US soldier facing military disciplinary actions flees to North Korea
Category: News & Politics
Via: vic-eldred • 2 years ago • 117 commentsBy: Lolita Baldor (Military Times)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Editor's note: This is a developing story. It was last updated on July 18, 2023 at 1:15 pm EST.
SEOUL, South Korea — An American soldier facing military disciplinary actions fled across the heavily armed border from South Korea into North Korea, U.S. officials said Tuesday, becoming the first American detained in the North in nearly five years.
Two U.S. officials said the soldier detained was Private 2nd Class Travis King, who had just been released from a South Korean prison where he'd been held on assault charges and was facing additional military disciplinary actions in the United States.
King, who's in his early 20s, was escorted to the airport to be returned to Fort Bliss, Texas, but instead of getting on the plane he left and joined a tour of the Korean border village of Panmunjom, where he ran across the border.
At a Pentagon press conference Tuesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin did not name King, but confirmed that a U.S. service member was likely now in North Korean custody.
"We're closely monitoring and investigating the situation and working to notify the soldier's next of kin," Austin said, noting he was foremost concerned about the troop's wellbeing. "This will develop in the next several days and hours, and we'll keep you posted."
Details about King, including his hometown and what additional charges he faced, were not immediately available. It was also unclear how he managed to leave the airport while he was being escorted.
The American-led U.N. Command said he is believed to be in North Korean custody and the command is working with its North Korean counterparts to resolve the incident. North Korea's state media didn't immediately report on the border crossing.
Cases of Americans or South Koreans defecting to North Korea are rare, though more than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea to avoid political oppression and economic difficulties since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Panmunjom, located inside the 248-kilometer (154-mile) -long Demilitarized Zone, has been jointly overseen by the U.N. Command and North Korea since its creation at the close of the Korean War. Bloodshed and gunfire have occasionally occurred there, but it has also been a venue for numerous talks and is a popular tourist spot.
Known for its blue huts straddling concrete slabs that form the demarcation line, Panmunjom draws visitors from both sides who want to see the Cold War's last frontier. No civilians live at Panmunjom. In the past, North and South Korean soldiers faced off within meters (yards) of each other.
FILE - A general view shows the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, South Korea on July 19, 2022. An American has crossed the heavily fortified border from South Korea into North Korea, the American—led U.N. Command overseeing the area said Tuesday, July 18, 2023. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Tours to the southern side of the village reportedly drew around 100,000 visitors a year before the coronavirus pandemic, when South Korea restricted gatherings to slow the spread of COVID-19. The tours resumed fully last year. During a short-lived period of inter-Korean engagement in 2018, Panmunjom was one of the border sites that underwent mine-clearing operations by North and South Korean army engineers as the Koreas vowed to turn the village into a "peace zone" where tourists from both sides could move around with more freedom.
In November 2017, North Korean soldiers fired 40 rounds as one of their colleagues raced toward the South. The soldier was hit five times before he was found beneath a pile of leaves on the southern side of Panmunjom. He survived and is now in South Korea.
The most famous incident at Panmunjom happened in August 1976, when two American army officers were killed by ax-wielding North Korean soldiers. The U.S. officers had been sent to trim a 40-foot (12-meter) tree that obstructed the view from a checkpoint. The attack prompted Washington to fly nuclear-capable B-52 bombers toward the DMZ to intimidate North Korea.
Panmunjom also is where the armistice that ended the Korean War was signed. That armistice has yet to be replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula technically in a state of war. The United States still stations about 28,000 troops in South Korea.
There have been a small number of U.S. soldiers who went to North Korea during the Cold War, including Charles Jenkins, who deserted his army post in South Korea in 1965 and fled across the DMZ. He appeared in North Korean propaganda films and married a Japanese nursing student who had been abducted from Japan by North Korean agents. He died in Japan in 2017.
But in recent years, some American civilians have been arrested in North Korea after allegedly entering the country from China. They were later convicted of espionage, subversion and other anti-state acts, but were often released after the U.S. sent high-profile missions to secure their freedom.
