Soldier Travis King held in North Korea after crossing border on wild escape from superiors - latest updates

Gustaf Kilander

18 July 2023 at 4:42 pm·45-min read

A US soldier has been arrested after crossing the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between South Korea and North Korea.

Colonel Isaac Taylor of United States Forces Korea Public Affairs told The Independent: “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). We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our KPA counterparts to resolve this incident.”

The soldier has been identified as Private 2nd Class Travis King.

US officials told CBS News that Private King had been released from military detention in South Korea and that he was being sent out of the country following disciplinary issues.

The soldier was part of a group taking a tour of the Joint Security Area – the border village in the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, which is heavily guarded by soldiers from both sides.

An anonymous official told The Washington Post that “This was a deliberate decision on part of the service member to cross”.

Key Points

US national crosses DMZ into North Korea from South, says UN border force
‘A US National on a JSA (Joint Security Area) orientation tour crossed, without authorisation, the Military Demarcation Line'

PHOTO: US soldier who fled to North Korea captured in final DMZ tour image before daring escape

Wednesday 19 July 2023 20:26 , Gustaf Kilander

U.S. Private Travis T. King (wearing a black shirt and black cap) is seen in this picture taken during a tour of the tightly controlled Joint Security Area (JSA) on the border between the two Koreas, at the truce village of Panmunjom, South Korea, July 18, 2023 (REUTERS)

King said his passport was missing as excuse to not get on flight

Wednesday 19 July 2023 21:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Travis King was detained on 8 October following an altercation. When police tried to question him, he behaved aggressively and didn’t reply to their queries. After he was placed in a patrol car, he shouted insults and expletives as he kicked the car door, with the ruling saying that he caused around 584,000 won in damage.

The court said that the defendant admitted to the allegations, that he didn’t have a criminal record, and that he paid 1 million won to repair the car.

Before fleeing the airport to join the tour group, Mr King had passed through security on his own.

The Korea Times reported that an airport official said that Mr King had said that his passport was missing as an excuse to not get on the flight.

One official told Reuters that DMZ tours are advertised at the airport and Mr King seemed to have joined one but it’s unclear how he managed to do so as they usually take three days to schedule because of security measures.

Tourist who spotted US soldier bolt to North Korea believed it was a prank

Wednesday 19 July 2023 22:00 , Gustaf Kilander

A tourist from New Zealand who was visiting the DMZ between North and South Korea thought it was a stunt when she saw a supposed member of her tour group sprint towards the north.

It quickly became clear that the incident was no prank, but instead a daring escape by a US soldier who had fled a Seoul airport and somehow joined the tour group as he was facing possible disciplinary measures at home.

Sarah Leslie told the AP that Travis King, 23, was out of uniform, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, and she had no clue that he was a soldier, or in legal jeopardy.

Mr King, 23, had spent close to two months in a South Korean prison for assault before he was released on 10 July and was set to head back to Fort Bliss in Texas on Monday where he may have been discharged and possibly be the subject of further military discipline.

Ms Leslie told the news agency that her group went further than other tours as they visited the Joint Security Area in the village of Panmunjom, meaning that the tourists were essentially stepping onto North Korean soil in one of the buildings which is controlled jointly by the two nations.

Tourist who spotted US soldier bolt to North Korea believed it was a prank

‘I assumed initially he had a mate filming him in some kind of really stupid prank or stunt, like a TikTok'

Wednesday 19 July 2023 22:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Sarah Leslie told the AP that to be part of the DMZ tour, they had to submit their passports and get permits ahead of time.

The group left Seoul early in the morning, with Ms Leslie noticing that Mr King was journeying alone and appeared unwilling to speak to others taking the tour. She also noted that he bought a DMZ hat from a gift shop.

The tour was nearing its end Tuesday afternoon — the group had just walked out of the building and were milling about taking photos — when she saw King running “really fast”.

“I assumed initially he had a mate filming him in some kind of really stupid prank or stunt, like a TikTok, the most stupid thing you could do,” Ms Leslie said. “But then I heard one of the soldiers shout, ‘Get that guy.’”

