SEOUL, South Korea. North Korea has remained silent about the detention of an American soldier who dramatically crossed the heavily fortified border between North and South Korea as fellow members of his tour group looked on in shock. Heightened tensions between the two countries have led some observers to believe that his return may not happen any time soon
Private Travis King made a daring bolt into North Korea while on a tour of the Demilitarized Zone on Tuesday, a day after he was supposed to return to a U.S. military base. He had been released from a South Korean prison on July 10 after serving time for assault and was scheduled to return to Fort Bliss, Texas.
King, who served a 47-day sentence, faced discharge from the Army due to his conviction in a foreign country, according to an anonymous U.S. official citing the sensitivity of the matter.
This incident marks the first known instance of an American held in North Korea in nearly five years, occurring amidst elevated animosity between the two nations. On the same day of King’s border crossing, North Korea test-fired two ballistic missiles into the sea, seemingly in protest of the deployment of a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine in South Korea for the first time in decades.
“It’s 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.
The 23-year-old cavalry scout with the 1st Armored Division was supposed to depart for Texas on Monday. He was escorted to customs but left the airport before boarding his plane.
The hours leading up to his border crossing remain unclear. He joined the tour group in the border village of Panmunjom and ran across the border Tuesday afternoon. The Army realized he was missing when he did not arrive in Texas as expected. Military officials released his name and limited information after notifying King’s family.
King’s imprisonment resulted from an altercation that occurred last year.
In February, a court fined him 5 million won ($3,950) after convicting him of assaulting an unidentified person and damaging a police vehicle in Seoul last October, according to a transcript of the verdict obtained by The Associated Press.
The ruling mentioned that King was also accused of punching a 23-year-old man at a Seoul nightclub, but the court dismissed that charge as the victim did not want King to be punished.
King’s maternal grandfather, Carl Gates, shared that his grandson joined the Army approximately three years ago because he “wanted to do better for himself.” Gates mentioned that King was influenced by his brother, a police officer, and a cousin in the Navy.
Gates expressed his hope for King’s safe return and suggested that his grandson might be facing some difficulties or issues at present. “I can’t see him doing that intentionally if he was in his right mind,” Gates said.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated that the administration is working to determine King’s location, condition, and reasons for crossing into North Korea. The focus is on ensuring his safe return to his family.
The American-led U.N. Command stated on Tuesday that the U.S. soldier is believed to be in North Korean custody.
As the U.S. and North Korea lack diplomatic relations and remain technically at war, it remains uncertain how or if communication will occur between the two countries. In the past, Sweden, with an embassy in Pyongyang, provided consular services for other Americans detained in North Korea. However, diplomatic staff reportedly have not returned to North Korea since the country imposed a COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020.
While rare for Americans or South Koreans to defect to North Korea, over 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea to escape political oppression and economic difficulties since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Tae Yongho, a former minister at the North Korean Embassy in London and now a South Korean lawmaker, suggested that North Korea might be pleased to have an “opportunity to get the U.S. to lose its face” due to King’s crossing happening on the same day as the U.S. submarine’s arrival in South Korea.
During the Cold War, only a small number of U.S. soldiers went to North Korea, including Charles Jenkins, who deserted his army 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 from Japan by North Korean agents. Jenkins passed away in Japan in 2017.
In recent years, some American civilians have been arrested in North Korea on allegations of espionage, subversion, and other anti-state acts, but were eventually released after high-profile missions sent by the U.S. to secure their freedom. The last such releases occurred in 2018.
These releases contrast sharply with the tragic fate of Otto Warmbier, an American university student who died in 2017, just days after being released by North Korea in a coma following 17 months in captivity.
