A US soldier defected to North Korea instead of going back home. He is not the only one in history
American soldier who crossed into North Korea identified. Photo: Travis King/Facebook
Have you ever thought your life was so troubled at home that you wouldn't mind defecting to North Korea? Yes, to North Korea, one of the world's most oppressive and isolated regimes. In what has caused an international incident, an American soldier crossed into North Korea voluntarily and unauthorised.
He was 23, a US soldier, with a history of assault, about to be removed from the military. He didn't board a plane to the US as scheduled. Then he sprinted across the border to North Korea within seconds while on a tour of the area.
His motive? Unknown.
What happened to him? Unknown.
SERIOUSLY ⁉️ Travis King thought hopping over to North Korea was a better endgame than coming home to the US? Talk about fucking around and finding out.
— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) July 19, 2023
* 23 year old Pvt. 2nd Class Travis King had been stationed in South Korea, but had recently served 2 months in prison there… pic.twitter.com/FxBImp5Vle
How the entire fiasco unfolded
- 23-year-old Private Travis King was posted to the US Forces Korea. He had a history of assault and was scheduled to return to the US to be removed from the Army and possibly face additional punishment.
- On Monday, July 17, he was escorted by his US military handlers to Incheon airport in South Korea to board an American Airlines plane back to Dallas.
- King cleared immigration, security check, and everything and his handlers were with him throughout the process.
- But his handlers weren't allowed to accompany him to the boarding gate and he went alone.
- According to reports, King told airline staff that his passport was missing. He was then taken towards the departure side.
- The plane left Incheon at 6.36 pm on July 17 and King wasn't on it.
The tour
- The very next day Travis King showed up on a tour of the Joint Security Area, the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea.
- Also known as Panmunjom village, it is a rare place of close contact between the still-warring nations and among the heavily militarised zones in the world.
- Here, there is no physical barrier separating the North and the South, but just wilderness, mines, barbed wire fences, and military troops on both sides.
Korea's truce village.
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) July 19, 2023
Map of the Panmunjom border truce village in the Joint Security Area on the border between North and South Korea. Soldiers from both sides face off at the JSA, which is overseen by the United Nations Command. It is also a popular tourist site pic.twitter.com/3udiqofrnF
- It is unknown how King managed to get on the group of over 40 tourists on a short notice. It usually takes 3-7 days for an individual to be authorised to travel to the region, which are also closely monitored.
- Tourist and eyewitness Sarah Leslie, a New Zealand national told AP that the group was taking photos towards the end of the tour when someone made a mad dash towards the border.
- King was over the border within a few seconds, before any of the other soldiers could react. Reports said that he tried to enter a North Korean facility in the JSA, but found it locked. He then ran towards the back of the building where he was hurried into a van and escorted by North Korean guards, according to reports.
- His current status remains unknown. The US has been trying to get in touch with the North Korean side through Sweden, which represents US interests in North Korea, but so far, there has been no response.
- North Korea has not independently broadcast the arrival of a US soldier through its media either. He's likely to be in North Korean custody.
- America's Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, said that King crossed into North Korea "wilfully and without authorisation".
- King's mother told ABC News she was shocked by the development.
Did Travis King defect to North Korea?
We have often heard of brave and difficult tales of North Koreans defecting to the South or other countries. But there are only a handful of cases in history where someone from the outside world willfully defected to North Korea. Whether King's stunt is a defection or not, is yet to be determined, but it was done voluntarily.
Family members of the U.S. Army private who sprinted across the border into North Korea said Wednesday that he may have felt overwhelmed as he faced legal troubles and his possible looming discharge from the military. pic.twitter.com/hZoOMBmD8y
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 19, 2023
Here are a few other people, including Americans, who "defected" to North Korea of their own will:
- As recently as 2022, a person from South Korea sprinted across the border to the North. It isn't known whether the person was a South Korean defecting or a North Korean returning. It isn't known whether the person came to live or die.
- One of the most high-profile South Korean defections to the North came in 1986 when the former South Korean Foreign Minister Choe Deok-sin defected with his wife.
- In 2019, Choe Deok-sin's son Choe In-guk also defected to the North, saying that he was settling in the country as per the wishes of his father.
- The first US soldier to defect to North Korea after the Korean War was Pvt Larry Allen Abshier in 1962. He was 19. He was also facing disciplinary trouble with the US Army.
- There have been at least 5 or 6 defections by American soldiers to North Korea.
[ALSO READ: North Korea executed 2 high-school boys for watching K-dramas, made others watch the killing]
What happens to the defectors in North Korea?
North Korea may try to use the defectors as a propaganda tool for a while or as a bargaining chip in future discussions. While defectors to North Korea definitely go from obscurity to international fame, their fate in North Korea isn't all rosy.
While some may get to live a comfortable life, it may not be true for all.
King's defection comes at a difficult period of relations between North Korea and South Korea and its allies.