A former North Korean soldier, who was captured during the Korean War, has asked to return home via a third country.

The 95-year-old Ahn Hak-sop, who served a 42-year prison sentence in South Korea after refusing to renounce socialist beliefs, told a news conference in Jongno District on Thursday that he would travel back to North Korea via Russia or China.

Ahn said he'd first requested repatriation more than three months ago, adding that the government had promised to review his earlier inquiry and that the unification ministry had initially proposed his transit through a third country.

A civic group advocating for Ahn's repatriation said it hadn't received an official statement from the unification ministry regarding a third-country transfer, but that the department had brought up a "tertiary" way to settle the issue during an informal discussion in July.

An unnamed official at the ministry told reporters on Thursday that it is the government's basic policy to seek the repatriation of such  “unconverted” long-term prisoners on humanitarian grounds, and that it is reviewing concrete steps, including the possibility of consultations with the North.

The official added that if Seoul were to pursue Ahn's request, Pyongyang would need to confirm its intent to receive him.

Amid a conciliatory inter-Korean mood during the tenure of former President Kim Dae-jung, South Korea repatriated 63 long-term prisoners to North Korea via Panmunjom in 2000.