Chinese political dissident Dong Guangping has arrived in Canada after a dramatic journey that included an attempted sea crossing to South Korea, according to a close friend and longtime supporter.

Dong landed in Toronto on Friday aboard an Air Canada flight, Chinese Canadian activist Sheng Xue announced in a post on social media on Saturday.

“He just had a big bowl of noodles with eggs, tomatoes and shrimps,” Sheng wrote, sharing photographs of Dong after his arrival. She added that she had spent more than a decade working to help him leave China.

Dong’s arrival marks the latest chapter in a years-long struggle to escape persecution. In May, he was intercepted by South Korea’s Coast Guard after attempting to reach the country aboard a 3.3-meter (10.8-foot) inflatable dinghy off the coast of a western South Korean island.

South Korean authorities detained him for allegedly violating the country’s immigration laws. The journey was reported to be his fourth known attempt to flee China.

During a court hearing in South Korea, Dong told reporters that his goal was to travel to Canada, where his wife and daughter had already been granted resettlement.

A former police officer in China, Dong has faced repeated detention because of his political activism.

According to Amnesty International, he lost his position as a police officer in 1999 after co-signing a letter marking the 10th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Since then, Dong has reportedly been detained multiple times by Chinese authorities because of his activism and criticism of the government.

His arrival in Canada brings an end to a lengthy effort by supporters to reunite him with his family after years of legal battles, detention and repeated attempts to leave China.

The case has drawn attention from human rights advocates, who have highlighted Dong’s long history of political persecution and his determination to seek safety abroad.