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Washington: The US military was scrambling on Wednesday to determine the fate of a US soldier who made an unauthorized crossing of the inter-Korean border into north Korea, which plunges Washington into a new crisis with the nuclear-armed country. Private Travis T. King was facing disciplinary action. While on a familiarization tour of the inter-Korean border, King crossed into North Korea on Tuesday “intentionally and without permission,” US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin He said. We believe he is being held (in North Korea) Austin In brief.
North Korean state media did not mention the incident. Its mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The crossing comes at a time of renewed tension on the Korean peninsula, with the arrival of a US nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine on Tuesday, and the test firing of two ballistic missiles at sea by North Korea early Wednesday.
A USFK spokesman said the UN Command had established hotline contact with the North Koreans about the US soldier. “It’s all part of the armistice agreement,” he said. The soldier was on a tour of the truce village of Panmunjom when he crossed the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas. His motives are unknown. While living in South Korea, he faced charges of assaulting and damaging a police car in October. He pleaded guilty and was fined.
Officials said King had finished serving in military custody and that the US military had taken him to the airport to return to his home unit in the United States. He had passed alone through security to his gate and then fled. Civilian tours of the DMZ are advertised at the airport, an official said, and King appears to have decided to join one. The incident occurred as South Korean and US officials held their first round of talks on raising the level of coordination in the event of a nuclear war with North Korea.
North Korean state media did not mention the incident. Its mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The crossing comes at a time of renewed tension on the Korean peninsula, with the arrival of a US nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine on Tuesday, and the test firing of two ballistic missiles at sea by North Korea early Wednesday.
A USFK spokesman said the UN Command had established hotline contact with the North Koreans about the US soldier. “It’s all part of the armistice agreement,” he said. The soldier was on a tour of the truce village of Panmunjom when he crossed the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas. His motives are unknown. While living in South Korea, he faced charges of assaulting and damaging a police car in October. He pleaded guilty and was fined.
Officials said King had finished serving in military custody and that the US military had taken him to the airport to return to his home unit in the United States. He had passed alone through security to his gate and then fled. Civilian tours of the DMZ are advertised at the airport, an official said, and King appears to have decided to join one. The incident occurred as South Korean and US officials held their first round of talks on raising the level of coordination in the event of a nuclear war with North Korea.
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