SEOUL: A US soldier is believed to have been detained by North Korea after crossing the heavily fortified border - an incident likely to further aggravate Washington's troubled relations with the nuclear-armed state.
"A US national on a JSA orientation tour crossed, without authorisation, the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)," the UN Command said, referring to the Joint Security Area and the border between the Koreas.
"We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our KPA counterparts to resolve this incident," it said, referring to the North's Korean People's Army.
A US official confirmed the American citizen was a soldier and that he was believed to be detained by Pyongyang, while US Forces Korea spokesman Colonel Isaac Taylor said the service member "willfully and without authorisation" crossed into North Korea.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told journalists that "we're closely monitoring and investigating the situation and working to notify the soldier's next of kin".
CBS News, citing US officials, reported that the soldier was a low-ranking member of the US Army who was being escorted home to the United States for disciplinary reasons, but somehow managed to leave the airport and join the tour group.
North and South Korea remain technically at war since the 1950-1953 Korean War ended with an armistice, rather than a peace treaty, with a Demilitarised Zone running along the border.
Soldiers from both sides face off at the JSA north of Seoul, which is overseen by the United Nations Command.
It is also a popular tourist destination and hundreds of visitors tour the area on the South Korean side every day.
Former US president Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Panmunjom Truce Village in 2019 and even stood on North Korean soil by stepping across the demarcation line there.
"Panmunjom is the most likely site this American chose to cross into North Korea because it's the only location one could attempt such a move out of the whole JSA tour," Choi Gi-il, a professor of military studies at Sangji University, told AFP.
An eyewitness who said they were on the same tour told CBS News the group had visited one of the buildings at the site when "this man gives out a loud 'ha ha ha' and just runs in between some buildings".
"I thought it was a bad joke at first but, when he didn't come back, I realised it wasn't a joke and then everybody reacted and things got crazy," they said.
South Korea's defence ministry declined to comment when contacted by AFP.
NO NORTH KOREAN SOLDIRES
North Korea sealed its borders at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and has yet to reopen them. Its security presence on its side of the border at the JSA has also been scaled back significantly.
When AFP toured the JSA earlier this year, no North Korean guards were visible in the area. Even so, under armistice protocols, South Korean or US personnel could not run across the border to retrieve the US national.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiamh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vYXNpYS91cy1uYXRpb25hbC1jcm9zc2VzLW5vcnRoLWtvcmVhLWR1cmluZy1ib3JkZXItdG91ci11bi1jb21tYW5kLTM2MzY1ODbSAQA?oc=5
2023-07-18 11:39:00Z
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