The world was shocked on Tuesday when a United States soldier willfully and illegally crossed the inter-Korean border during a group tour of the Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, becoming the latest American citizen to be held in custody by North Korea.
The exact motive of the soldier, Pvt. Travis T. King, remains unknown, and U.S. officials said they were working with their North Korean counterparts to have him released. North Korea has yet to issue a statement about the incident. The United States has no diplomatic ties with North Korea and technically remains at war with the isolated communist country.
If Private King defected, he would be the first American armed service person to do so since the early 1980s.
Here’s what to know.
Who is Travis King?
Few details are available about Private King, including when he first arrived in South Korea, where 28,500 American troops are based.
Last October, he ran into trouble with the law in South Korea after an altercation with locals during which he damaged a police car, according to South Korean news media and police officials.
He spent time in a South Korean jail on assault charges, and on Tuesday was supposed to be on a plane to Fort Bliss, Texas, to face disciplinary action in the United States.
He was escorted to Incheon International Airport in Seoul. But instead of getting on the plane, he joined a group tour of the Joint Security Area, which is inside the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas and is commonly known as Panmunjom.
It remained unclear how Mr. King managed to leave the airport.
What happened at the border?
Private King was at the border with other tourists and bolted across while they watched, according to witness accounts in local and international news reports.
According to one account, unarmed soldiers guarding the tour were unable to catch him as he ran into North Korea. The last time he was seen, he was being taken into custody by North Korean soldiers.
“To our right, we hear a loud HA-HA-HA and one guy from OUR GROUP that has been with us all day runs in between two of the buildings and over to the other side!!” a fellow tourist wrote on Facebook, according to NK News. “It took everybody a second to react and grasp what had actually happened.”
Another tourist, Sarah Leslie, told New Zealand’s 1News that when Private King dashed toward the border, she thought that he was doing it for a TikTok video.
“Suddenly, I noticed a guy running, dressed in black, what looked like full gas towards the North Korean side,” she said. “My first thought was, ‘what an absolute idiot.’”
“He just kept going and didn’t stop,” she added.
Eventually, soldiers realized what was happening and chased after him, but to no avail, according to the witnesses. The tour was cut short, and the rest of the group was quickly shuffled into a building.
“Everyone was kind of flipping their lid, and once we got in the building, it was kind of like ‘oh, my God,’” Ms. Leslie said.
Mr. King’s…
2023-07-19 05:43:16
Article from www.nytimes.com
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