North Korea has decided to deport a U.S. citizen who was detained after entering the country illegally last month from China, state media reported Friday.

The man, identified as Bruce Byron Lowrence, was detained as he entered North Korea through its land border with China on Oct. 16, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

"During the investigation, Lowrance stated that he illegally entered the DPRK under the manipulation of the CIA," KCNA said, using the acronym of North Korea's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

While the authorities assert CIA involvement, the deportation of the man just a month after his capture indicates that consideration may have been given to the effect of his continued detention on nuclear negotiations between the United States and North Korea.

Earlier Friday, KCNA reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had supervised the testing of "a newly developed ultramodern tactical weapon."

The two developments being announced on the same day point to Pyongyang possibly employing mixed messaging toward Washington, not unlike U.S. President Donald Trump's hot-and-cold tactics.

According to the Associated Press, a 58-year-old American man was detained by South Korean authorities in November last year in a civilian-restricted area near the border with North Korea. The man's name as it appeared in his passport was Lowrance Bruce Byron, according to the report.

Prior to being deported, the man told interrogators that he "knows lots of people in the Trump administration" and wanted to "work as a bridge" between the United States and North Korea.

On May 9, North Korea released three American detainees who had been jailed for anti-state activities. The goodwill gesture came weeks before Kim's historic summit with Trump in Singapore.