US soldier likely detained by North Korea after crossing inter-Korean border during tour

An American citizen has likely been detained by North Korea after crossing the military demarcation line separating the two Koreas without authorisation, said the United Nations Command, on Tuesday (July 18).

UN command about the incident

The person, who was later identified as a US soldier, was said to have been taking part in a tour of the Joint Security Area (JSA) which is a border village of Panmunjom in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas.

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The village, where no civilians live, is located inside the 248-kilometre-long DMZ. The zone has been guarded by soldiers from both South Korea and North Koreasince the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea has scaled back its security presence on its side of the border at the JSAsignificantly.

The United States-led UN Command took to Twitter and wrote, “A U.S. National on a JSA orientation tour crossed, without authorization, the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).”

It added, “We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our KPA counterparts to resolve this incident,” referring to North Korea’s People’s Army.

American soldier was facingdisciplinary action

South Korea’s Dong-a Ilbo daily, citing South Korea’s army, identified the person as Travis King, a US army soldier with the rank of private second class. Similarly, aPentagon official told NPRon the condition of anonymity, that the man was a US army servicemanin civilian clothes.

A spokesperson for the US military in South Korea (USFK) and the UN Command,Colonel Isaac Taylor later confirmed that the man was an American soldier.

"A U.S. Service member on a JSA orientation tour willfully and without authorization crossed the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)," said the Pentagon official, in a statement.

He added, "We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our KPA counterparts to resolve this incident." However, the US officials are yet to identifythe manreported to beTravis King.

A report by Reutersciting two US officials, said the soldier had been due to face disciplinary action.

Eyewitness account

Prior to the incident, the soldier was being escorted back to the US for disciplinary reasons but somehow managed to escape after going through airport security and joined the border tour, according to a report by CBS.

An eyewitness, who was reportedly on the same tour,toldCBS News that the group was visiting one of the buildings at the site 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 US State Department travel advisory bans American nations from entering North Korea “due to the continuing serious risk of arrest and long-term detention of USnationals.”

The restriction was imposed in 2015after US college student Otto Warmbier was detained by North Korean authorities while he was on a tour of the country. He died in 2017, days after he was released from North Korean prison and returned to the US in a state of coma.

Notably, cases of US or South Korean citizens defecting to North Korea are rare, while more than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Koreasince the end of the Korean War to escape political oppression and economic difficulties.

In 2017, North Korean soldiers fired 40 rounds as one of their colleagues raced for his freedom, reported the Associated Press. He was later found under a pile of leaves on the southern side of Panmunjom and is reportedly living in South Korea after surviving the attack.

Rise in tensions between US and North Korea

The border incident came amid a rise in tensions on the Korean peninsula and with the US sendinga nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea, which also arrived on Tuesday, for the first time in decades as deterrence against North Korea.

(With inputs from agencies)

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