The soldier Travis King entered on tuesday North Korea from Panmunjom, located within the 248 kilometer demilitarized zone jointly supervised by the UN Command and Pyongyang since the end of the Korean War (1950-53) one day after it was supposed to return to a base in the United States
“I am very, very concerned that Private King is in the hands of the North Korean authorities, I am concerned about their treatment of him,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said.at the Aspen Security Forum, according to the AFP news agency.
Wormuth also referred to the case of Otto Warmbier, an American who was held for a year and a half before being released in a coma and dying six days later.
no official information
The Secretary of the US Army said that Washington sought information on King through UN channelsand that various areas of government were involved in the effort.
“The Department of Defense, the Department of State, the White House, we are using UN channels, we have been in contact (with North Korea) to get information about his situation and work with them to try to bring him back.” , he pointed.
But “at this point, I don’t think much is known and I also don’t think contact has been successfully made with the North Korean authorities,” he added.
Wormth said that King “would have faced additional consequences” had he returned to the United States as planned, although it is unclear if jail time was on the table.
King “assaulted an individual in South Korea and had been in the custody of the South Korean government and was going to return to the United States and face consequences in the Army; I’m not sure she was dealing with it,” she explained.
“Maybe I wasn’t thinking straight, frankly, but we don’t know”he added.
What happened to Travis King
King was released from a prison in South Korea on the 10th of this month after serving time for assault and was scheduled to return to Fort Bliss, in Texas.
The soldier, who was jailed for 47 days charged with assault, was facing discharge from the Army due to his conviction in a foreign country. However, on a visit to the demilitarized zone he crossed the border and was held by North Korean personnel. Since then, his whereabouts have been unknown.
King is the first known American captured in North Korea in almost five years and his arrest came at a time of great animosity between Pyongyang and Washington.
In parallel, North Korea tested two ballistic missiles this day at sea in an apparent protest over the deployment of a US nuclear submarine in South Korea for the first time in decades.
Source: Ambito