She said the order came from a US soldier, part of a group of troops patrolling the area alongside South Korean service members.

But the soldiers didn’t have time to respond. She said that after running about 10 metres (30 feet) down a narrow passageway between the distinctive blue buildings, Mr King was over the border and then disappeared from sight. It was all over in a few seconds.

Ms Leslie said she couldn’t see anyone on the North side – the group had been told earlier the North Koreans there had been lying low since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘People couldn’t really quite believe what had happened'

Wednesday 19 July 2023 23:30 , Gustaf Kilander and AP

After Travis King ran, the soldiers hustled all the tourists into a building and then took them to an information centre to give statements, according to Sarah Leslie. She said many of the tourists, including her father, hadn’t seen Mr King run but a soldier explained the events to them.

“People couldn’t really quite believe what had happened,” Ms Leslie said. “Quite a few were really shocked. Once we got on the bus and got out of there we were all kind of staring at each other.”

Ms Leslie, a lawyer from New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, said she’d long had an interest in the Koreas after studying politics at university and seeing South Korean movies.

She said she found it hard to understand why Mr King would head to North Korea.

“I just didn’t think anyone would ever want to do that,” she said.

Panmunjom site of 1953 truce

Thursday 20 July 2023 00:15 , AP

Panmunjom, a once-obscure farming village inside the DMZ that now hosts a “Joint Security Area,” is different. It’s a tourist site, albeit one of the world’s most surreal.

Seven decades of division since the end of the Korean War are made palpable by the South Korean soldiers who stand on guard, glaring across the border. North Korea soldiers are there, too, but less visible most days.

The Korean Peninsula was split at the end of World War II into a Soviet-controlled North and U.S.-backed South. It was in Panmunjom that U.S. and North Korean forces negotiated and eventually signed the 1953 truce that ended fighting in the Korean War and created the DMZ. There has never been a formal peace treaty, the village is formally administered by neither North or South Korea.

Tours to the southern side reportedly drew around 100,000 visitors a year before the pandemic

Thursday 20 July 2023 01:00 , AP

A carnival atmosphere can occasionally take hold in the area around Panmunjom, with souvenir shops, fast-food restaurants and throngs of tourists, though North Korea has been closed to tourism because of the pandemic since early 2020. The South Korean side has an amusement park not far from the village, and used to have a Popeyes chicken outlet.

Tours to the southern side reportedly drew around 100,000 visitors a year before the pandemic, when South Korea restricted gatherings to slow the spread of COVID. The tours resumed fully last year.

The area is also a throwback to the Cold War, a time of barely contained, simmering hostility between nuclear-armed rivals. There have been ax killings, U.S. bomber fly-bys and desperate defections along the border. U.S. presidents and senior officials regularly make the trip to the southern side of the DMZ for photo ops. The village is formally administered by neither North or South Korea.

The tourist area is a short drive from Seoul, which lies in easy artillery range of the estimated 70% of North Korea’s 1.2 million troop arrayed along the border.

Mother of US soldier Travis King who crossed into North Korea speaks out: ‘Just want him home’

Thursday 20 July 2023 01:45 , Gustaf Kilander and Shweta Sharma

The mother of the American soldier who illegally crossed into North Korea said she was “shocked” and just wanted him to return home.

Meanwhile, his uncle has said that he was “breaking down” following the death of his seven-year-old cousin.

Private 2nd Class Travis King, who is in his early 20s, crossed the heavily fortified inter-Korean border to enter North Korea where he is believed to be detained. The incident has threatened a new diplomatic row and a crisis with the nuclear-armed state.

His mother, Claudine Gates, who lives in Racine, Wisconsin, told ABC News that she heard from her son “a few days ago”.

“I can’t see Travis doing anything like that,” Ms Gates said, adding that she was taken aback when she was told her son had crossed into North Korea.

Mother of US soldier detained in North Korea speaks out

Months and years often pass without incident at the border, but when something happens, it can be violent

Thursday 20 July 2023 02:30 , AP

There are occasional verbal exchanges between U.S. soldiers and their North Korean counterparts, often businesslike, at the Demarcation Line in the village.

