The US Army soldier who entered North Korea in July “admitted to having entered it illegally”announced Wednesday, August 16, the North Korean state agency KCNA, citing an investigation report. “According to an investigation by a competent organ of the DPRK [République populaire démocratique de Corée], Travis King admitted to illegally entering the territory of the DPRK »KCNA reported, using North Korea’s official name.
This is Pyongyang’s first public statement since the start of the “King affair”. This American soldier was to return to the United States after having had trouble with the South Korean justice system, but he crossed the border with the North on July 18, mingling with a group of tourists who were visiting the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas.
“During the investigation, Travis King said he decided to come to the DPRK because he abhorred the inhumane treatment and racial discrimination in the US military”KCNA claimed.
Travis King “was kept under control by Korean People’s Army soldiers as he entered deliberately” in a North Korean area, the agency added, confirming for the first time the detention of the soldier.
“Disillusioned with the unequal American society”
Travis King has “expressed his willingness to seek refuge in the DPRK or in a third country, saying he was disillusioned with the unequal American society”assured KCNA, adding that an investigation by the regime was still ongoing.
Private second class, Travis King was released from prison in South Korea after a brawl in a bar and an altercation with the police. He had to return to the United States to face disciplinary sanctions.
On August 3, the American command had indicated that Pyongyang “answered” to requests concerning the military. The head of diplomacy, Antony Blinken, who had also confirmed that contact had been established with Pyongyang, had however said that he had no information concerning the whereabouts or the state of health of Travis King.
The two Koreas are technically still at war since 1953, because it was an armistice and not a peace treaty that ended the armed conflict. Fortifications follow the route of the border, but only a concrete wall separates them at the level of the common security area (JSA), which is less difficult to cross despite the presence of soldiers.
Not unreleased
More than a defection for ideological reasons, Travis King could have acted to escape the justice of his country. Assigned to the first American armored division deployed in the South, he was sentenced in February for damaging a police car. He then served a two-month prison sentence for assaulting a South Korean at a club near Hongdae, a bustling district of Seoul.
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Released on July 17, he was to be sent to Fort Bliss, Texas, for further disciplinary action. Escorted to customs control at Incheon airport (west of Seoul), he escaped. The next day, he joined a group visiting the JSA. Its presence among tourists may also come as a surprise, as access to the JSA is subject to strict controls and requests to participate require several days of processing.
Anyway, he took the opportunity to cross the line of demarcation. It is at the same place that Donald Trump became the first American president to enter North Korea, in 2019, during a meeting with leader Kim Jong-un.
Military guides attempted to arrest Travis King, but to no avail. A 2018 inter-Korean agreement establishes that soldiers assigned to the JSA are unarmed. Passed to the North, Mr. King was immediately arrested. He “voluntarily and without permission crossed the demarcation line to enter the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”then recognized Colonel Isaac Taylor, of the American forces in South Korea.
Travis King is the seventh American soldier to move to the North since the Korean War, more to escape his daily life or discipline problems than for ideological reasons. Larry Allen Abshier was the first, in May 1962. The best known remains Charles Jenkins: assigned to the South, he had gone to the North in 1965 to avoid participating in the Vietnam War.