A U.S. serviceman has been taken into custody by North Korea following an unauthorized breach of the Military Demarcation Line, as confirmed by an American government official to Fox News.
The soldier has been identified by a senior U.S. defense official as Private 2nd Class Travis King.
The United Nations Command has earlier reported that an American, who was part of an orientation tour to the joint security area straddling North and South Korea, veered off course and crossed the military boundary without permission.
It is now suspected that King is under detention in North Korea.
The peacekeeping entity took to Twitter to announce, “A U.S. National on a JSA orientation tour crossed, without authorization, the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our Korean People’s Army counterparts to resolve this incident.”
The U.S. State Department cautions citizens against traveling to North Korea due to the ongoing significant risk of arrest and subsequent prolonged detention.
The travel advisory issued highlights that “The U.S. government is unable to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in North Korea as it does not have diplomatic or consular relations with North Korea.”
Incidents of U.S. or South Korean nationals defecting to North Korea are not common, the Fox report notes.
Conversely, over 30,000 North Koreans have sought refuge in South Korea to escape political repression and economic hardship since the termination of the Korean War in 1953.
The village of Panmunjom, situated within the expansive 154-mile-long Demilitarized Zone, was established in the aftermath of the Korean War.
The control of this area is shared by the U.N. Command and North Korea.
