North Korea Detains US Soldier
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
PYONGYANG/WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – U.S. President Joe Biden faced another foreign policy crisis Tuesday as defense officials confirmed that the person crossing unauthorized into North Korea was an American soldier.
The soldier was identified as Private 2nd Class Travis King. He was initially escorted out of neighboring South Korea “for disciplinary reasons” and had gone through airport security, officials said.
However, he made his way out of the terminal before joining a border tour near North Korea.
A defense official said the soldier had “wilfully” crossed the border. His motivation to enter one of the world’s most isolated dictatorships unauthorized remained unclear.
A witness in the same tour group told U.S. broadcaster CBS that the soldier laughed before running towards North Korea. “I thought it was a bad joke at first, but when he didn’t come back, I realized it wasn’t a joke.”
The United Nations Command, which operates the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea, said: “We are working with our KPA (Korean People’s Army) counterparts to resolve this incident.”
HEADACHE DOSSIER
It meant another headache dossier for President Biden, who already struggles with the war in Ukraine, strained relations with China, and simmering conflicts in the Middle East.
During Donald Trump’s presidency, U.S.-North Korea relations warmed somewhat after a heated start, as the American president made unprecedented overtures toward Kim Jong Un.
Yet Biden has refused to continue Trump’s diplomatic engagements, and Kim responded with over a hundred new missile tests as part of his declared nuclear arms program. Advanced technologies could put the U.S. mainland in range of a North Korean strike, according to experts.
With an American soldier now in North Korea, commentators say Kim has a new means of forcing the U.S. to pay attention to him and meet his demands for international respect.
It also comes as the U.S. is warming up for presidential elections next year. “If Biden is unable to arrange a speedy resolution, it will be cited by his political opponents as an example of the current president’s limited power on the international stage,” wrote Anthony Zurcher, the North America correspondent of British broadcaster BBC.
Travis’ detention in North Korea was due to raise concerns about how authorities would treat him.
North Korea has notorious prisons and labor camps where thousands of Christian believers and others deemed dangerous to the regime face torture and executions, according to several sources familiar with the situation.
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