North Korea: American arrested after crossing border during visit

An American crossed the border into North Korea while visiting the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates it from its southern neighbor and was apparently arrested, the UN said on Tuesday.

“An American citizen arbitrarily crossed the demarcation line” with North Korea while visiting the “common security zone” – a sector of the demilitarized zone transferred to UN control, the UN command post said.

“We believe that he is currently in the custody of the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) and we are working with our colleagues at APC (Korean People’s Army) to resolve this incident,” the same source said.

There would be a soldier

“Panmonjeom is the most likely place this American has chosen to cross into North Korea, as it is the only possible place to escape while visiting the joint security zone,” Choi told AFP. University.

According to the South Korean television channel SBS, the man who crossed the border is a member of the US army. The South Korean Ministry of Defense, contacted by AFP, declined to comment.

North Korea closed its borders at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and has yet to reopen them. Its security presence on its side of the border in the “common security zone” has also been significantly reduced.

When AFP visited the Joint Security Zone earlier this year, there were no North Korean guards in sight, but even in this configuration, according to the ceasefire protocols, South Korean personnel or Americans cannot cross the border to pick up an American citizen.

Steve Tharp, a retired US Army lieutenant colonel who worked in the area, told the Seoul-based news site NK News that he had no idea how the North Koreans would react to the incident. , he stressed.

Trump and Kim Jong Un’s historic meeting

Hundreds of tourists visit the “Common Security Zone” located inside the demilitarized zone that separated the two Koreas for almost 70 years, every day as part of organized tours.

It was in this area that Donald Trump met with Kim Jong-un, his North Korean counterpart. The two men shook hands, after which the US President left for North Korea. It was the first time a US head of state set foot in the country.

Sometimes North Korean soldiers try to leave the territory. In 2017, one of them was seriously injured, and his desertion led to the replacement of all border guards. On January 1, 2022, something rarer, a man crossed the over-fortified border from the south.

The Korean War (1950-1953), which ended in a truce rather than a peace agreement, the two neighbors are technically still at war.