Beijing ? An American missionary arrived in Beijing today after being freed by North Korea, which had detained him for illegally crossing its border from China on Christmas Day.

Robert Park, appearing pale and drawn, did not say anything as U.S. consular officials escorted him from the North Korean plane at Beijing’s airport.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson said Park would leave later in the day for the United States.

On Friday, North Korea announced it would free Park, saying he had shown “sincere repentance.”

Park, 28, slipped across the frozen Tumen River into North Korea carrying letters calling on leader Kim Jong Il to close the country’s notoriously brutal prison camps and step down from power — acts that could risk a death sentence in the totalitarian nation.