North Korea has released Otto Warmbier, a US university student who has been held captive there since last year, according to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Mr Warmbier was arrested for removing a political banner from a wall in a North Korean hotel during a visit. He was detained at the airport as he was leaving the country with a tour group in January 2016.
He was given a 15-year sentence of hard labour.
In a statement, Mr Tillerson said that the University of Virginia student is on his way back to the United States.
He also said that the State Department is continuing to discuss the situation of three other detained Americans with North Korea.
The Washington Post cited Mr Warmbier's parents as saying he had been medically evacuated from North Korea in a coma.
His father Fred told The Washington Post: "Our son is coming home. At the moment, we're just treating this like he's been in an accident. We get to see our son Otto tonight."
At a Senate hearing, Mr Tillerson declined to comment on Mr Warmbier's condition.
The US has accused the North of using Mr Warmbier as a political pawn and condemned the sentence as far out of proportion to his alleged crime.
