Pyongyang confirms it is investigating US soldier Travis King

2023-08-16 22:36:33, Kosova & Bota CNA

North Korea has publicly confirmed for the first time that it is holding US soldier Travis King, who ran across the demilitarized zone into the North almost a month ago. This is the first time that an individual in the demilitarized zone, which is visited by tourists, has acted in this way

Pyongyang is investigating the soldier for his "illegal entry" into North Korea, state news agency KCNA reported on Wednesday. The news further adds that Mr. King "confessed" that he was motivated by "inhumane treatment and racist discrimination in the United States military.

The statement also said the 23-year-old expressed a desire to seek asylum in North Korea or a third country, saying he was "disappointed" by the inequality in American society.

Private King was facing dismissal from the military once he returned to his base at Fort Bliss, Texas, after being held in a South Korean prison on assault charges.

He was due to fly back to the US on July 17, and it is not clear how he managed to join a group of tourists at the border complex a day later.

The Military Demarcation Line is the official border separating the two Koreas, established after an armistice that ended the 1950-1953 Korean War. The war has not officially ended and no peace treaty has been reached.

Witnesses who were part of the group visiting the border area last month said Mr King was laughing when he started running towards the border line. Some of them who thought that the strange action was a joke or an attempt to shoot a video and then publish it on social networks.

The US Department of Defense and the State Department said they could not verify the statements attributed to Soldier King released by North Korea. They reiterated that the priority remains his return to the US and that they are using all the opportunities they have towards this outcome.

Private King's official status with the US Army remains listed as absent without leave. This status automatically changes to "deserter" after one month of absence has passed.

The possibility of granting him prisoner of war status to facilitate Mr. King's repatriation seems unlikely, given that he ran across the border of his own accord.

Over the decades, six active-duty American soldiers defected to North Korea. Only one managed to get out of there. Sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins called the decision "the biggest mistake I ever made" after being released in 2004 after spending some 39 years in North Korea.

North Korea chose to break its silence on the US soldier after weeks of pressure from the US and about two days before the United Nations Security Council is due to discuss human rights for the first time since 2017. in the communist state.

Last week, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who chairs the Security Council this month, announced the resumption of meetings starting on Thursday, noting that abuses and human rights violations by Kim Jong's government The UN has "facilitated advances in weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles."

North Korea views criticism of human rights as "a serious challenge to its dignity and sovereignty," as its vice foreign minister for international organizations, Kim Son Gyong, said on Tuesday in opposing the planned U.N.- of.

North Korea's statement also precedes the meeting of the US president with his counterparts from Japan and South Korea at the presidential resort "Camp David".

The first tripartite meeting, envisioned as historic by American officials, is expected to announce new strengthened military and economic cooperation in the face of continued threats from North Korea and Chinese ambitions in the region./ VOA