US soldier held by North Korea after crossing border

[beijingwalker]

US soldier held by North Korea after crossing border​

July. 18 2023

IMAGE SOURCE,AFP
Image caption,
South Korean soldiers stand guard in the village of Panmunjom in the Joint Security Area
By Antoinette Radford & Simon Fraser
BBC News

North Korea is reported to have detained a serving US army soldier who crossed the heavily-fortified border from South Korea without permission.
The man was on an organised tour of the UN-run zone dividing the two countries.

The crisis comes during a particularly tense time with the North, one of the world's most isolated states. US citizens are advised not to go there.

It's unclear if the man has defected to North Korea or hopes to return. There has been no word yet from the North.

The soldier is Private 2nd Class Travis King, officials have told the BBC's US partner CBS News, adding that he was being escorted back to America for disciplinary reasons. BBC News has contacted the US Department of State for comment.

According to CBS, Private King had passed through airport security in Seoul but somehow managed to leave the terminal and get on a tour of the border, from where he crossed over.

The American military has said he did so "wilfully and without authorisation".

Media caption,
Watch: Pentagon concerned about welfare of captured soldier

An eyewitness on the same tour told CBS they had visited a building at the border site - reported by local media to be the truce village of Panmunjom - when "this man gives out a loud 'ha ha ha' and just runs in between some buildings".

"I thought it was a bad joke at first but, when he didn't come back, I realised it wasn't a joke and then everybody reacted and things got crazy," they said.

The United Nations Command, which operates the Demilitarised Zone and joint security area (JSA), said earlier its team had made contact with the North Korean military to try to negotiate his release.

"We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our KPA counterparts to resolve this incident," it said.

The KPA is the Korean People's Army - North Korea's military. The Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separates the two Koreas and is one of the most heavily fortified areas in the world.

It is filled with landmines, surrounded by electric and barbed wire fencing and surveillance cameras. Armed guards are supposed to be on alert 24 hours a day.

The DMZ has separated the two countries since the Korean War in the 1950s, in which the US backed the South. The war ended with an armistice, meaning that the two sides are still technically at war.

Dozens of people try to escape North Korea every year, fleeing poverty and famine, but defections across the DMZ are extremely dangerous and rare. The country sealed its borders in 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and has yet to reopen them.

The last time a soldier defected at the JSA was in 2017, when a North Korean soldier drove a vehicle, then ran by foot across the military demarcation line, South Korea said at the time. The soldier was shot at 40 times, but survived.

Before the pandemic more than 1,000 people fled from North Korea to China every year, according to numbers released by the South Korean government.

The detention of the soldier presents a major foreign policy headache for US President Biden. Private King is believed to be the only American citizen currently in North Korean custody. Six South Koreans remain in detention there.

Relations between the US and the North plummeted in 2017 after a US student who had been arrested a year earlier for stealing a propaganda sign was returned to the US in a comatose state and later died. His family blames the North Korean authorities for his death.

Three US citizens were later freed during Donald Trump's presidency in 2018. But ultimately, a series of talks held between Kim Jong Un and the former US president did little to improve the relationship.

North Korea has since tested dozens of increasingly powerful missiles that could carry nuclear warheads, which have been met by a slew of sanctions by the US and its allies.

The detention of the US national comes on the same day as a US nuclear-capable submarine docked in South Korea for the first time since 1981.

The submarine was specifically supplied to help the country deal with the nuclear threat posed by North Korea. Ahead of its deployment there were threats of retaliation from the authorities in Pyongyang, which warned the US that sending nuclear weapons to the peninsula could spark a nuclear crisis.

US soldier held by North Korea after crossing border

The United Nations command said the man was on an organised tour when he crossed without permission.

www.bbc.com

 

[beijingwalker]

U.S. soldier facing disciplinary action flees into North Korea​

By Hyonhee Shin and Phil Stewart
July 19, 20232:02 AM GM

SEOUL/WASHINGTON, July 18 (Reuters) - An American soldier facing disciplinary action fled across the inter-Korean border into North Korea on Tuesday and was believed to be in North Korean custody, U.S. officials said, creating a fresh crisis for Washington in its dealings with the nuclear-armed state.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed concern for the soldier, who the U.S. military in Korea said was on an orientation tour of Joint Security Area between the Koreas and "wilfully and without authorization crossed the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)."

U.S. soldier facing disciplinary action flees into North Korea

An American soldier facing disciplinary action fled across the inter-Korean border into North Korea on Tuesday and was believed to be in North Korean custody, U.S. officials said, creating a fresh crisis for Washington in its dealings with the nuclear-armed state.

www.reuters.com