Bergen County Man Held In North Korea Has Not Spoken To Family Since Arrest, Reports Say

Joo Woo-moon has not been able to contact his family since being arrested for illegally entering North Korea five months ago.

Joo, 21, a South Korean citizen who lives in Tenafly and attends New York University, was arrested in April after he illegally crossed into North Korea from China.

Related: Bergen County Man Arrested For Illegally Entering North Korea

He spoke at a 30-minute press conference Friday in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, that officials arranged, CBSNews reported.

Joo read a prepared — and probably coached — statement where he praised the country and its government, CBS reported.

Joo, with pictures of North Korean ”great leaders” Kim Jong-Il and his father, Kim Il-Sung behind him, said he is ”not sure about” his future and has been unable to contact his family, in a NBCNews video of the press conference.

“I am not very sure about my future, but because I broke the law by illegally entering [North Korea], I will accept any judgment as given, but has a young college student who wanted to satisfy his curiosity, I hope to be treated generously,” Joo said. “I would like to tell my family and loved ones that I am well and I am very healthy and I hope to be home soon.”

North Korean officials have not said how they are going to handle Joo’s case, CBSNews reported.

Joo said in a televised interview in May that he hoped to create some “great event” that could have had a good effect between the North and South,” Joo said. “I wanted to be arrested.”

The North Korean government is known for its allegedly harsh treatment of its citizens and foreign residents it detains.

The country has one of the worst human rights records in the world. Hundreds of thousands of people are alleged to have starved to death or died from hunger-related illnesses when a famine swept through the country in the mid 1990s.

Citizens speak out, or who are suspected of speaking out, against the government and its Juche ideology are allegedly placed into work camps where they are never seen or heard from again.

(Pictured: A screenshot of Joo Woo-moon from the NBCNews video of the press conference.)