SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has remained silent over the highly unusual entry of a U.S. soldier through Korea’s heavily fortified border, despite testing short-range missiles Wednesday at its latest weapons display.
Nearly a day after the soldier fled to North Korea while touring the border village of Panmunjom, there was no word on the fate of Private 2nd Class Travis King, the first known American detained in the North for nearly five years. The North’s missile launches on Wednesday morning were seen as a protest against the deployment of a US nuclear submarine to South Korea the day before and were likely unrelated to the King border crossing.
“It is likely that North Korea will use the soldier for short-term propaganda purposes and then as medium-to-long-term bargaining chips,” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in South Korea.
King, 23, was a cavalry scout with the 1st Armored Division who served nearly two months in a South Korean prison for assault. He was released on July 10 and was sent home Monday to Fort Bliss, Texas, where he could have faced additional military discipline and been discharged from service.
He was escorted through customs but left the airport before boarding his plane. It was unclear how he spent the hours before joining the Panmunjom tour and crossing the border on Tuesday afternoon. The military released his name and limited information after King’s family was notified. But a number of US officials provided additional details on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
King’s mother told ABC News she was shocked to learn her son had crossed over to North Korea.
“I don’t see Travis doing anything like that,” said Claudine Gates, of Racine, Wisconsin.
Gates said the military told him Tuesday morning of his son’s entry into North Korea. She said she last heard of her son “a few days ago,” when he told her he would be returning to Fort Bliss soon. She added that she just wanted “him to come home.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the US government was working with its North Korean counterparts to “resolve this incident”. The US-led UN command said on Tuesday that the US soldier was suspected of being held by North Korea.
“We are closely monitoring and investigating the situation,” US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told a Pentagon press conference, noting that he was primarily concerned about the welfare of the troops. “This will develop over the next few days and hours, and we will keep you posted.”
It was unclear if and how the United States and North Korea, which do not have diplomatic relations, would hold talks. In the past, Sweden, which has an embassy in Pyongyang, provided consular services to other Americans detained in North Korea. But Swedish diplomatic staff at its embassy have reportedly not returned to North Korea since the country imposed a COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020 and ordered all foreigners out.
Some observers say North Korea and the United States could still communicate via Panmunjom or the North Korean mission to the UN in New York.
Cases of Americans or South Koreans defecting to North Korea are rare, although more than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea to avoid political oppression and economic hardship since the end of the Korean War of 1950-1953.
Tae Yongho, a former minister at the North Korean embassy in London, said North Korea was likely glad to have the “opportunity to make the United States lose face” because King’s crossing happened on the same day a U.S. submarine arrived in South Korea. Tae, now a South Korean lawmaker, said North Korea is unlikely to return King because he is a soldier from a country technically at war with North Korea who voluntarily surrendered to the North.
Panmunjom, located inside the 248 kilometer (154 mile) long demilitarized zone, has been jointly overseen by the UN command and North Korea since its establishment at the end of the Korean War. Bloodshed has occasionally taken place here, but it is also a place of diplomacy and tourism.
Known for its blue huts straddling concrete slabs that form the boundary line, Panmunjom attracts visitors from both sides who want to see the final frontier of the Cold War. No civilians live in Panmunjom. North and South Korean soldiers clash as tourists from both sides take photos.
Tours of the south side of the village are believed to have attracted around 100,000 visitors a year before the coronavirus pandemic, when South Korea restricted gatherings to slow the spread of COVID-19. Tours resumed completely last year.
A small number of American soldiers who went to North Korea during the Cold War, including Charles Jenkins, who deserted his military post in South Korea in 1965 and fled through the DMZ. He appeared in North Korean propaganda films and married a Japanese nursing student who had been abducted in Japan by North Korean agents. He died in Japan in 2017.
In recent years, some American civilians have been arrested in North Korea for alleged espionage, subversion and other anti-state acts, but were released after the United States sent high-level missions 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 for a short period of warm relations. Later in 2018, North Korea said it had expelled American Bruce Byron Lowrance. Since his ouster, there have been no reports of other Americans being detained in North Korea prior to Tuesday’s incident.
Their freedoms contrasted starkly with the fate of Otto Warmbier, an American university student who died in 2017 days after being released by North Korea in a coma after 17 months in captivity.
The United States, South Korea and others have accused North Korea of using foreign detainees to extract diplomatic concessions. Some foreigners said after their release that their convictions were forced while they were detained in North Korea.
Sean Timmons, managing partner of the Tully Rinckey law firm, which specializes in military legal matters, said if King tried to present himself as a legitimate defector fleeing political oppression or persecution, he would depend on North Korean leaders to decide whether he can stay.
He said it would likely be up to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to decide King’s fate.
“It will depend on the whims of their leaders, what they want to do,” Timmons said.
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Copp reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.