The detention of American soldier Private Travis King in North Korea has raised concerns about his prospects for a quick release, with officials in Washington saying that North Korea has not responded to attempts to discuss his situation. King, who was serving in South Korea, bolted across the heavily armed border while on a civilian tour of the border village of Panmunjom on Tuesday. He is the first known American held in North Korea in nearly five years.
According to a US official, King has been declared AWOL and has not been declared a deserter, which could carry a more severe punishment. The motive for King’s border crossing is unknown, but his family members said he may have felt overwhelmed by legal trouble in South Korea that could lead to a discharge from the military.
The US has relayed messages to North Korea asking for King’s safe return and seeking more information about his wellbeing, but there has been no response. The situation is complicated by the fact that the US and North Korea have no diplomatic ties and are still technically at war after the 1950-1953 Korean War.
North Korea’s defence minister, Kang Sun Nam, issued a veiled threat on Thursday, suggesting that the docking of a nuclear-armed US submarine in South Korea could be grounds for a nuclear attack by the North. The deployment of the submarine was part of US steps to boost its security commitment to South Korea, and North Korea responded by test-firing two missiles.
Private Travis King
Experts say that North Korea is unlikely to use nuclear weapons first, despite the new law authorizing their pre-emptive use. Instead, Pyongyang may use King’s detention as a bargaining chip to extract compensation or other concessions from the US. As Professor Leif-Eric Easley of Ewha University in Seoul noted, “North Korea is not going to ‘catch and release’ a border-crosser. However, the Kim regime has little incentive to hold an American citizen very long, as doing so can entail liabilities.”
The situation is likely to complicate efforts to free King, who is being held at an unknown location in North Korea. His family members said he was serving in South Korea as a cavalry scout with the 1st Armored Division and was released earlier this month after 47 days of hard labour in a prison camp. King had been convicted of assaulting someone and damaging a police vehicle earlier this month, and had also been accused of punching a man at a Seoul nightclub, although the charge was later dropped.
