A former North Korean soldier who spent over 40 years imprisoned in South Korea has announced that he intends to cross into the DPRK on Wednesday, stating that he refuses to be buried in a “colonial state.”

At a press conference in Seoul, 95-year-old Ahn Hak-sop detailed his plan to walk across the heavily militarized inter-Korean border to return to the North, more than 70 years after his capture during the Korean War.

A committee advocating for his repatriation requested that the South Korean government facilitate his return through Panmunjom at 11 a.m. on Aug. 20.

“This is a colony