Jeffrey Fowle, one of the three Americans being held by North Korea, has been released, the State Department confirmed today. Fowle, 56, had been in captivity since May of last year; he was awaiting trial on charges of "Christian proselytizing" for leaving a Bible in a nightclub.

Fowle, 56, was flown out of the country on American plane and taken to Guam, CNN reports. White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed Fowle's release to the Associated Press:

Earnest said the Defense Department had provided transportation to Fowle on a schedule that the North had specified. He said Sweden had helped facilitate Fowle's release. The U.S. doesn't have formal diplomatic relations with North Korea.

State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said Fowle was on his way home to his family. "We welcome the DPRK's decision to release him," she said in a statement, using the abbreviation for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Two men, Matthew Miller and Kenneth Bae, remain imprisoned in North Korea. Last month, the three men, in what appeared to be coerced interviews with the Associated Press and CNN, made pleas for a high profile American emissary be sent to the country to negotiate their release. Until then, North Korea had been resistant to any kind of dialogue with the United States about the captured Americans.

Earnest told the Associated Press that the "the U.S. will continue to work actively" on Miller and Bae's release.

[Image via AP]