US soldier's defection sheds light on failure of USFK to manage lawbreakers

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Thu, December 7, 2023 | 22:41

Foreign Affairs

US soldier's defection sheds light on failure of USFK to manage offenders

Posted : 2023-07-20 17:00

Updated : 2023-07-21 13:43

Tourists walk at Imjingak Pavillion in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, near the border with North Korea, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

King traveled to Panmunjeom on tour bus with other foreign visitors

By Lee Hyo-jin

American soldier Travis King's defection to North Korea has sparked criticism of the U.S. Forces Korea's (USFK) poor handling of service members who break the law, as the U.S. military failed to properly monitor the soldier who apparently should have been in custody.

Other than the fact that he was facing disciplinary measures, little else is known as to why the 23-year-old Army private crossed the inter-Korean border.

Until recently, King was detained in a South Korean prison workshop for about two months as he did not pay a 5-million won ($3,900) fine on charges of inflicting damage to a police vehicle.

Travis King / AP-Yonhap

After being released on July 10, he was to be sent to Fort Bliss in Texas aboard a flight on Monday, where he would have faced additional disciplinary measures and a possible discharge from the military.

Instead of boarding the flight to the United States, however, King somehow joined a pre-booked group tour on Tuesday of the Joint Security Area (JSA), also known as the border truce village of Panmunjeom, in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.

On Monday, the U.S. military police escorted the soldier to a security checkpoint at Incheon International Airport and left without verifying whether he had boarded the scheduled flight that evening. At the boarding gate, King claimed that his passport was missing and was able to return back to the main terminal.

Criticism is mounting within the military community that the USFK should be held accountable for its negligence, according a source familiar with the matter.

The USFK was not immediately available for comment on Thursday about its protocol regarding how it transfers to the U.S. soldiers who break the law.

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It remains unclear where King spent the night after getting out of the airport, but The Korea Times learned that King traveled to Panmunjeom on a bus arranged by a private tour company the next day.

Sarah Leslie, a New Zealand national who was on the same tour with King, said that the soldier participated in the full-day group tour to the JSA from the beginning.

"We met at 7 a.m. in Seoul and that is where we began the tour to the JSA. He was on the tour bus from Seoul," she told The Korea Times, Thursday. "There were about 40 people and there were no Koreans (among the tourists)."

According to the travel itinerary provided by Leslie, the bus departed from Hoehyeon-dong, Jung District of Seoul and stopped by major tourist sites, including Imjingak Peace Park, the Third Tunnel and Dora observatory before arriving at Panmunjeom. The tourists were scheduled to return to Seoul by 5 p.m. that day.

Travis King, inside the red circle, takes part in a group tour of the Joint Security Area (JSA) in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Courtesy of Sarah Leslie

King was on his own and did not talk to anybody during the tour, Leslie said. She noticed him buying a hat at a DMZ souvenir shop.

Around 3:27 p.m., King dashed across the border to the North Korean side. Leslie said about 10 military personnel from all directions chased after him, but in vain.

"He ran really, really fast," said Leslie. "I initially didn't know what was going on, I thought it to be a prank. But then one of the American soldiers shouted out loud and other (South) Korean soldiers began chasing him as well."

King's border crossing in the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) has also called into question the lax control of the area by the United Nations Command (UNC). There were about 10 to 15 soldiers at the JSA, according to Leslie, which is far fewer than the number of the group tourists.

Also, the UNC's identification check procedures, which are conducted prior and through the tour, were unable to identify King as a potential problem.

"I think we had to show our passports like five times… I had to send a copy of my passport and details beforehand because they said they'd have to check that every detail is correct," said Leslie.

Pyongyang has so far remained silent about King's defection. The reclusive regime has yet to respond to queries by the U.S. military to the Korean People's Army, its North Korean counterpart.

"My understanding is that those communications have not yet been answered," U.S. state department spokesperson Mathew Miller said during a briefing on Wednesday (local time).

lhj@koreatimes.co.kr