“Karen Short’s prayers were answered. When her missionary husband John Short, 75, was detained in North Korea last month, she asked people to pray for his release. On Monday, local time, North Korea announced it was expelling the Australian-born Hong Kong resident. He has since landed safely in Beijing.

Short’s release came after he was photographed reading what was likely a carefully staged, forced confession. “I deeply apologize for what I have done by spreading my Bible tracts on February 16th the birthday of his Excellency Kim Jong Il,” he said, according to an account published by KCNA, a government mouthpiece. “I realize that the mass media of the USA and the western countries who say that the DPRK is the closed country and has no religious freedoms is inaccurate and wrong.”

It is not clear whether or not Short did, in fact, distribute Biblical tracts on Feb. 16. But shortly after his arrest, his wife told TIME her husband traveled to North Korea carrying religious pamphlets titled “Does it matter what I believe?” “He knew that the documents he was carrying are illegal and that the information he wanted to spread is not welcome,” she said on Feb. 19. “He is always going to places where religion is not welcome to spread the word.””* The Young Turks hosts Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian break it down.

*Read more here from Emily Rauhala / Time:
http://world.time.com/2014/03/03/north-korea-releases-australian-missionary/