US Tourist and Korean War Vet Arrives Home An 85-year-old U.S. veteran of the Korean War who was detained for several weeks in North Korea arrived home Saturday in California. Merrill Newman landed in San Francisco on a flight from Beijing. Newman was detained in late October at the end of a 10-day trip to North Korea, a visit that came six decades after he oversaw a group of South Korean wartime guerrillas during the 1950-53 war. North Korea cited Newman's age and medical condition in allowing him to leave the country. Earlier Saturday, a smiling Newman told reporters in Beijing that he felt good and was glad to be on his way home. "And I appreciate the tolerance the (North Korean) government has given to me to be on my way," he said after arriving at the airport in Beijing from Pyongyang, adding that he looked forward to seeing his wife. Newman's detention highlighted the extreme sensitivity with which Pyongyang views the war, which ended without a formal peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula still technically in a state of war. The televised statement read last month by Newman said he was attempting to meet surviving guerrilla fighters he had trained during the conflict so he could reconnect them with their wartime colleagues living in South Korea, and that he had criticized the North during his recent trip. Members of the former South Korean guerrilla group said in an interview last week with The Associated Press that Newman was their adviser. Others were amazed Pyongyang still considered Newman a threat. "As you can imagine this has been a very difficult ordeal for us as a family, and particularly for him," he said in a statement read outside his home in Pasadena Friday night, adding that they will say more about this unusual journey after Newman has rested. Newman's release comes as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visit to the region brought him to Seoul. Biden said Saturday that he welcomed the release and said he talked by phone with Newman in Beijing, offering him a ride home on Air Force Two.