In July, the US soldier crossed the border into North Korea. He was immediately taken into custody there. Pyongyang has now announced the first investigation results.
The case raises many questions: During a tourist tour in July, an American crossed the border from South to North Korea – apparently on purpose. There he is taken into custody. What had prompted the soldier to take such a risk? The North Korean regime now wants an answer to this.
Pyongyang first commented on the incident on Wednesday. North Korea’s state news agency, KCNA, reported that North Korean investigators have concluded that the US soldier intentionally and illegally crossed the demarcation line. At least the US and North Korea agree on that. A spokesman for the US armed forces had also previously confirmed this.
But KCNA continued to report: The American soldier crossed the border because he wanted to seek refuge in North Korea or a third country. “During the investigation, Travis King confessed that he decided to come to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) because he had ill feelings about inhuman treatment and racial discrimination in the US Army,” KCNA reported. The unequal American society had disillusioned him.
Concern for Travis King’s welfare
Whether the information from KCNA is correct and how King is really doing in custody in North Korea cannot be independently verified. However, concern for the well-being of the US soldier is growing. Negotiations between the North Korean authorities and the UN command on the Korean peninsula are apparently still ongoing.
According to the US military, the soldier is 23-year-old Travis King. He has been in the army since 2021. US authorities have not yet commented on his motives. However, it turned out that King had been detained in South Korea for around two months before crossing the border on July 18 on allegations of assault. He was supposed to fly back to the US to face disciplinary proceedings, but was able to leave the airport and instead took part in a tour of the DMZ. (read more about it here).
US student was arrested in 2016
South Korea and North Korea are still formally at war today because no peace treaty was signed after the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. A demilitarized zone has separated the two Korean states since the end of the war. The areas bordering the border strip are strictly guarded. The demilitarized zone is also a popular tourist destination. Hundreds of visitors visit the area on the South Korean side every day. North Korea sealed off its borders at the beginning of the corona pandemic in 2020 and has not reopened to this day.
After the death of US student Otto Warmbier, who was arrested while traveling in North Korea in 2016, the US State Department banned travel to North Korea. It justifies this with “the continuing high risk of arrest and long-term detention of US citizens”.