It’s a thrill, perhaps, for the tourists, but it’s a dangerous proposition for the soldiers keeping watch, often only meters (feet) apart.

Months and years often pass without incident, but when something happens, it can be violent.

In 1976, North Korean soldiers axed two American army officers to death, and the United States responded by flying nuclear-capable B-52 bombers toward the DMZ in an attempt to intimidate the North.

In 1984, North Korean and U.N. Command soldiers traded shots when a Soviet citizen defected by sprinting to the southern side. Three North Korean soldiers and one South Korean soldier were killed.

In 2017, when a fleeing North Korean soldier crashed his jeep and then sprinted across the border, North Korean soldiers fired handguns and rifles before Southern soldiers could drag the wounded soldier to safety. South Korean soldiers didn’t return fire.

Trump and Kim Jong Un shook hands at the borderline in 2019

Thursday 20 July 2023 03:15 , AP

North Koreans who flee to South Korea — an estimated 30,000 since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War — have mostly used the more porous border between North Korea and China.

In 2019, during a period that saw unprecedented diplomacy between North Korea and the United States and South Korea, Trump and Kim Jong Un shook hands at the borderline. Trump stepped over the concrete slab, becoming the first U.S. president to set foot in North Korean territory.

On Tuesday, Private 2nd Class Travis King, 23, became the first known American detained in the North in nearly five years, after he bolted across the border at Panmunjom.

King, who had served nearly two months in a South Korean prison, had been held on assault charges and was being sent to Fort Bliss, Texas, on Monday, where he could have faced additional military disciplinary actions and discharge from the service. But officials say that instead of getting on the plane, he left the airport and later joined a tour of Panmunjom.

US nationals arrested in North Korea: Otto Warmbier

Thursday 20 July 2023 04:00 , Faiza Saqib

Otto Warmbier, a student at the University of Virginia, was arrested during his visit to North Korea.

Mr Warmbier was visiting the country as part of a group tour organised by a China-based budget tour operator in January 2016.

It was a five-day trip to experience the country during the New Year’s Eve period, but the trip soon took a turn. Mr Warmbier was seized by North Korean authorities from the tour group and convicted on charges of allegedly trying to steal a propaganda poster.

On 2 January 2016, about two months after this detention, the North Korean court sentenced Mr Warmbier to 15 years of hard labour.

After his initial sentencing, Mr Warmbier suffered from brain damage under circumstances that remain unclear.

In June 2017, Mr Warmbier was released and evacuated from North Korea, accompanied by a medical team due to being seriously ill.

A few days later on 19 June, Mr Warmbier passed away at the age of 22, at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

In a statement, his family said Mr Warmbier was “unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands”.

Mr Warmbier’s family accused North Korea of torturing the student, but the North denied the accusations and insisted it had provided him medical care with “all sincerity”.

The country also accused the US of a smear campaign and claimed itself as the “biggest victim” in his death.

In 2022, a federal judge ruled that Mr Warmbier’s parents should receive $240,300 seized from a North Korean bank account, which would be a partial payment toward the more than $501m they were awarded in 2018 by a federal judge in Washington.

US nationals arrested in North Korea: Matthew Todd Miller

Thursday 20 July 2023 05:00 , Faiza Saqib

In September 2014, Matthew Todd Miller was sentenced to six years of hard labour for allegedly committing “hostile” acts as the court claimed Mr Miller tore up his visa upon arriving at Pyongyang airport.

The North Korean Supreme Court also claimed Mr Miller illegally entered the country for spying purposes and said he admitted to a “wild ambition” of experiencing North Korean prison life so that he could secretly investigate the country’s human rights conditions.

Mr Miller was freed in November of that year along with another US national, but weeks before his release Mr Miller spoke with The Associated Press, where he claimed he was digging in fields eight hours a day and being kept in isolation.

“I was trying to stay in the country. They wanted me to leave,” Mr Miller told NK News after his release.

“The very first night they said, ‘We want you to leave on the next flight.’ But I refused. I just did not leave.”

