After Travis King, a U.S. soldier, laughed "hahaha" and crossed the border with North Korea, North Korea said nothing, and the United States was in trouble for a while.
The United States and South Korea held huge military exercises, North Korea launched missiles many times, US strategic nuclear submarines docked in North Korea for the first time in 40 years, and senior military and political officials of the DPRK made tough speeches continuously... Against the backdrop of a new escalation of the situation on the Korean Peninsula, Travis Kim's crossing of the DPRK has become an unexpected "episode" under tension, and how this "episode" affects the situation on the peninsula is of concern.
Travis King, a U.S. soldier
Soldiers cross the border: The United States is stunned, North Korea is silent
After Travis Kim crossed the border with North Korea, North Korean officials did not say a word about it, and the United States is currently using various means to contact North Korea. CNN reported on July 20 that the United States tried to contact North Korea through the United Nations Command and asked the South Korean government for assistance. At the same time, the United States will also try to engage with North Korea through the Swedish embassy in North Korea, which represents American interests.
On July 19, local time, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a press conference, "Yesterday (18th) the US Department of Defense tried to contact the Korean People's Army, but as far as I know, North Korea did not respond. Miller said: "The United States is actively gathering relevant information to find the whereabouts of Travis. The Government will continue to take positive action to ensure their safety and repatriation. ”
U.S. Private Travis Kim, 23, crossed the border with North Korea on July 18. Information released by the US Department of Defense says that Travis King joined the army in 2021 and is currently facing disciplinary action. Previously, he was detained for 47 days on suspicion of assault by beating South Koreans, fined for kicking the door of a South Korean police patrol car present, and was released and sentenced to a week of confinement at a US military base in South Korea, so he could not be promoted. Prior to crossing the border, Travis King was asked to be repatriated to his home country for further disciplinary action, but after being taken to the airport, he did not board the plane and signed himself up for a tour group to visit the Joint Security Area before crossing the military demarcation line and entering the North Korean side.
CNN reported that South Korean soldiers on the South Korean side of the Joint Security Area shouted "Grab him" when they spotted Travis Kim walking towards the North Korean side, and the tour guide had tried to chase the soldier but failed to catch him, and he was seen detained by North Korean soldiers. It is not clear whether Travis King planned to defect. Col. Isaac Taylor, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Korea, said the soldier "deliberately crossed the military demarcation line into North Korea without authorization."
White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre also told a news conference: "We are trying to gather relevant information. It takes a while to restore the facts. Later, Pierre added: "The U.S. Department of Defense is in contact with the Korean People's Army on the North Korean side."
North Korea's handling of Travis King, who crossed the border without permission, has attracted much attention, but so far North Korean officials have not responded to the incident, and North Korean media have not made any reports on the border crossing.
It is worth noting that the DPRK's defense minister Qiang Chuno issued a statement on July 20 in response to the US strategic nuclear submarine docking in South Korea, and Qiang Chunnan warned that the US "Ohio" class strategic nuclear submarine docking in South Korea is a direct nuclear threat to North Korea, which may meet the conditions for North Korea to use nuclear weapons. Chun-nam did not mention any information about U.S. soldiers crossing the border with North Korea.
Yonhap News Agency said that it is speculated that the North Korean side may be investigating the identity of the American soldier, interrogating his motives and background for crossing the Korean Korean demilitarized zone, and whether he really defected.
Li Jiacheng, associate professor at the School of International Relations of Liaoning University, said in an interview with The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) that North Korea has so far kept silent on this matter because the topic of US soldiers crossing the border is relatively sensitive, and North Korea needs time to formulate a plan, and secondly, it is related to the security situation on the Korean Peninsula.
The US strategic nuclear submarine "Kentucky" docked at the Busan operational base in South Korea.
Tension: The atmosphere is unfavorable, or it may become a bargaining chip
Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who visited Pyongyang in May 2018 in preparation for the first North Korea-U.S. summit in June 2018, brought three U.S. citizens back to the United States, former President Bill Clinton returned in 2009 with two U.S. journalists detained by North Korea, and President Jimmy Carter returned with an American the following year, according to South Korea's Minzu Ilbo.
The most recent incident in which Americans deliberately crossed the border was Bruce Byron Lawrence's arrest in October 2018 after illegally entering North Korea across the Sino-North Korean border. After the DPRK-US summit in June that year, North Korea and the United States continued to discuss denuclearization and repatriation a month later, for which the US government expressed its gratitude.
It is worth mentioning that in the past, either the DPRK-US relations were détente, or during the period when North Korea was actively trying to détente, the then US president and other senior officials met with the top leader of the DPRK as an expression of "sincerity" in friendly dialogue - to let American nationals return home with American visitors. Incidents such as the joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States, the launch of new intercontinental missiles by North Korea, and the docking of US nuclear submarines in South Korea, the situation on the Korean Peninsula has become tense again, and there is even a danger of sliding to the brink of losing control.
