By Hyung-Jin Kim, Kim Tong-Hyung and Lolita C. Baldor | Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea remained silent on Wednesday regarding the detention of an American soldier who ran across the heavily fortified border between North and South Korea while his tour group watched in shock. Given the heightened tensions between the two countries, it is unlikely that the soldier will be returned any time soon, according to some observers.
Pvt. Travis King entered North Korea while on a tour of the Demilitarized Zone on Tuesday, a day after he was meant to return to a U.S. base. He had just been released from a South Korean prison on July 10 after serving a two-month sentence for assault. Upon his return to Fort Bliss, Texas, he could have faced further military discipline and discharge.
This is the first known case of an American being held in North Korea in almost five years. Each previous detention has sparked complex diplomatic negotiations, and this situation arises during a period of heightened animosity. On Wednesday, North Korea launched two ballistic missiles into the sea in what appears to be a protest against the deployment of a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine in South Korea for the first time in decades.
“It is likely that North Korea will use the soldier for propaganda purposes in the short term and then as a bargaining chip,” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in South Korea.
King, a 23-year-old cavalry scout with the 1st Armored Division, was scheduled to depart for Texas on Monday. He was escorted to customs, but left the airport before boarding his flight.
It remains unclear how he spent the hours leading up to joining the tour in the border village of Panmunjom and subsequently running across the border on Tuesday afternoon. The Army released his name and limited information after notifying King’s family. Additional details were provided by anonymous U.S. officials due to the sensitive nature of the situation.
One woman who was on the tour with King initially believed his dash across the border was some kind of stunt, and she, along with others in the group, couldn’t believe what they witnessed.
King had previously encountered legal troubles in South Korea. In February, he was fined 5 million won ($3,950) after being convicted of assault and damaging a police vehicle in Seoul the previous October, according to court records obtained by The Associated Press. The verdict also mentioned an accusation that King had punched a 23-year-old man at a Seoul nightclub, although the court dismissed that charge as the victim did not want King to face punishment.
King’s maternal grandfather, Carl Gates, stated that his grandson joined the Army roughly three years ago because he “wanted to do better for himself.” Gates revealed that King was inspired by his brother who serves as a police officer and his cousin who is in the Navy.
Gates hopes that his grandson can be brought home to receive help, stating, “I think right now he might have a problem or something. I can’t see him doing that intentionally if he was in his right mind.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed that the U.S. government is working with North Korean representatives to “resolve this incident.”
The American-led U.N. Command announced on Tuesday that the U.S. soldier is believed to be in North Korean custody.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated during a Pentagon news conference that the situation is being closely monitored and investigated by the military.
The method and channels of communication between the U.S. and North Korea are unknown. The two countries have no diplomatic relations and are still technically at war since the Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
In the past, Sweden, which maintains an embassy in Pyongyang, has provided consular services for other Americans detained in North Korea. However, Swedish diplomats have reportedly not returned to North Korea since the country imposed a COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020 and ordered all foreigners to leave.
Some observers speculate that North Korea and the U.S. could still communicate through Panmunjom or the North Korean mission at the U.N. in New York.
Although rare, there have been instances of Americans and South Koreans defecting to North Korea. Conversely, over 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea to escape political oppression and economic difficulties since the end of the Korean War in 1953.
Tae Yongho, a former minister at the North Korean Embassy in London, believes that North Korea is pleased to have “an opportunity to get the U.S. to lose its face” due to King’s crossing on the same day the U.S. submarine arrived in South Korea.
Tae, who is now a South Korean lawmaker, does not anticipate an easy return for King, as he is a soldier from a nation technically at war with North Korea and voluntarily crossed the border.
The U.S. still maintains approximately 28,000 troops in South Korea, and tensions on the Korean Peninsula remain high, with North Korea conducting missile tests and the U.S. holding military exercises with South Korea.
Panmunjom, situated within the 248-kilometer-long (154-mile-long) Demilitarized Zone, has been jointly supervised by the U.N. Command and North Korea since the end of the Korean War. While occasional conflicts have occurred there, it has also served as a diplomatic and tourist destination, attracting visitors who want to witness the last frontier of the Cold War. Although no civilians reside there, North and South Korean soldiers face each other while tourists on both sides take photographs.
A small number of U.S. soldiers entered North Korea during the Cold War, including Charles Jenkins, who deserted his post in South Korea in 1965 and fled across the DMZ. Jenkins appeared in North Korean propaganda films and married a Japanese nursing student who had been abducted by North Korean agents from Japan. Jenkins passed away in Japan in 2017.
In recent years, a few American civilians have been arrested in North Korea on charges of espionage, subversion, and other anti-state activities. However, they were subsequently released after high-profile visits from the U.S. to secure their freedom.
In May 2018, North Korea released three American detainees who returned to the United States on a plane with then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a brief period of improved relations. Later in 2018, North Korea stated that American Bruce Byron Lowrance had been expelled. Since Lowrance’s deportation, there have been no reports of other Americans being detained in North Korea prior to Tuesday’s incident.
These releases sharply contrast with the case of Otto Warmbier, an American university student who died in 2017, several days after being released by North Korea in a comatose state following 17 months of captivity.
Copp reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Zeke Miller in Washington and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.