A recently released missionary has released a statement on his two-week detention in North Korea, including its “grueling” interrogation sessions.

Native Australian John Short, 75, was detained from mid-February until Monday in the North, having been arrested for distributing religious materials while traveling there.

In a statement released to the Australian Associated Press, the now Hong Kong-based missionary said that he was subjected to interrogations that consisted of “two-hour sessions each morning, which were repeated again in the afternoons.”

Short’s confinement was “most painful physically as an active senior person,” he said.

His release came after North Korea announced