Silence from North Korea on US Soldier Crossing Military Border

(AmericanProsperity.com) – US officials said on July 20 that the North Korean regime has remained silent about the American soldier that entered the country after dashing across its border. These officials explained that while Washington has been sending messages to Pyongyang about Private Travis King, it has received no answer.

During a press conference in Japan, US special envoy for North Korea Sung Kim noted that the White House is working “very hard” to know about King’s status. Without providing any detail, he added that the Biden administration is “actively engaged” in guaranteeing King’s safety and return to the United States.

Before Kim’s remarks in Japan, the State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said during a briefing that the Pentagon had already “reached out” to North Korean officials. He told reporters that while the Pentagon has been communicating with the North Korean military about King, these communications “have not yet been answered.”

King’s incident takes place in a moment of heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula after Pyongyang pressed on with ballistic missile tests. Different reports revealed that North Korean officials timed the latest test on the same day that a US nuclear-armed missile submarine will arrive in South Korea.

The 23-year-old 2nd class private was on a civilian tour on July 18 when he decided to cross the heavily-fortified Military Demarcation Line that separates the two countries. He was recently released from a South Korean jail after a physical altercation with locals and spent a week at an American base under observation.

According to a Fox News report, a senior defense official said that King was telling other inmates during his time in jail that he didn’t want to come back to America. This person told the network that many in the US military believe that King is now in the custody of North Korean authorities.

Another defense official told Fox News that King was supposed to take a flight back to the United States after being released from jail. However, he left the airport right before the flight took off and when to the orientation tour dressed as a civilian.