North Korea releases American citizen Eddie Jun after six months in detention

According to state media in Pyongyang, Mr Jun was freed on "humanitarian grounds", after being detained in November 2010 for committing a crime "against the state".

Mr Jun, from California, is believed to have used business trips to North Korea as a cover for secret missionary work.

However with a report last month by the UN's World Food Programme estimating that six million of North Korea's 23 million people are in danger from hunger and Pyongyang desperate for help, Mr Jun's release has likely been timed as a show of good will towards Washington.

Mr King's five day trip to assess North Korea's food needs took place with the US under increasing pressure to resume food aid to the starving state, and with both Washington and Pyongyang looking for ways to re-start the stalled six-party talks aimed at disarming North Korea's nuclear arsenal.

But arriving at Beijing airport on Saturday morning, Mr King denied that the release of Korean-American businessman Eddie Jun Yong-su was connected to the issue of food aid.

"We did not negotiate or agree to any provisional food assistance," said Mr King.

Washington halted food aid to North Korea in 2008, amidst fears that shipments were being diverted to feed the DPRK's one million-strong armed forces.

The end of the US visit came a day after the DPRK's leader Kim Jong-il returned from a week-long trip to China, his third to North Korea's only ally in a year.

As well as looking for aid and shoring up support for the expected succession of his son Kim Jong-un, both Beijing and Pyongyang would like to resume the six-part talks on ending the DPRK's nuclear programme that were last held in 2009.

But following the deadly shelling of a South Korean island late last year by the DPRK, both Washington and Seoul are demanding that Pyongyang demonstrates its sincerity towards disarming before talks can re-convene.

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