Travis King: US probes if North Korea knew about defecting soldier as Army worried for his wellbeing
Soldier was expected to face military disciplinary action in US
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The family of the US soldier who fled into North Korea say he was grieving the loss of his young cousin and was not acting like himself.
Private 2nd Class Travis King, 23, who was set to board a plane to return to the US, was on a South Korean civilian tour to the border village known as Panmunjom when he darted across the border.
He was pictured wearing jeans, a black shirt and a black hat with the letters “DMZ” printed on it just moments before he crossed the border to enter the secretive country.
The US army has said he intentionally crossed the border as he was facing disciplinary action on his return to the US after serving nearly two months in detention in South Korea. An investigation is underway to determine if there was prior knowledge of Mr King’s plan in North Korea.
Expressing deep concerns over the well-being of Mr King, his uncle Myron Gates told NBC News that defecting was “out of his character”.
“I’ve never seen him get down like that, ever. Something’s going on. This is not his personality.”
His mother said she was “shocked” and just wanted him to return home.
The US and North Korea have no diplomatic ties — but they still have ways to talk about US soldier
US Army investigating prior North Korean knowledge of Travis King crossing border, report says
US says North Korea still hasn’t responded to attempts at contact over defecting soldier
‘Something’s wrong with him’: Family of US soldier detained in North Korea speak out
Army Secretary ‘worried’ for King in hands of North Korean authorities
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
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.
Read more:
US soldier who fled to North Korea shouted profanities about Koreans and its military
Tourist saw man ‘running what looked like full gas towards the North Korean side’
King seen ‘running what looked like full gas towards the North Korean side’
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.
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
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
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
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.
Read more:
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, the most stupid thing you could do’
Mother of US soldier Travis King who crossed into North Korea speaks out: ‘Just want him home’
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.
Read more:
Mother of US soldier detained in North Korea speaks out
‘When my son was on life support, and when my son passed away… Travis started [being] reckless [and] crazy when he knew my son was about to die,’ Carl Gates says
Months and years often pass without incident at the border, but when something happens, it can be violent
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.
US nationals arrested in North Korea: Otto Warmbier
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
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.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments