After a thorough investigation spanning more than 70 days, Private Travis King, a U.S. soldier who entered North Korea without authorisation, has been found guilty of illegal intrusion and is slated for deportation.
According to reports from North Korea’s state-run media on Wednesday, Mr Green crossed the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the heavily fortified buffer dividing North and South Korea, on July 18.
Subsequent reports disclosed that Mr Green confessed to his unauthorised entry into North Korea, citing grievances related to perceived mistreatment, racial discrimination within the U.S. Army, and societal inequalities in the United States.
The agency said he “harboured ill feelings against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army and was disillusioned about the unequal U.S. society.”
The details and timeline of Mr King’s deportation plan from North Korea have not been disclosed, including whether he will be returned to South Korea via the DMZ, which he initially crossed to reach North Korea.
Colonel Isaac Taylor, a spokesperson for the U.S. military stationed in South Korea, emphasised, “Our priority is to bring Private King home, and we are working through all available channels to achieve that outcome.”
Notably, North Korea’s decision to expel an American soldier seeking asylum within its borders is not unusual. Analysts attribute North Korea’s often severe responses to perceived bullying and unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States.
Historically, North Korea has allowed American deserters to live within its territory.Mr King, 23, had been stationed in South Korea as a First Brigade Combat Team, First Armored Division member.
After his release in July from a South Korean detention facility, where he had been held on assault charges, he was accompanied by U.S. military personnel to Incheon International Airport, situated outside Seoul, to board a flight to the United States, where he was expected to face additional disciplinary action.
However, Mr King did not board the plane as scheduled. Instead, he embarked on a bus journey the following day to the border village of Panmunjom, located within the DMZ, which permits tourists to visit.
Mr Taylor explained that the soldier had “willfully and without authorisation crossed the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”
In a statement issued last month, North Korea indicated Mr King’s desire to seek refuge in the isolated communist nation or potentially in a third country.
Mr Green marks the first publicly known case of an American held in North Korean custody since Bruce Byron Lowrance was detained for a month after illegally entering the country from China in 2018.
In previous instances, American civilians accused of illegally entering North Korea have faced prosecution, sentencing to hard labour, or occasionally, release and expulsion.
Robert Park, a Korean American missionary who crossed the border between China and North Korea in 2009, endured a 43-day captivity in the North before being deported to Beijing.
In a similar incident in 2013, Merrill Newman, an American retiree, was held for 42 days before being flown from Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, to Beijing.
