DPRK silent after US soldier crosses border

SEOUL — Pyongyang was silent on Wednesday about the highly unusual entry of a soldier from the United States who bolted into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea during a tour in the border village of Panmunjom a day earlier, media reported.

The soldier — identified as Travis King, a private second class who has been in the army since 2021 — crossed the border "willfully and without authorization", said Colonel Isaac Taylor, a spokesman for the US military in the Republic of Korea.

King was the first known US citizen detained in the DPRK in nearly five years, The Associated Press reported.

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

He was escorted as far as customs but left the airport before boarding his plane. It wasn't clear how he spent the hours until joining the Panmunjom tour and running across the border on Tuesday afternoon.

The US Army released his name and limited information after King's family was notified. But a number of US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, provided additional details.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the US government was working with its DPRK counterparts to "resolve this incident".

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a Pentagon news conference: "We believe that he is in (DPRK) custody and so we're closely monitoring and investigating the situation."

The US and the DPRK are still officially at war because the Korean War (1950-53) ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The US still stations about 28,000 troops in the Korean Peninsula.

It wasn't known whether and how Washington and Pyongyang, which have no diplomatic relations, would hold talks.

Some observers say the two sides could still communicate via Panmunjom or the DPRK mission at the United Nations in New York.

Agencies via Xinhua