US troop incursion into North Korea focuses on weak points along the border

For much of the border at the 38th parallel, the two Koreas are divided by a vast no-man’s-land filled with barricades, anti-tank barriers and millions of landmines.

But nothing separates the two warring sides at the “Joint Security Area” in the village of Panmunjom, where the armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War was signed in 1953. For some people, this can make it a source of temptation.

Jaco Zwetzloot, a former border zone tour guide for US troops stationed in South Korea, said many visitors to the JSA profess a strange desire to step into the isolated dictatorship ruled by Kim Jong Un’s family for the past 75 years Is.

“For some people, it is simply the seduction of the forbidden,” Zwetsloot said. “To others, it’s the absurdity of the situation.”

While only a handful have succumbed to the temptation, the ease of border crossing was dramatically demonstrated this week when US Army Private Travis King suddenly crossed the border.

King’s flight added a potential complication to rising tensions between Pyongyang and Washington and Seoul. It also sparked intense international speculation about the motivations of the 23-year-old soldier from Wisconsin and how he could have been allowed to walk over the border in the first place.

According to US officials, King was escorted by US troops to a security control at Seoul’s Incheon International Airport on Monday afternoon.

After serving a sentence in South Korea for assault and criminal damage, King was scheduled to go to Dallas for military disciplinary proceedings. Instead, he found his way through security and back into Seoul. The next day, he got into a coach for a pre-booked tour of the border’s demilitarized zone, or DMZ.

The tour included entry into the JSA at Panmunjom, where tour groups are closely supervised by unarmed American and South Korean soldiers serving under United Nations command.

According to an eyewitness, Raja suddenly collapsed on the gravel and concrete slabs marking the boundary.,

“To our right, we hear loud ha-ha-ha and a guy from our group who’s been with us all day runs between two buildings to the other side!!” tour group member Mikaela Johansson wrote on Facebook.

Steve Tharp, a retired US Army lieutenant colonel who served in the JSA, said it was plausible that a fit young soldier could make it through before the UN Command troops could respond.

Although the exact terms of their engagement are classified, he said it was unlikely that American or South Korean troops were authorized to pursue anyone into North Korean territory.

King is still in the custody of North Korean officials, who have not commented on the episode. The reasons for their actions remain unclear.

US Army Secretary Christine Wermuth said on Thursday that Washington had been unable to contact North Korean officials about the matter.

Wermuth confirmed that King was facing military discipline. “I’m sure he was struggling with it. , , We obviously don’t know what was going through his mind,” he said, adding that he had no information to suggest that he had any ideological sympathies with Pyongyang.

Myron Gates, the private man’s uncle, told NBC News that King was grieving the death of a young cousin and that his actions were “out of character”.

It was not the first time a US soldier has crossed the inter-Korean border during an apparent personal crisis.

In 1962, Private Larry Abshier, who was under threat of disciplinary proceedings related to alleged drug use, crossed the DMZ. A few months later, he was joined by Private James Dresnock, who had been caught forging an officer’s signature for permission to leave his base.

Two other American soldiers defected in 1965: Corporal Jerry Parish and Charles Jenkins, a sergeant who wanted to avoid being sent to fight in Vietnam.

According to Jenkins’ memoir, American soldiers were forced to study the teachings of Kim Il Sung, the founding ruler of North Korea, for 10 hours a day. He was also paraded to the outside world as proof of the superiority of the political system of the North and played the role of a villain in a TV series, unsung heroesAbout a spy operating in Seoul.

Of the four, only Jenkins left North Korea alive. After marrying a Japanese abductee in 1980, she was allowed to return to Japan in 2004, where she died in 2017. Others died in Pyongyang.

Andrei Lankov, professor of history at Kookmin University in Seoul, said that King would probably be of little value to North Korea as an intelligence asset or propaganda tool.

Lankov said, “He is no longer interested in the external promotion of his ideology.”

North Korea has occasionally released American prisoners following visits by high-level American delegations to Pyongyang.

But Kim Jong Un has virtually sealed the country’s borders since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and appears to have no interest in engaging with the US on its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Lankov said, “(King) could be released soon, or alternatively they could hold him for years, even decades.” “It is certain that his own views on the subject are no longer relevant.”

The episode raises questions about public access to the JSA, which was created in 1953 as an area where personnel from both sides could move freely to facilitate negotiations for a full peace treaty.

The treaty was never agreed upon, but the territory was retained to maintain direct communication. The demarcation line within it was created following an incident in 1976 when two American soldiers were killed by their North Korean counterparts in a dispute over the felling of a poplar tree.

Zwetsloot, who now presents a podcast for Seoul-based news service NK News, said: “The very existence of the zone can lead people to make fun of it.

“Animals do not respect it – birds fly over it, insects walk over it, a stray cat may come back and forth – yet humans cannot cross it.”

