An American man held for five months in North Korea has arrived back in the United States, US television reported Wednesday, showing his plane landing at an airport in Ohio.

Jeffrey Fowle, 56, whose release was announced Tuesday, arrived at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, according to the television reports.

Television footage showed Fowle smiling as he descended from the plane with baggage in hand, being greeted by loved ones who embraced him on the airport tarmac.

Fowle entered the North in April and was detained after apparently leaving a Bible in the bathroom of a nightclub in the northern port of Chongjin.

Pyongyang has portrayed the decision to free the American as an act of high-level diplomatic largesse, saying the release was ordered by leader Kim Jong-un following the "repeated requests" of US President Barack Obama.

However, the US State Department on Tuesday declined to provide any details of how Fowle's release was brokered, citing ongoing efforts to secure the return of two other Americans - Matthew Miller and Kenneth Bae - serving hard-labor prison terms in the North.

US officials said Pyongyang had given Washington a timeframe within which to transport Fowle out of the country, and the Pentagon had decided to send in a plane to bring him home, even though Washington does not have diplomatic ties with North Korea, also known as the DPRK.

"We certainly welcome the decision from the DPRK to release him," said Earnest, while State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf thanked Swedish diplomats for their efforts to secure his freedom.

Fowle had been checked by doctors and "appears to be in good health," Harf told reporters Tuesday, adding the plane had flown from Pyongyang to Guam and he would head next to the mainland US.

She refused to go into specifics at that time, however, about when he was expected to arrive home in the state of Ohio.

She would also not reveal how Fowle's release was brokered, amid ongoing efforts to free the two other Americans still held, Matthew Miller and Kenneth Bae.

"I'm not going to confirm any details about the discussions or the ways we tried to get our American citizens home," Harf said.

Bae's sister Terri Chung said Fowle's release could be a "sign of hope" for the 42-year-old Korean-American who was arrested in November 2012 and later sentenced to 15 years' hard labor."