There were no immediate details about how or why the soldier crossed the heavily fortified border or whether the soldier was on duty.
SEOUL, South Korea --
The American-led U.N. Command overseeing the area tweeted earlier Tuesday that the detained soldier was on a tour of the Korean border village of Panmunjom. The soldier purposefully separated himself and ran away from the rest of the group, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment. The official added that it's "not normal" for active duty service members to go on such tours.
Cases of Americans or South Koreans defecting to North Korea are rare, though more than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea to avoid political oppression and economic difficulties since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Tours to the southern side of the village reportedly drew around 100,000 visitors a year before the coronavirus pandemic, when South Korea restricted gatherings to slow the spread of COVID-19. The tours resumed fully last year.
Panmunjom also is where the armistice that ended the Korean War was signed. That armistice has yet to be replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula technically in a state of war. The United States still stations about 28,000 troops in South Korea. In May 2018, North Korea released three American detainees - Kim Dong Chul, Tony Kim and Kim Hak Song - who returned to the United Sates on a plane with then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a short-lived period of warm relations between the longtime adversaries. Later in 2018, North Korea said it expelled American Bruce Byron Lowrance. Since his ouster, there have been no reports of other Americans detained in North Korea before Tuesday's incident.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
US, South Korea meet for nuclear talks amid North Korea threatFor the first time since the 1980s, a US nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine is in South Korea, a senior US official says as allies launch talks to coordinate responses in the event of a nuclear war with North Korea.
Read more »
An American national has crossed into North Korea without authorization and has been detainedBREAKING: The U.N. Command says an American crossed the border from South Korea into North Korea without authorization. The body responsible for Korean Peninsula security said he is now in North Korean custody and they are working to resolve the incident.
Read more »
An American national has crossed into North Korea without authorization and has been detainedJUST IN: An American has crossed the heavily fortified border from South Korea into North Korea, the American-led U.N. Command overseeing the area said Tuesday, amid heightened tensions over North Korea's nuclear program.
Read more »
American crossed into North Korea during tour of DMZU.N. officials say an American was likely arrested after crossing the border into North Korea during a tour of the DMZ. MORE ⬇️
Read more »
American citizen detained in North Korea after crossing over border, United Nations saysThe U.N. Command tweeted that the U.S. citizen was on a tour to the Korean border village of Panmunjom and crossed the border into the North without authorization.
Read more »