U.S. soldier believed to be detained in North Korea after crossing DMZ

Simon Druker
·3 min read
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A U.S. soldier on a private tour crossed the military demarcation line separating separating the two Koreas in to North Korea without authorization Tuesday. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI
A U.S. soldier on a private tour crossed the military demarcation line separating separating the two Koreas in to North Korea without authorization Tuesday. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI

July 18 (UPI) -- A U.S. soldier is believed to have been detained in North Korea after crossing the military demarcation line from South Korea without authorization Tuesday, the Pentagon said.

The soldier was on a private tour of the Joint Security Area in the Demilitarized Zone when he suddenly ran across the border, according to defense officials.

"We believe that he is in DPRK custody," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at a news conference, referring to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the formal name of North Korea. "We're closely monitoring and investigating the situation, and working to notify the soldier's next of kin and engaging to address this incident."

The Defense Department hasn't released the soldier's name. CBS News and ABC News, citing unnamed U.S. officials, identified the soldier as Pvt. 2nd Class Travis King.

The soldier had served time in military detention in South Korea after an altercation with locals and was being sent out of the country, officials said. After going through security at Incheon National Airport to leave, he returned and managed to join a border tour group.

A U.S. soldier moved into North Korea after leaving part of a tour to the Joint Security Area in the Demilitarized Zone shared by North and South Korea. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI
A U.S. soldier moved into North Korea after leaving part of a tour to the Joint Security Area in the Demilitarized Zone shared by North and South Korea. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI

The incident happened in Panmunjeom, a village just north of the de facto border between North and South Korea. The area overlaps South Korea's southern Gyeonggi Province and the Kaesong Industrial Region in North Korea.

"We ... are working with our KPA counterparts to resolve this incident," the United Nations Command, which oversees the DMZ, said in a tweet referring to the North Korean People's Army.

A North Korean village at the edge of the DMZ near the Imjingang and Hangang rivers is seen from Odusan Unification Observatory near Paju, South Korea on June 24. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI
A North Korean village at the edge of the DMZ near the Imjingang and Hangang rivers is seen from Odusan Unification Observatory near Paju, South Korea on June 24. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI

Witnesses report a man from their tour group suddenly breaking stride and running across the military demarcation line.

"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!!," Mikaela Johansson, a Swedish national on a tour of the JSA wrote on Facebook.

"It took everybody a second to react and grasp what had actually happened, then we were ordered into and through Freedom House and running back to our military bus."

It wasn't immediately clear what level of security was in place on the north side of the border, which has historically been heavily patrolled on both sides.

North Korea began heavily scaling back routine patrols in the JSA during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The incident came as Pyongyang is expected to respond angrily to the first U.S. nuclear-capable ballistic missile submarine visit to South Korea in decades and the inaugural session of the allies' Nuclear Consultative Group in Seoul this week.

Some observers raised the possibility that the incident could lead to direct engagement between Washington and Pyongyang on the release of the U.S. national and other bilateral issues.

Yonhap contributed to this report.