Joo Won-moon, the 21-year-old New York University (NYU) student arrested by North Korean authorities on April 22 told CNN on Tuesday that he went to the country with the intention of being detained.

In a strange and brief interview, the South Korean national and U.S. permanent resident told CNN’s Will Ripley that he had hoped his crossing could have sparked an improvement in inter-Korean relations.

“Well, I thought that by my entrance, illegally I acknowledge, but I thought that some great event could happen and hopefully that event could have a good effect on the relations between the North and