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A U.S. Army soldier is believed to be in custody in North Korea after he
"willfully and without authorization" crossed into the country from South Korea.

In a tweet on Tuesday, U.N. Command, which provides support to the Republic of
Korea, said a U.S. national on an "orientation tour" of the Joint Security Area
had crossed into North Korea "without authorization."



The Joint Security Area refers to a location used for diplomatic relations
between North and South Korea.

"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)," U.N. Command wrote on Tuesday. The Military Demarcation Line is
considered the border between territory controlled by Pyongyang and that under
Seoul's jurisdiction.

In a Korean-language version of the message, U.N. Command said the U.S. national
had "defected to North Korea," according to an English translation.

"We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our KPA
counterparts to resolve this incident," U.N. Command wrote.

The person involved is a U.S. Army soldier, a U.S. Defense Department
spokesperson confirmed to Newsweek. He "willfully and without authorization"
crossed the Military Demarcation Line, the spokesperson said, adding the U.S.
also believes he is in North Korean custody.

The spokesperson declined to provide additional details.

A U.S. official told CBS News that the soldier was being escorted back to U.S.
soil for disciplinary reasons, but had rejoined a tour at the border after
passing through airport security.



An eyewitness told the outlet that they had been part of the same tour group
visiting the Military Demarcation Line, but that after visiting a building in
the area, "this man gives out a loud 'ha ha ha,' and just runs in between some
buildings."

Newsweek has also reached out to the White House and the South Korean defense
and foreign ministries for comment via email.




Tensions between North and South Korea have flared in recent months, spurred on
by Pyongyang's anger over U.S. military collaboration with Seoul. In a
provocative statement earlier this month, North Korea's defense ministry said
the U.S. sending a nuclear submarine to the Korean peninsula had created a "very
dangerous situation," bringing the region "closer to the threshold of nuclear
conflict."



The U.S. State Department advises U.S. citizens not to travel to North Korea
"due to the continuing serious risk of arrest and long-term detention of U.S.
nationals," describing this as a "critical threat."

News of the U.S. national's detention coincides with the arrival of the U.S.
Navy Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, the USS Kentucky, in the South
Korean port of Busan.

The arrival of the submarine "reflects US' ironclad commitment to the ROK for
our extended deterrence guarantee," U.S. Forces Korea said in a statement,
referring to South Korea as the Republic of Korea.

In mid-June, another Ohio-class vessel, the USS Michigan guided-missile
submarine, stopped in Busan for a scheduled port visit.

Update 07/18/23, 7:30 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional
information.

Update 07/18/23, 10:30 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a Pentagon
statement.

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The U.S. and U.S.-led United Nations Command say they
are working to resolve the situation involving a U.S. soldier who ran into North
Korea at a border village. The incident involving Pvt. Travis King comes at a
time of high tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The pace of both North Korea's weapons demonstrations and U.S.-South Korean
military exercises has intensified lately in a cycle of tit-for-tat.

Other Americans have crossed into North Korea over the years, including a few
U.S. soldiers. Some of the Americans were motivated by evangelical zeal or
simply attracted by the mystery of a severely cloistered police state fueled by
anti-U.S. hatred.

Other Americans were detained after entering North Korea as tourists. In one
tragic case, it ended in death.

Here’s a look at other Americans who entered North Korea in the past years:



CHARLES JENKINS

Born in Rich Square, N.C., Charles Jenkins was one of the few Cold War-era U.S.
soldiers who fled to North Korea while serving in the South.

Jenkins, then an Army sergeant, deserted his post in 1965 and fled across the
Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas. North Korea treated Jenkins as a
propaganda asset, showcasing him in leaflets and films.

In 1980, Jenkins married 21-year-old Hitomi Soga, a Japanese nursing student who
had been abducted by North Korean agents in 1978.

Soga was allowed to return to Japan in 2002. In 2004, Jenkins was allowed to
leave North Korea and rejoin his wife in Japan, where he surrendered to U.S.
military authorities and faced charges that he abandoned his unit and defected
to North Korea. He was dishonorably discharged and sentenced to 25 days in a
U.S. military jail in Japan. He died in Japan in 2017.



