Amid soaring tensions between America and North Korea, a US citizen has crossed the heavily fortified border from South Korea and reached Supreme leader "Kim Jong-un's world". According to the American-led UN Command overseeing the area, the citizen was on a tour to the Korean border village of Panmunjom and crossed the border into the North without authorization. He is currently under detention. The UN Command confirmed that it is working with its North Korean counterparts to resolve the incident.
Earlier, it was reported that the person in custody was not identified but later CBS News reported that he was an American soldier.
The US official told CBS News the soldier in question was being escorted back to the United States for disciplinary reasons, but after going through airport security, they somehow returned and managed to join the border tour. The soldier who crossed into North Korea is Private 2nd Class, Travis King, officials have told the BBC's US partner CBS News
Cases of Americans or South Koreans defecting to North Korea are rare, though more than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea to avoid political oppression and economic difficulties at home since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Bloodshed and gunfire have occasionally occurred in Panmunjom
Panmunjom, located inside the 248-kilometer (154-mile) -long Demilitarized Zone, was created at the close of the Korean War. Bloodshed and gunfire have occasionally occurred there, but it has also been a venue for numerous talks and a popular tourist spot.
The area is jointly overseen by the UN Command and North Korea. No civilians live at Panmunjom.
In November 2017, North Korean soldiers fired 40 rounds as one of their colleagues raced toward freedom. The soldier was hit five times before he was found beneath a pile of leaves on the southern side of Panmunjom. He survived and is now in South Korea.
Once a US soldier crossed South Korea during Cold War
There have been a small number of US soldiers who fled to North Korea during the Cold War, including Charles Jenkins, who deserted his army post in South Korea in 1965 and fled across the DMZ. He appeared in North Korean propaganda films and married a Japanese nursing student who had been abducted by North Korean agents. He died in Japan in 2017.
In recent years, some Americans have been arrested in North Korea after allegedly entering the country from China. They were later convicted of espionage and other anti-state acts but were often released after the U.S. sent high-profile missions to secure their freedom.
In 2018, North Korea released the last three known American detainees as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was engaged in nuclear diplomacy with then-President Donald Trump. The high-stakes diplomacy collapsed in 2019 amid wrangling over US-led sanctions on North Korea.
(With inputs from agency)
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