US nationals arrested in North Korea: Kenneth Bae

Thursday 20 July 2023 06:00 , Faiza Saqib

Kenneth Bae is a South Korean-US missionary from Lynnwood, Washington who was arrested on the first day of a five-day tour on 3 November 2012 in Ranson – an area along the northeastern coast of North Korea’s economic zone.

Almost two weeks after his initial arrest, the country’s official news agency confirmed his arrest and said Mr Bae committed “hostile” acts, including smuggling in inflammatory literature and attempting to establish a base for anti-government activities at a hotel in a border town.

Mr Bae’s family came forward and said he has suffered from chronic health issues, including back pain, diabetes as well as heart and liver problems.

He returned to the US in November 2014 following a mission by former director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who also helped secure Mr Miller’s release.

In a pre-taped statement for his tell-all memoir in 2016, Mr Bae said the detainment was an accident.

“I was arrested by North Korean authority because I made a terrible mistake by carrying a portable hard drive containing hostile, anti-North Korean material by accident,” he said in the YouTube statement.

US nationals arrested in North Korea: Jeffrey Edward Fowle

Thursday 20 July 2023 07:00 , Gustaf.Kilander

In May 2014, Jeffrey Edward Fowle, 56 at the time of his arrest, was detained while part of a tour group in North Korea.

Mr Fowle was arrested for six months after leaving a bible in a nightclub in the city of Chongjin, a country that is allegedly known to be quite strict with organised religion.

North Korea announced Mr Fowle’s detention and said he has violated the law by acting, “contrary to the purpose of tourism”.

During his detainment, the tourist also spoke to CNN and said he had “no complaints” about his treatment.

“It’s been very good so far, and I hope and pray that it continues, while I’m here two more days or two more decades,” he said.

“The charges are violations of DPRK law, which stems from me trying to leave a Bible,” he told CNN at the time.

“It’s a covert act and a violation of tourists rules. I’ve admitted my guilt to the government and signed a statement to that effect and requested forgiveness from the people and the government of the DPRK.”

He was released a month before Mr Bae, in October 2014.

US nationals arrested in North Korea: Jeffrey Edward Fowle

Thursday 20 July 2023 22:22 , Oliver O'Connell

In May 2014, Jeffrey Edward Fowle, 56 at the time of his arrest, was detained while part of a tour group in North Korea.

Mr Fowle was arrested for six months after leaving a bible in a nightclub in the city of Chongjin, a country that is allegedly known to be quite strict with organised religion.

North Korea announced Mr Fowle’s detention and said he has violated the law by acting, “contrary to the purpose of tourism”.

During his detainment, the tourist also spoke to CNN and said he had “no complaints” about his treatment.

“It’s been very good so far, and I hope and pray that it continues, while I’m here two more days or two more decades,” he said.

“The charges are violations of DPRK law, which stems from me trying to leave a Bible,” he told CNN at the time.

He was released a month before Mr Bae, in October 2014.

US nationals arrested in North Korea: Charles Robert Jenkins

Thursday 20 July 2023 08:00 , Faiza Saqib

Charles Robert Jenkins, who passed away at the age of 77, was captive in North Korea for over 39 years.

In January 1965, the US Army sergeant slipped across the demilitarised zone he was supposed to be guarding and went from the South to the North.

His plan was to escape the dangers of getting shot by North Korean border guards or being sent to fight in the Vietnam War – a price he ended up paying for many years.

In 2004, Mr Jenkins made it to Japan and spoke to a US Army Court martial where he revealed the horrors he had to face during his time in detainment.

He spoke about the beatings he faced, along with deprivation and the forced removal of his testicles.

Mr Jenkins said during his arrest, he found himself incarcerated in a single room with three others who had also defected.

In his memoir The Reluctant Communist, he spoke about the decision he made and said, “I was not thinking clearly. But at the time my decisions had a logic to them that made my actions seem almost inevitable.”

Mr Jenkins said he was also forced to spend 10 hours a day memorising the writings of North Korea’s founder and then Supreme Leader Kim Il Sung. If a person failed to correctly recite the words in Korean, it could result in a beating or an increase in their study time.

“Those cruel bastards,” wrote Mr Jenkins in his memoir, “Hated me and the other Americans so deeply they refused to see us as human and enjoyed making our lives hell.”

Mr Jenkins was released in 2004 and died in 2017.

US nationals arrested in North Korea: Bruce Byron Lowrance

Thursday 20 July 2023 09:00 , Faiza Saqib

Bruce Byron Lowrance was imprisoned in October 2018 for allegedly illegally entering North Korea from China.

He was imprisoned until November that year and was soon deported back to the US. North Korea’s decision to deport Lowrance after only a month of confinement was quick by the country’s standards.

Some might say Mr Lowrance benefitted from the cosy diplomacy between former US president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who had met in a summit in June that year where they discussed goals for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

As the summit was approaching, North Korea released three US detainees at the time: Kim Dong Chul, Tony Kim and Kim Hak Song.

But that diplomacy was shortlived after the second summit in 2019, when the US rejected North Korea’s demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.

US nationals arrested in North Korea: Euna Lee and Laura Ling

Thursday 20 July 2023 10:00 , Faiza Saqib

Journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling were shooting a documentary on the Sino-North Korean border about North Korean refugees and the possible practice of human trafficking of young women.

The two journalists were reportedly captured by North Korean state security on March 2009 and taken to Pyongyang.

They were charged with “committing hostilities against the Korean national and illegal entry,” according to the North Korean mouthpiece news agency KCNA.

They were sentenced to 12 years of “reform” in a prison camp but were released after 140 days in a detention centre.

Upon their release, Ms Lee said: “The past 140 days have been the most difficult, heart-wrenching time of our lives.”

“We are very grateful that we were granted amnesty by the government of North Korea, and we are so happy to be home.”

US nationals arrested in North Korea: Kwang Duk Lee

Thursday 20 July 2023 11:00 , Faiza Saqib

American pastor Kwang Duk Lee was arrested in May 1998 as a suspect spy in North Korea, but he was released three months later.

Mr Lee’s arrest came while he was trying to get financing for a soybean processing plant, his family had told The Los Angeles Times at the time of his release.

North Korean authorities said Mr Lee was a spy posing as a businessman and demanded $122,000 for his release.

Mr Lee was freed in August that year, three months after his arrest.

Family of defecting soldier say he was ‘grieving’

Thursday 20 July 2023 11:42 , Shweta Sharma

The family of US soldier Travis King say he was grieving the loss of his young cousin and was not acting like himself before his two-month detention in South Korea.

Expressing deep concerns over his well-being, his family members told NBC News that he was struggling with the distance from home, grieving the death of his cousin and acting unlike himself when he was arrested by South Korean authorities.

“It’s out of his character,” Mr King’s uncle Myron Gates said. “I’ve never seen him get down like that, ever. Something’s going on. This is not his personality.”

His another relative Carl Gates described Mr Gates as a Bible-reading man who enjoyed quiet time alone.The family said that Mr King was in a negative state of mind after his cousin died at the age of six of a rare and untreatable genetic disorder.

Carl Gates, right, grandfather of American soldier Travis King, and Myron Gates, uncle of King, pose, Wednesday (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

“He’s still grieving, and that had a lot to do with what he did,” Mr King’s uncle said.

“Travis has got a lot going on in his mind, and we’re worried about him,” he added. “Now we don’t know where he is, we don’t know what they’re doing to him, and we might not ever see him again.”

What is the Joint Security Area?

Thursday 20 July 2023 12:00 , Faiza Saqib

The Joint Security Area (JSA), also known as Panmunjeom, is where the Armistice Agreement was signed in 1953 and is located in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ). It’s a place that has become one of the most visited tourist sites of the DMZ.

The border is also known as the “peace” or “truce” village and is made up of bright blue UN buildings.

Both the South and North Korean sides are heavily policed by military officers.

Can you visit the JSA?

The area is under heavy surveillance, but people can visit through tours.

To enter the JSA, visitors much pass through multiple checkpoints before arriving at Camp Bonifas. Visitors must either be escorted by either US or South Korean Soldiers.

