Because of “inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army,” the North Korean government claims the American serviceman “illegally intruded.”
On Wednesday, August 16th, North Korea claimed that a U.S. soldier who crossed the DMZ into the country last month admitted that he “illegally intruded” due to “inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army.” He allegedly expressed a willingness to seek refuge in North Korea or a third country.
According to Yonhap News Agency, this was the first time the North officially acknowledged that Pvt. Travis King had crossed the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) into the North on 18 July during a tour of the Joint Security Area (JSA) in the DMZ.
“Travis King confessed that he had decided to come over to the DPRK as he harboured ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
The abbreviation for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the North’s official name.
Also, “he expressed his willingness to seek refugee in the DPRK or a third country, saying that he was disillusioned at the unequal American society,” it said.
According to the KCNA, North Korean soldiers detained King after he “deliberately intruded” onto North Korean territory within the Joint Security Area (JSA), and an investigation by a “relevant organ” is currently underway.
The US Department of Defence, meantime, has stated that it is solely concerned with returning King to the United States and has no plans to investigate the allegations against him.
We cannot confirm these purported words, a Pentagon spokesman told Yonhap News Agency.
Bringing Pvt. King home is a top priority for the department, and we are using every means at our disposal to make that happen.
According to prior statements made by US officials, King “willfully” crossed the MDL “without authorisation,” and the North has not provided a significant response to its queries into his whereabouts.
The United States-led United Nations Command (UN Command) that monitors DMZ activities has previously said it is working with its North Korean colleagues to address the problem, but has not provided further specifics.
After serving in South Korea, King ran into legal difficulties.
After missing a payment deadline for a fine for damaging a police patrol car last year, he was imprisoned in a prison workshop in South Korea from May 24 until July 10.
On October 8, 2022, police in South Korea arrested King on suspicion of assault in a western Seoul nightclub.
When authorities demanded identification information from him, he allegedly kicked the vehicle door.
Instead of returning to the United States on July 17, when he may have faced further disciplinary punishment, King participated in the JSA tour and did not board his flight at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul.
Tensions were already high as a result of North Korea’s ongoing nuclear tests, most recently the firing of a Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile.
Since their working-level nuclear discussions in Sweden in October 2019, following the bilateral no-deal summit in Hanoi in February of that year, direct diplomatic talks between the US and the North have remained stuck.