Additional reporting by Felicia Schwartz in Aspen, Colorado

For much of the border at the 38th parallel, the two Koreas are divided by a vast no-man’s-land filled with barricades, anti-tank barriers and millions of landmines.

But nothing separates the two warring sides at the “Joint Security Area” in the village of Panmunjom, where the armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War was signed in 1953. For some people, this can make it a source of temptation.

Jaco Zwetzloot, a former border zone tour guide for US troops stationed in South Korea, said many visitors to the JSA profess a strange desire to step into the isolated dictatorship ruled by Kim Jong Un’s family for the past 75 years Is.

“For some people, it is simply the seduction of the forbidden,” Zwetsloot said. “To others, it’s the absurdity of the situation.”

While only a handful have succumbed to the temptation, the ease of border crossing was dramatically demonstrated this week when US Army Private Travis King suddenly crossed the border.

King’s flight added a potential complication to rising tensions between Pyongyang and Washington and Seoul. It also sparked intense international speculation about the motivations of the 23-year-old soldier from Wisconsin and how he could have been allowed to walk over the border in the first place.

According to US officials, King was escorted by US troops to a security control at Seoul’s Incheon International Airport on Monday afternoon.

After serving a sentence in South Korea for assault and criminal damage, King was scheduled to go to Dallas for military disciplinary proceedings. Instead, he found his way through security and back into Seoul. The next day, he got into a coach for a pre-booked tour of the border’s demilitarized zone, or DMZ.

The tour included entry into the JSA at Panmunjom, where tour groups are closely supervised by unarmed American and South Korean soldiers serving under United Nations command.

According to an eyewitness, Raja suddenly collapsed on the gravel and concrete slabs marking the boundary.,

“To our right, we hear loud ha-ha-ha and a guy from our group who’s been with us all day runs between two buildings to the other side!!” tour group member Mikaela Johansson wrote on Facebook.

Steve Tharp, a retired US Army lieutenant colonel who served in the JSA, said it was plausible that a fit young soldier could make it through before the UN Command troops could respond.

Although the exact terms of their engagement are classified, he said it was unlikely that American or South Korean troops were authorized to pursue anyone into North Korean territory.

King is still in the custody of North Korean officials, who have not commented on the episode. The reasons for their actions remain unclear.

US Army Secretary Christine Wermuth said on Thursday that Washington had been unable to contact North Korean officials about the matter.

Wermuth confirmed that King was facing military discipline. “I’m sure he was struggling with it. , , We obviously don’t know what was going through his mind,” he said, adding that he had no information to suggest that he had any ideological sympathies with Pyongyang.

Myron Gates, the private man’s uncle, told NBC News that King was grieving the death of a young cousin and that his actions were “out of character”.

It was not the first time a US soldier has crossed the inter-Korean border during an apparent personal crisis.

In 1962, Private Larry Abshier, who was under threat of disciplinary proceedings related to alleged drug use, crossed the DMZ. A few months later, he was joined by Private James Dresnock, who had been caught forging an officer’s signature for permission to leave his base.

Two other American soldiers defected in 1965: Corporal Jerry Parish and Charles Jenkins, a sergeant who wanted to avoid being sent to fight in Vietnam.

According to Jenkins’ memoir, American soldiers were forced to study the teachings of Kim Il Sung, the founding ruler of North Korea, for 10 hours a day. He was also paraded to the outside world as proof of the superiority of the political system of the North and played the role of a villain in a TV series, unsung heroesAbout a spy operating in Seoul.

Of the four, only Jenkins left North Korea alive. After marrying a Japanese abductee in 1980, she was allowed to return to Japan in 2004, where she died in 2017. Others died in Pyongyang.

Andrei Lankov, professor of history at Kookmin University in Seoul, said that King would probably be of little value to North Korea as an intelligence asset or propaganda tool.

Lankov said, “He is no longer interested in the external promotion of his ideology.”

North Korea has occasionally released American prisoners following visits by high-level American delegations to Pyongyang.

But Kim Jong Un has virtually sealed the country’s borders since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and appears to have no interest in engaging with the US on its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Lankov said, “(King) could be released soon, or alternatively they could hold him for years, even decades.” “It is certain that his own views on the subject are no longer relevant.”

The episode raises questions about public access to the JSA, which was created in 1953 as an area where personnel from both sides could move freely to facilitate negotiations for a full peace treaty.

The treaty was never agreed upon, but the territory was retained to maintain direct communication. The demarcation line within it was created following an incident in 1976 when two American soldiers were killed by their North Korean counterparts in a dispute over the felling of a poplar tree.

Zwetsloot, who now presents a podcast for Seoul-based news service NK News, said: “The very existence of the zone can lead people to make fun of it.

“Animals do not respect it – birds fly over it, insects walk over it, a stray cat may come back and forth – yet humans cannot cross it.”

Additional reporting by Felicia Schwartz in Aspen, Colorado