Tourist who spotted US soldier bolt to North Korea believed it was a prank

Thursday 20 July 2023 13:00 , Gustaf Kilander

A tourist from New Zealand who was visiting the DMZ between North and South Korea thought it was a stunt when she saw a supposed member of her tour group sprint towards the north.

Sarah Leslie told the AP that Travis King, 23, was out of uniform, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, and she had no clue that he was a soldier, or in legal jeopardy.

Tourist who spotted US soldier bolt to North Korea believed it was a prank

Mother of US soldier Travis King who crossed into North Korea speaks out: ‘Just want him home’

Thursday 20 July 2023 14:00 , Shweta Sharma and Gustaf Kilander

The mother of the American soldier who illegally crossed into North Korea said she was “shocked” and just wanted him to return home.

Meanwhile, his uncle has said that he was “breaking down” following the death of his seven-year-old cousin.

His mother, Claudine Gates, who lives in Racine, Wisconsin, told ABC News that she heard from her son “a few days ago”.

“I can’t see Travis doing anything like that,” Ms Gates said, adding that she was taken aback when she was told her son had crossed into North Korea.

Mother of US soldier detained in North Korea speaks out

US says North Korea still hasn’t responded to attempts at contact over defecting soldier

Thursday 20 July 2023 15:00 , Shweta Sharma

North Korea has so far ignored the US’s efforts to “reach out” to the Korean People’s Army (KPA) to determine the fate of a soldier who fled to the secretive country.

Washington, which shares deteriorated ties with Pyongyang, scrambled to establish communication with the North Korean regime after Private Second Class Travis King, 23, fled into North Korea by crossing the heavily fortified inter-Korea border from South Korea during a civilian tour.

The US State Department said it attempted to establish contact with its North Korean counterparts in the KPA on Wednesday about Travis King, but the outreach went unanswered.

US says North Korea hasn’t responded to attempts at contact over defecting soldier

Report: US Army investigating prior North Korean knowledge of Travis King crossing border

Thursday 20 July 2023 15:40 , Oliver O'Connell

The US Army is investigating whether North Korean authorities had prior knowledge of Private Travis King’s intention to cross the border from South Korea this week, according to a report.

Documents seen by The Messenger provide the most detailed account so far of the events leading up to the moment Mr King ran across the Demilitarized Zone and into the territory of one of the US’s greatest enemies.

A US military official familiar with the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity due to a lack of authorisation, told The Messenger that the possibility that the North Koreans had prior knowledge of Mr King’s intention to cross the border is being considered.

Read on...

US Army investigating if North Korea had prior knowledge of Travis King DMZ plan

‘Something’s wrong with him’: Family of US soldier detained in North Korea speak out

Thursday 20 July 2023 16:00 , Shweta Sharma

From Otto Warmbier to Kenneth Bae: The US nationals arrested by North Korea

Thursday 20 July 2023 17:00 , Shweta Sharma

US soldier Travis King was detained in North Korea on Tuesday (18 July) after crossing into the country “wilfully and without authorisation,” US authorities said.

Colonel Isaac Taylor of the United States Forces Korea Public Affairs told The Independent: “A US Service member on a JSA orientation tour wilfully and without authorisation crossed the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

“We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our KPA [Korean People’s Army] counterparts to resolve this incident.”

Faiza Saqib writes about the US nationals arrested in North Korea

What happens to US nationals arrested by North Korea?

Tourist who saw US soldier sprint to North Korea initially thought it was a stunt

Thursday 20 July 2023 18:00 , AP

Sarah Leslie thought she was witnessing a stunt when she saw an American soldier start sprinting toward North Korea.

Leslie and her father, tourists from New Zealand, were part of a group that left Tuesday morning from Seoul to visit the Demilitarized Zone that divides South and North Korea.

Private 2nd Class Travis King was among the group of 43 tourists, Leslie told The Associated Press, although he was casually dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and she had no idea at the time that he was a soldier, or in legal trouble.

