Freed from North Korea, Merrill Newman is greeted by family in S.F.

Merrill Newman, an 85-year-old Korean War veteran who was arrested in October while visiting North Korea, was greeted by his wife and son when he arrived at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday after being released following 42 days in custody.

“It’s been a great homecoming,” Merrill told reporters, with his wife Lee and son Jeffrey standing by his side. “I’m tired -- but I’m with my family now.”

Asked what he planned to do once he got home to Palo Alto, Newman quipped: “Probably take my shoes off.”

Newman’s flight from Beijing landed at about 9 a.m., the San Jose Mercury News reported.

A retired tech executive, Newman was pulled off an airplane about to leave the North Korean capital of Pyongyang on Oct. 26 at the end of a 10-day tour, after speaking to his guides there about his service in a clandestine anti-communist army unit during the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korean officials released a video confession in which Newman said he had been trying to contact survivors from his military unit and their families.

In a statement announcing Newman’s release, the official Korean Central News Agency said he had entered the country under “the guise of a tourist to confirm the whereabouts of the spies and terrorists who had been trained and dispatched by him.”

“Taking into consideration his admittance of the act committed by him ...[the] apology made by him, his sincere repentance of it and his advanced age and health condition, [North Korea] deported him from the country from a humanitarian viewpoint,” the statement said.

Newman was an officer in what was called the Mt. Kuwol unit, which operated off the west coast of North Korea, conducting guerrilla raids on communist military and civilian targets in the latter part of the Korean War and in the immediate aftermath.

His son, Jeffrey Newman, speaking outside his Pasadena home on Friday, thanked the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang for helping his father while in custody.

“This is a great moment for us as a family, and it will be even better when we have a chance to be back together in a few hours,” the younger Newman said.

“After Merrill comes home and has a chance to get a well-deserved rest, we will have more to say about his unusual and difficult journey.”

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stephen.ceasar@latimes.com | Twitter: @stephenceasar