The ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs has promised to review a civil complaint lodged in support of a former North Korean soldier who wants to be repatriated to the North.

A local civic group campaigning for the repatriation of 95-year-old Ahn Hak-sop said Friday that it received the response from the unification ministry after filing the complaint four days earlier.

Ahn was taken captive during the Korean War, served a 42-year prison sentence in South Korea for refusing to renounce his socialist beliefs, and was released in 1995.

An official from the ministry said in the document that Seoul is aware of people like Ahn who wish to return home in their twilight years and that it will review the matter, apparently in line with an earlier statement in which the ministry also said immediate repatriation would be difficult in practice.

Amid a conciliatory inter-Korean mood during the tenure of former President Kim Dae-jung, South Korea repatriated 63 such “unconverted” long-term prisoners to North Korea via the truce village of Panmunjeom in 2000.

Ahn decided to remain in the South at the time.

Earlier this week, Ahn made a failed attempt to return to the North via Panmunjeom by crossing the Tongil Bridge in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, but the South Korean military issued a warning and prevented him from crossing without advance authorization.