(CNN) -- The American man who swam to Aung San Suu Kyi's home in Myanmar said Thursday he still believes he did the right thing, even though his visit led to an extension of the pro-democracy leader's house arrest.



John Yettaw told Aung San Suu Kyi he had a vision she would be murdered.



John Yettaw, 53, swam across a lake to Suu Kyi's home in May and stayed for two days before authorities arrested him along with Suu Kyi and two of her staff.



His presence violated the terms of Suu Kyi's house arrest -- which was about to expire -- leading a judge to extend it by another 18 months.



But Yettaw said he made the trip to Yangon to save Suu Kyi from assassination, and that it was successful. What critics have described as a "stunt" brought enough attention to her plight, he said, to ensure that Suu Kyi could not be killed by the country's ruling military junta.



Yettaw said on CNN's "American Morning" that he is "grateful that she's alive, grateful that the entire world is watching and there's no way these generals are ever going to try to assassinate her."



To many, however, his visit did more harm than good. Some thought he might be mentally ill to attempt what he did -- an idea he rejects, though he says he can understand why people believe it.



But Yettaw said he had no idea that Suu Kyi would be arrested and put on trial for something that he would do.



"I wept every day and I've suffered every day" because of the punishment she received, he told CNN. He called her sentence "heartbreaking."



The case of Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been the symbol of the country's opposition for two decades, first came to Yettaw's attention when he was in Thailand and saw her photograph.



"I instantly had a premonition, or a vision, that I saw myself going through a lake and over a fence and was at a back door of a house," he told CNN. "Then (I) Googled from there and realized she lived next to Inya Lake and I got a visa to get into Yangon. And I thought, since this has been presented to me, I'm going to make this happen."



The retired bus driver and Vietnam veteran from Missouri told his wife only that he had a premonition he would become a political prisoner in Myanmar. She told her husband not to go, but he went anyway.



In November 2008, Yettaw said, he managed to swim across the lake and leave scriptures from the Book of Mormon for Suu Kyi. But later he had a vision that Suu Kyi would be assassinated, so he decided to make another trip.



That was the fateful trip on May 3.



"The second time that I came was the same route, in through the sewer tunnel and into the water," he said. "But this time of year the water level was much lower and I had two bags filled with a lot of stuff, and so I had to military-crawl with these two bags and I got caught. Two soldiers spotted me.



"Fortunately, by the time they got close to me, I rolled over into the water with my bags which were tied together, and I literally was walking through the water and they were frightened. They, I don't think, saw me -- they saw this bag floating through the water and moving at a consistent rate, so they started throwing rocks at it. And inside I prayed, 'What do I do?' and the only response that I felt, inspiration, was 'keep walking.' And that's what I did."



Yettaw managed to reach Suu Kyi's house and was able to explain that he had a vision she would be murdered. He said Suu Kyi didn't think he was crazy, and she was "absolutely" happy to see him.



Yettaw was arrested and convicted of violating immigration laws, municipal
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question: Where did Yettaw travel to?, answer: Suu Kyi's home | question: Who is the pro-democracy leader?, answer: Aung San Suu Kyi's | question: Who  was saved from  assassination?, answer: Suu Kyi | question: what was the reason behind John Yettaw's trip to Yangon?, answer: save Suu Kyi from assassination, | question: What did he say?, answer: "grateful that she's alive, grateful that the entire world is watching | question: What violated her house arrest terms?, answer: His presence | question: what did he said about?, answer: "grateful that she's alive, grateful that the entire world is watching | question: How long did he stay in her house?, answer: two days