The U.S. Navy's Ohio-class strategic nuclear submarine "Kentucky" sailed into the Busan operating base on the 18th, the first meeting of the ROK-US Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG), which is the second time that the US strategic nuclear submarine has docked in South Korea in 42 years since the "Robert Lee" submarine in 1981.
South Korean President Yoon Seok-yue boarded the Kentucky on July 19 and said in a speech before boarding that visiting the Kentucky, one of the world's strongest strategic assets, the US strategic nuclear submarine Kentucky, is very meaningful and reassuring. Yoon Seok-yue said that this move fully reflects the firm will of South Korea and the United States to strengthen the enforcement of extended deterrence by regularly dispatching US strategic assets.
Kurt Campbell, the Indo-Pacific coordinator of the US National Security Council who is visiting South Korea, said on the 18th that "this is the first time that a US nuclear strategic submarine has docked at the port of Busan in decades, and with the establishment of the US-ROK Nuclear Reference Group (NCG), cross-agency cooperation and efforts will be carried out for a long time." "We believe that it is important to reflect the relevant will and commitment of the United States."
According to Yonhap News Agency, the South Korean military said on July 19 that the South Korean military detected that at 3 a.m. that day, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles into the eastern waters of the Korean Peninsula in the area of Sunan, and the missiles flew about 550 kilometers before falling into the Sea of Japan. Analysts believe that the distance from Shun An to the Busan operational base is about 550 kilometers, and the missile launch is highly targeted and warning.
North Korea test-fired the Mars Cannon-18 solid intercontinental missile for the second time.
On July 22, the South Korean military released information that in the early morning of the 22nd, North Korea launched a number of cruise missiles into the western waters of the Korean Peninsula. This is the third missile launch activity of the DPRK this month, and the DPRK test-fired the new Hwasong Cannon-18 solid intercontinental missile on July 12; the day after the DPRK launched the intercontinental missile, the US B-52H strategic bomber appeared on the Korean Peninsula for a joint exercise with the ROK Air Force; and on July 16, the US-Japan-ROK "Aegis" warships held a joint anti-missile exercise in the Sea of Japan.
Li Jiacheng analyzed that since the Biden administration took office, the two sides have basically zero contact, and the recent extension of nuclear deterrence around the United States and South Korea and the docking of strategic nuclear submarines in South Korea, North Korea reacted strongly, the confrontation between the two sides at the military level was very fierce, the relations between North Korea and the United States and South Korea were more tense, and there was no better atmosphere for handling cross-border incidents.
Li Chunfu, deputy director of the Center for Asian Studies at Nankai University, told The Paper that the United States is the party in a hurry about the border crossing of US soldiers, and North Korea does not need to be in a hurry, it can temporarily deal with it coldly and wait and see the changes. "If the United States wants to bring back soldiers who have crossed the border from North Korea, it has to contact North Korea, which is an opportunity for dialogue and engagement between the DPRK and the United States, and the subsequent development of the situation deserves attention." Li Chunfu added.
Lee said the incident was an "accident" under the tense situation on the Korean Peninsula, and North Korea had two possibilities to deal with the matter: one was to return American soldiers in a relatively short period of time, and the other was to use it as a bargaining chip in a long-term game between North Korea and the United States.
The crossing of U.S. soldiers into North Korea is likely to be a crisis for the Biden administration. The analysis believes that the Biden administration will face more pressure and spend its efforts to release American soldiers. According to precedent, the United States should send high-level officials to North Korea to negotiate, but whether American officials can meet American soldiers and visit North Korea involves a complex series of diplomacy.
Li Jiacheng believes that the cross-border incident of US soldiers has unexpectedly caused the DPRK and the United States to start dialogue and contact, but the DPRK and the United States are currently seriously disengaged on some major core issues, and even if the contact dialogue is likely to revolve around the cross-border incident of US soldiers, it is difficult to guarantee that the dialogue will continue and expand to the level of resolving DPRK-US contradictions.
If Travis Kim seeks political asylum in North Korea and stays in North Korea, the border crossing may be protracted, after US soldiers crossed the border to North Korea, and then worked and lived in North Korea for a long time, and even crossed the border soldiers in North Korea to get married and have children who joined the North Korean army.
Background: 6 U.S. soldiers who defected to North Korea
According to public information, from the armistice of the Korean War in 1953 to the end of the Cold War, six American soldiers defected to North Korea, the last time in 1982, and all six American soldiers who defected to North Korea have died.
Narari Ebbushel (1962)
The first American soldier to cross the border to North Korea was Larry Allen Abshier of Illinois. On May 28, 1962, 19-year-old Aibusher quietly left the South Korean garrison base and crossed the demilitarized zone into North Korea.
