US unsuccessfully reaches out to North Korea through ‘multiple channels’ over soldier
Mike Brest
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The United States has reached out “through multiple channels” to the North Korean military regarding the American service member who crossed from South Korea into the North earlier this week.
Pvt. Travis King, who has been a cavalry scout with the Army since January 2021, was supposed to fly home to the U.S. after serving two months in prison on assault charges and an additional week under U.S. supervision. He left the airport instead of getting on his flight on Tuesday and proceeded to cross into North Korea seemingly on his own volition.
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“The White House remains in close contact with DOD, with the Department of State, with the U.N., with our Swedish partners and our South Korean partners to ascertain the whereabouts and the well-being of Pvt. King,” White House deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters on Thursday. “I can tell you this morning, we’ve now reached out through multiple channels to the [Korean People’s Army] to try to ascertain that information and to get closer to an answer.”
The U.S. has a number of agencies working on getting details regarding King’s whereabouts and well-being, but so far, there are still more questions than answers. It’s unknown if the U.S. will be able to secure King’s release and whether he wants to come back to the U.S. at all, given the prevailing information is that he decided to cross into North Korea by his own choosing.
South Korean media reported that he was accused of kicking the door of a police patrol car and shouting expletives at officers.
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State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Wednesday that it was his “understanding” that the outreach from the Department of Defense has “not yet been answered,” while a day earlier, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said King “willfully and without authorization” crossed the military demarcation line.
Austin also expressed his concern for King’s well-being.