In May 2018, North Korea released three American detainees -- Kim Dong Chul, Tony Kim and Kim Hak Song -- who returned to the United States on a plane with then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a short-lived period of warm relations between the longtime adversaries. Later in 2018, North Korea said it expelled American Bruce Byron Lowrance. Since his ouster, there have been no reports of other Americans detained in North Korea before Tuesday's incident.
The 2018 releases came as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was engaged in nuclear diplomacy with then-President Donald Trump. The high-stakes diplomacy collapsed in 2019 amid wrangling over U.S.-led sanctions on North Korea.
Their freedoms were a striking contrast to the fate of Otto Warmbier, an American university student who died in 2017 days after he was released by North Korea in a coma after 17 months in captivity. Warmbier and other previous American detainees in North Korea were imprisoned over a variety of alleged crimes, including subversion, anti-state activities and spying.
The United States, South Korea and others have accused North Korea of using foreign detainees to wrest diplomatic concessions. Some foreigners have said after their release that their declarations of guilt were coerced while in North Korean custody.
Tuesday's border crossing happened amid high tensions over North Korea's barrage of missile tests since the start of last year. A U.S. nuclear-armed submarine visited South Korea on Tuesday for the first time in four decades in deterrence against North Korea.
Copp reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.
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He fled over that border because he was facing disciplinary actions?
This is unique.
What will Biden do?
since the private doesn't want to face further discipline or imprisonment for his criminal acts, I'd say joe should send him a maga hat.
Oh good afternoon. Thanks for stopping by.
Let me know if you can find a picture of this tough bad ass.
He must be a leftwinger who thought he would be treated better by little Kim.
Biden will kow-tow and grovel to get him back
[deleted]
What will that tell you?
There are many questions about this strange incident. It would be nice to have a starting spot.
You already have several ... and many more to come.
In a Korean-language version of the message, U.N. Command said the U.S. national had "defected to North Korea," according to an English translation.
He must be a Trumpist who thought he would get as much love as Trump does from his love interest, murderous dictator Kim Jung Un.
-- Donald Trump, September 2018.
Exactly, I'm sure that this was a very political soldier.
Ask Greg.
Ask Greg what?
Perhaps he is just a apolitical soldier that expected to see the Democratic People's Republic of Korea immigrations officers and apply for asylum from the brutal US Army.
meh, you know that'll get deleted...
Out of the frying pan and into the fire. A series of poor decisions.
It is hard to believe!
Out of the frying pan and into the fire
What could he have been thinking?
Lol I doubt much thinking was involved in this decision
He's no genius.
Here's what I still don't get:
Details about King, including his hometown and what additional charges he faced, were not immediately available.
The Army will generally try to get to the family first.
They may have trouble getting him back from the Norks even with the family pleading with him.
If that is the procedure fine.
After release from their border patrol, he will likely see some Democratic People's Republic of Korea immigrations officers who will review his plea for asylum. Then he should get an immigration court date. While awaiting his court date, the soldier should be free to travel and work in the DPRK. Initially he will be eligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and Medicaid.
I can understand the first 4. Chances are all 4 probably served during the Korean War. War does some fucked up things to people both physically and mentally.
After that you would think knowledge of how North Korea operates would be available to everyone; especially in South Korea.
None of the first four fought in the Korean War.
Morning... obviously has a death wish and I am sure North Korea will grant it..
No, history shows that they are used for propaganda purposes.
This just in:
We now have a picture of the bad ass soldier who preferred North Korea:
New details on U.S. soldier detained in North Korea l GMA
How is that a help?
The embedded ABC report provided the initial details on this story.
In two ways:
1) As stated in 6.1.1
and
2) I'm afraid my first assumption was correct once again.
I heard this story today and all I could say is: Wow. How sad. I have no words. Another forced international incident shoved down an American president's 'throat' for no good reason. He is even being classified as a DESERTER now (and he is exactly so). How could he run across the border? What the "h" could he be looking for in North Korea. Well, here we go again. . . This is "jacked up."
Here's the deal. When some military personnel get in trouble with military law they take the 'heat' and the consequences. Some others simply can't abide the shame. . . so they run and make it worse. Even so. . . crossing the DMZ into a 'closed society'?! This 'kids' family must be in 'shock' right now.