BRUCE BYRON LOWRANCE

It’s clear that North Korea’s handling of American detainees is influenced by
the state of its relations with Washington.

Bruce Byron Lowrance benefited from cozy diplomacy in 2018 between then-U.S.
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who met for a summit
in June that year where they issued aspirational goals for a nuclear-free Korean
Peninsula without describing when and how it would occur.

Five months later, North Korea announced it was expelling Lowrance who had
entered the country illegally through China in October. North Korea’s decision
to deport Lowrance after only a month of confinement was remarkably quick by the
country’s standards, apparently reflecting an eagerness to keep alive a positive
atmosphere for dialogue with the United States.




During the buildup to the Trump-Kim summit in June, North Korea released three
American detainees – Kim Dong Chul, Tony Kim and Kim Hak Song — who returned to
home on a plane with then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.




However, the diplomacy broke down after the second Trump-Kim summit in February
2019, when the Americans rejected North Korean demands for major sanctions
relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.



MATTHEW MILLER

In September 2014, then a 24-year-old from Bakersfield, California, Matthew
Miller was sentenced to six years of hard labor by North Korea’s Supreme Court
on charges that he illegally entered the country for spying purposes.



The court claimed that Miller tore up his tourist visa upon arriving at
Pyongyang’s airport in April that year and admitted to a “wild ambition” of
experiencing North Korean prison life so that he could secretly investigate the
country’s human rights conditions.

North Korea’s initial announcement about Miller’s detainment that month came as
then-President Barack Obama was traveling in South Korea on a state visit.

Miller was freed in November that same year along with another American, Kenneth
Bae, a missionary and tour leader.

Weeks before his release, Miller talked with The Associated Press at a Pyongyang
hotel where North Korean officials allowed him to call his family. Miller said
he was digging in fields eight hours a day and being kept in isolation.


KENNETH BAE

Bae, a Korean-American missionary from Lynnwood, Washington, was arrested in
November 2012 while leading a tour group in a special North Korean economic
zone.

North Korea sentenced Bae to 15 years in prison for “hostile acts,” including
smuggling in inflammatory literature and attempting to establish a base for
anti-government activities at a hotel in a border town. Bae’s family said he
suffered from chronic health issues, including back pain, diabetes, and heart
and liver problems.

Bae returned to the United States in November 2014 following a secret mission by
James Clapper, then-U.S. director of national intelligence who also secured
Miller’s release.

JEFFREY FOWLE

A month before Bae's and Miller’s release, North Korea also freed Jeffrey Fowle,
an Ohio municipal worker who was detained for six months for leaving a Bible in
a nightclub in the city of Chongjin. Fowle’s release followed negotiations that
involved retired diplomat and former Ohio Congressman Tony Hall.



While North Korea officially guarantees freedom of religion, analysts and
defectors describe the country as strictly anti-religious. The distribution of
Bibles and secret prayer services can mean imprisonment or execution, defectors
say.

In 2009, American missionary Robert Park walked into North Korea with a Bible in
his hand to draw attention to North Korea’s human rights abuses. Park, who was
deported from the North in February 2010, has said he was tortured by
authorities.

OTTO WARMBIER

Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student, died in June 2017,
shortly after he was flown home in a coma after 17 months in North Korean
captivity.

Warmbier was seized by North Korean authorities from a tour group in January
2016 and convicted on charges of trying to steal a propaganda poster and
sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

While not providing a clear reason for Warmbier’s brain damage, North Korea
denied accusations by Warmbier’s family that he was tortured and insisted that
it had provided him medical care with “all sincerity.” The North accused the
United States of a smear campaign and claimed itself as the “biggest victim” in
his death.

In 2022, a U.S. federal judge in New York ruled that Warmbier’s parents — Fred
and Cindy Warmbier — should receive $240,300 seized from a North Korean bank
account, which would be a partial payment toward the more than $501 million they
were awarded in 2018 by a federal judge in Washington.




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