US soldier flees into North Korea in

new crisis over the nuclear-armed

state
By HONGJI KIM and PHIL STEWART

PAJU, South Korea/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. military was scrambling to

establish the fate of an American soldier who made an unauthorised crossing of the
inter-Korean border into North Korea, throwing Washington into a new crisis in its
dealing with the nuclear-armed state.

The U.S. Army identified the soldier as Private Travis T. King who joined up in 2021
and was facing disciplinary action. While on an orientation tour of Joint Security Area
(JSA) on the border between the two Koreas, King crossed into North Korea on
Tuesday "wilfully and without authorization," U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin
said.

"We believe that he is in (North Korean) custody and so we're closely monitoring and
investigating the situation and working to notify the soldier's next of kin," Austin told
a briefing.

North Korea's state media has made no mention of the incident. Its mission to the
United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The crossing comes at a time of renewed tension on the Korean peninsula, with the
arrival of a U.S. nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine, and the test launch early on
Wednesday of two ballistic missiles into the sea by North Korea.

North Korea has been testing increasingly powerful missiles capable of carrying
nuclear warheads, including a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile last
week.

Colonel Isaac Taylor, a spokesperson for U.S. Forces Korea, said the military was
"working with our KPA counterparts to resolve this incident," referring to North
Korea's People's Army.

The U.N. Command (UNC), which oversees security for the border area, had used
hotlines to communicate with the North Koreans about the incident, Taylor said, but
did not give details.
"We communicate with the North Koreans every single day," he said. "It's all part of
the armistice agreement."

NORTH KOREA FIRES MISSILES

The soldier was on a tour of the Panmunjom truce village with other visitors when he
crossed a Military Demarcation Line, U.S. officials say. The heavily defended border
has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice.

U.S. officials were stumped why the soldier fled to the North and outlined a puzzling
series of events.

King had finished serving time in detention in South Korea for an unspecified
infraction and was transported by the U.S. military to the airport to return to his
home unit in the United States, two U.S. officials said.

He had already passed alone through security to his gate, then decided to flee, one
official said. Civilian tours of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) are advertised at the
airport and King appeared to have decided to join one, an official said.

The two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the soldier had
been due to face disciplinary action by the U.S. military. But he was not in custody at
the time he decided to flee, one of them said.

South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles ties with the North, said all tours to
Panmunjom had been cancelled indefinitely at the U.N. Command's request. But
Imjingak in Paju that marks the end of the road before the military-controlled bridge
leading into the DMZ was bustling with tourists.

It was unclear how long North Korean authorities would hold the soldier but analysts
said the incident could be valuable propaganda for the isolated country.

Before dawn on Wednesday, North Korea fired two ballistic missiles from an area
near its capital, Pyongyang, flying 550 km and 600 km before plunging into the sea
off its east coast.

The launch came hours after the South Korea and the United States held the first
round of talks on Tuesday on upgrading coordination in the event of a nuclear war
with North Korea.
The United States has pledged to deploy more strategic assets such as aircraft
carriers, submarines and long-range bombers to South Korea, drawing an angry
response from Pyongyang which vowed to escalate its own military response.

A former North Korean diplomat who defected to the South said King may be a
propaganda tool for North Korea and a loss of face for the United States on the day
of the arrival of the submarine and the nuclear talks.

"But looking at previous cases of U.S. servicemen who went into the North, holding
an American solder is probably a not very cost-effective headache for the North in
the long run," said Tae Yong-ho, who is a member of South Korea's parliament.

(Reporting by Josh Smith, Ju-min Park, Hyonhee Shin and Soo-hyang Choi in Seoul,
David Brunnstrom, Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali in Washington, Kiyoshi Takenaka and
Nobuhiro Kubo in Tokyo; Writing by Jack Kim; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)