King, 23, was a cavalry scout with the 1st Armored Division who had served nearly two months in a South Korean prison for assault. He was released on July 10 and was supposed to travel home Monday to Fort Bliss, Texas, where he could have faced additional military discipline and discharge from the service.

Leslie said her tour group went a step further than many by visiting the Joint Security Area in the village of Panmunjom, allowing tourists to effectively step on North Korean soil inside one of the buildings, which are jointly held. To get on such a tour, she said, required submitting their passports and getting permits in advance.

Tourist who spotted US soldier bolt to North Korea believed it was a prank

South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff condemn North Korean missile launches as ‘major provocation’

Thursday 20 July 2023 19:00 , AP

The flight distance of the North Korean missiles roughly matched the distance between Pyongyang and the South Korean port city of Busan, where the USS Kentucky arrived Tuesday afternoon in the first visit by a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea since the 1980s.

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters that the North Korean missiles traveled on a low trajectory, with their maximum altitude reaching about 50 kilometers (31 miles), and possibly demonstrated “irregular maneuver” in flight.

Japan has previously used similar language to describe the flight characteristics of a North Korean weapon modeled after Russia’s Iskander missile, which travels at low altitudes and is designed to be maneuverable in flight to improve its chances of evading missile defenses.

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff condemned the North Korean launches as “major provocation” that threatens peace and stability in the region and said the South Korean and U.S. militaries were closely monitoring the North for further weapons activities.

Tensions have risen in the region in recent months

Thursday 20 July 2023 20:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Wednesday’s launches marked the North’s first ballistic activity since July 12, when it flight-tested a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile that demonstrated potential range to reach deep into the U.S. mainland. That launch was supervised by the country’s authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un, who vowed to further bolster his country’s nuclear fighting capabilities in the face of expanding U.S.-South Korean military activities, which he blamed for worsening the security environment on the Korean Peninsula.

Tensions have risen in the region in recent months as the pace of both North Korean weapons tests and U.S.-South Korean joint military drills have increased in a cycle of tit-for-tat.

Since the start of 2022, North Korea has test-fired around 100 missiles while attempting to demonstrate a dual ability to conduct nuclear attacks on both South Korea and the continental United States. The allies in response have stepped up their joint military training and agreed to increase the deployments of U.S. strategic assets like long-range bombers, aircraft carriers and submarines to the region.

Army Secretary ‘worried’ for King in hands of North Korean authorities

Thursday 20 July 2023 20:52 , Oliver O'Connell

Private Travis King, who crossed into North Korea this week, “may not have been thinking clearly,” according to Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, adding that she’s worried about his safety.

Ms Wormuth would not be drawn on what may have led Mr King to suddenly cross over into the repressive American adversary’s testimony.

“He is a young soldier, he was facing consequences. I imagine he had a lot of negative feelings,” she said at the Aspen Security Forum. “He may not have been thinking clearly, frankly, but we just don’t know.”

“What we want to do is get that soldier back into our custody. I worry about him, frankly,” she said, recalling the fate of college student Otto Warmbier in 2017 who died in hospital six days after his return to the US.

“It makes me very, very concerned that Private King is in the hands of the North Korean authorities. I worry about how they may treat him.”

Despite the efforts of the Biden administration to reach out to the Korean People’s Army through multiple channels, there has so far been no contact between Washington and Pyongyang.

“I can tell you this morning we’ve now reached out through multiple channels to the KPA to try to ascertain that information and to get closer to an answer,” White House deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters on Thursday.

During previous arrest, US soldier who fled to North Korea shouted profanities about Koreans and its military

Thursday 20 July 2023 21:20 , Oliver O'Connell

The US soldier who joined a civilian tour only to run across the DMZ into North Korea previously shouted profanities about Koreans and their military.

More information about Private 2nd Class Travis King, 23, is emerging after his escape into one of the most isolated countries in the world.

Mr King is in the custody of the North Koreans after running across the border and “willfully and without authorization” Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday.

The young soldier had recently been released from a South Korean jail and he had been taken by the military to the Incheon International Airport outside the capital of Seoul. He was set to possibly face further disciplinary action back in the US.