Mr. Abusher had two marriages, the former wife was North Korean, and the later was reportedly from Thailand, with whom neither had children. Mr. Abushel died of a heart attack on July 11, 1983, at the age of 40, and the North Korean government hosted the funeral.
James Joseph Dressnock (1962)
Three months after Larry Ebushel defected to North Korea, Private James Joseph Dresnok also defected to North Korea, becoming the second American soldier to defect to North Korea. He said, "Even if you put $1 billion in gold on the table, I don't want to leave North Korea." "Well known.
Dressnock's later British-based documentary, Crossing the Border, tells how he crossed a minefield into North Korea and describes how he lived in isolation for years with Charles Robert Jenkins and two other American soldiers who defected to North Korea, Larry Allen Ebble and Jerry Wayne Parrish. The four soldiers were finally given independent apartments in 1972 and were granted North Korean citizenship. Dressnock later taught English at the university and translated articles for the North Korean side. Dressnock later played the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff in the North Korean film "Showdown", which depicted the 1968 "Pueblo incident", and had a certain reputation in North Korea.
Dressnock married twice in North Korea and gave birth to three sons. In 2016, Dresnock, known as "North Korea's last living American deserter," died in Pyongyang at the age of 74.
Jerry Wayne Parrish (1963)
Jerry Wayne Parrish of Kentucky crossed the border to North Korea in December 1963. Before Jenkins appeared in 1965, little was known about Parrish's experience in North Korea. As for Parrish's motives for fleeing, Jenkins describes in his book, "He did not elaborate on these reasons, except that his father-in-law would have killed him if he had returned home." For his part, Dressnock said in his documentary that Parrish received death threats from his stepfather, who accused him of having sex with his stepsister.
Parrish later married Siham Shraiteh, a Lebanese woman, and had three sons. On August 25, 1998, Parrish died of kidney disease. Siham and their children remain in North Korea.
Charles Robert Jenkins (1964)
Charles Robert Jenkins was the more famous of the six U.S. soldiers who defected to North Korea. In 1964, Jenkins left the group on a routine patrol on the grounds of "observing unusual sounds ahead" and never returned. A two-week later, North Korea announced Jenkins' "surrender," and Jenkins announced on a North Korean propaganda radio that he had found his "Shangri-La" in North Korea.
In 1980, Jenkins starred as a U.S. military officer in the North Korean War-related film "Unsung Heroes". Jenkins also taught English at the University of Chinese outside Pyongyang, and in the same year Jenkins married Hitomi Tseng, a Japanese woman who was "kidnapped" to North Korea, and had two daughters.
In 2002, five kidnapped Japanese, including Hitomi Tseng, were able to return to Japan, but Jenkins and his two daughters remained in North Korea. In July 2004, Jenkins and his daughter left North Korea to reunite with Hitomi Tseng in Indonesia and then went to Japan for medical treatment.
In September of the same year, Jenkins turned himself in at the U.S. military base in Japan, pleading guilty in exchange for being demoted to private , dismissed from the military, and given a light punishment of 30 days in prison. Later, Jenkins' family settled in Niigata Prefecture, the hometown of Hitomi Zeng. Jenkins died in 2017 at the age of 77.
Roy Zheng (1979)
Roy Chung, a Korean-American soldier serving in the U.S. military, immigrated to the United States from South Korea with his family in 1973. On June 5, 1979, 22-year-old Zheng Roy disappeared while serving with troops near Bayreuth, West Germany, and was reported to have left the army without permission. After 30 days, he was listed as a deserter.
Three months later, North Korea's Pyongyang radio station (now Voice of Korea) announced that he had surrendered, saying he "could no longer bear the shameful life of national humiliation and abuse among the US imperialist aggressors." The Pentagon and the State Department insist that this may be true, that they have no reason to doubt North Korea's claims and will not conduct a major investigation into the matter because Mr. Jung has no access to classified information and does not pose a security threat.
Joseph S. T. White (1982)
Joseph T White was the last American soldier to defect to North Korea during the Cold War. At around 2 a.m. on August 28, 1982, he shot and destroyed a gate leading to the North Korean demilitarized zone, walked past the demilitarized zone from a post near Kaesong, and shouted "I'm coming" to North Korea, which was about to become a new friend.
North Korean authorities rejected a request by a representative of the United Nations Command to meet with White and ask him why he had defected. North Korean authorities later released a video of White in which he denounced the U.S. for "corruption, crime, immorality, weakness and hedonism" and confirmed that his defection was meant to show "how unreasonable it is for the United States to send troops to South Korea."
Jenkins wrote in his memoirs that he had only seen White at a press conference shortly after the government announced his defection. According to Jenkins' government paramedics, White was paralyzed by some kind of seizure. Jenkins hasn't heard from him since.