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'He had to be out of his mind': Mother of US soldier who crossed into North Korea speaks out on son's detention

It was found that the soldier had previously been jailed in South Korea on assault charges; top official says he 'crossed the border without authorisation'

Published: Wed 19 Jul 2023, 8:11 AM

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Photo: AFP

Photo: AFP

US soldier Travis King's mother said to US media outlets on Wednesday, that she 'could not imagine her son crossing into North Korea without authorisation'.

Her statement comes after King had crossed the heavily fortified border from South Korea into North Korea, amid heightened tensions over North Korea's nuclear programme.

The UN Command tweeted that the US citizen was on a tour to the Korean border village of Panmunjom and crossed the border into the North without authorisation.

King's mother Claudine Gates told the outlet that she thought her son "had to be out of his mind", despite being unaware of any history of mental illness.

"I am so proud of him. I just want him to come home, back to America," she said.

A resident of Racine, a city in midwestern US state Wisconsin, Gates, said that she had last heard from King a few days ago when he said he would soon be returning to his base in Fort Bliss, Texas.

US Forces Korea spokesman Colonel Isaac Taylor said King — a private second class who has been in the army since 2021 — crossed the border "willfully and without authorisation".

It was found that the soldier had previously served around two months in a South Korean jail on assault charges.

The United Nations Command said King had been on a Joint Security Area (JSA) orientation tour, adding he was believed to be in North Korean custody and that it was working with Pyongyang's military to "resolve this incident".

"King was released on July 10 after serving around two months in a South Korean prison for assault charges," a Seoul official told AFP.

South Korean police told AFP that King had been investigated for assault in September 2022, but was not detained at the time.

CBS News, citing US officials, reported that the low-ranking soldier was being escorted home to the United States for disciplinary reasons, but managed to leave the airport and join the tour group.

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin told journalists that Washington was "closely monitoring and investigating the situation".

North and South Korea remain technically at war as 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 site, and hundreds of visitors tour the South Korean side each day.

Cases of Americans or South Koreans defecting to North Korea are rare, though more than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea to avoid political oppression and economic difficulties at home since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Panmunjom, located inside the 248-kilometre (154-mile) -long Demilitarised Zone, is jointly overseen by the UN Command and North Korea since its creation at the close of the Korean War. Bloodshed and gunfire have occasionally occurred there, but it has also been a venue for numerous talks and a popular tourist spot.

(With inputs from AFP)

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