to life imprisonment through forced labor in June 2015. He is one of six South Koreans currently detained in the DPRK, including two other missionaries — Kim Jung-wook and Kim Kook-kie — and three defectors who had previously resettled in South Korea.