An administration official told NBC News that instead of heading to his gate, Mr King joined a civilian tour group going to the joint security area and the village of Panmunjom about 90 minutes from the airport.

US soldier who fled to North Korea shouted profanities about Koreans and its military

King seen ‘running what looked like full gas towards the North Korean side’

Thursday 20 July 2023 22:00 , Oliver O'Connell

It’s the only part of the DMZ stretching on for more than 155 miles where North and South Korea interact with each other.

New Zealand tourist Sarah Lelie was in the tour group that Mr King joined. She said that the tour group was “sort of milling around” at the end of the tour watched by both US and South Korean troops as North Korean soldiers seemed to be in a building.

It was at that point that she saw a man “running what looked like full gas towards the North Korean side,” she told the AP.

The South Korean and US troops ordered the rest of the group to go inside and set off after Mr King, but they were unable to catch him.

“Everybody was stunned and shocked,” Ms Leslie said. “There were some people who hadn’t even realized what was going on.”

King reported to police after allegedly punching Korean national at Seoul nightclub

Thursday 20 July 2023 23:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr King was reported to the police in South Korea after reportedly punching a Korean national at a Seoul nightclub on 25 September 2022. He wasn’t indicted as the victim chose not to press charges.

In February of this year, he was fined almost $4,000 and charged with several violations, including damaging public property, court documents state.

He was accused of kicking a Seoul police vehicle last year, leading to hundreds of dollars in damage. As he was detained by officers, he shouted profanities about Koreans and the country’s military.

The ruling from a South Korean court states that Mr King pled guilty to assault and destruction of public goods in connection to the incident which occurred in October last year, according to Reuters.

King said his passport was missing as excuse to not get on flight

Friday 21 July 2023 00:00 , Oliver O'Connell

The court said that the defendant admitted to the allegations, that he didn’t have a criminal record, and that he paid 1 million won to repair the car.

Before fleeing the airport to join the tour group, Mr King had passed through security on his own.

The Korea Times reported that an airport official said that Mr King had said that his passport was missing as an excuse to not get on the flight.

Tourist who spotted US soldier bolt to North Korea believed it was a prank

Friday 21 July 2023 01:00 , Oliver O'Connell

A tourist from New Zealand who was visiting the DMZ between North and South Korea thought it was a stunt when she saw a supposed member of her tour group sprint towards the north.

Sarah Leslie told the AP that Travis King, 23, was out of uniform, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, and she had no clue that he was a soldier, or in legal jeopardy.

Tourist who spotted US soldier bolt to North Korea believed it was a prank

Mother of US soldier Travis King who crossed into North Korea speaks out: ‘Just want him home’

Friday 21 July 2023 02:00 , Oliver O'Connell

The mother of the American soldier who illegally crossed into North Korea said she was “shocked” and just wanted him to return home.

Meanwhile, his uncle has said that he was “breaking down” following the death of his seven-year-old cousin.

His mother, Claudine Gates, who lives in Racine, Wisconsin, told ABC News that she heard from her son “a few days ago”.

“I can’t see Travis doing anything like that,” Ms Gates said, adding that she was taken aback when she was told her son had crossed into North Korea.

Mother of US soldier detained in North Korea speaks out

Months and years often pass without incident at the border, but when something happens, it can be violent

Friday 21 July 2023 03:00 , AP

There are occasional verbal exchanges between U.S. soldiers and their North Korean counterparts, often businesslike, at the Demarcation Line in the village.

It’s a thrill, perhaps, for the tourists, but it’s a dangerous proposition for the soldiers keeping watch, often only meters (feet) apart.

Months and years often pass without incident, but when something happens, it can be violent.

In 1976, North Korean soldiers axed two American army officers to death, and the United States responded by flying nuclear-capable B-52 bombers toward the DMZ in an attempt to intimidate the North.

In 1984, North Korean and U.N. Command soldiers traded shots when a Soviet citizen defected by sprinting to the southern side. Three North Korean soldiers and one South Korean soldier were killed.

US nationals arrested in North Korea: Otto Warmbier

Friday 21 July 2023 04:00 , Oliver O'Connell