US Army soldier reportedly flees to North Korea
A US Army soldier has reportedly fled from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to North Korea.
Local media reported on Tuesday that the United Nations Command, a military force that operates in the DMZ and Joint Security Area (JSA) dividing the Korean Peninsula, announced that a US national had crossed the border.
“A US National on a JSA orientation tour crossed, without authorization, the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK),” the UN Command tweeted. “We believe he is currently in DPRK custody.”
The man is a private in the US Army, South Korea’s Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported.
The Washington Post cited anonymous government sources reporting that the man who fled is a US Army soldier.
The man was recently scheduled to get on a flight to the US, but he never boarded the plane, one of the sources told the newspaper, adding, “This was a deliberate decision on the part of the service member to cross.”
The US military is determining the fleeing soldier's whereabouts and his condition, reports said.
An eyewitness on the same JSA orientation tour saw a male member of her group run across the border as they visited the Joint Security Area, NK News reported.
“To our right, we hear a loud HA-HA-HA and one guy from OUR GROUP that has been with us all day- runs in between two of the buildings and over to the other side!!” Mikaela Johansson of Sweden wrote.
“It took everybody a second to react and grasp what had actually happened, then we were ordered into and through Freedom House and running back to our military bus.” Johansson had reportedly said that the visitors to the JSA were advised by authorities not to share images of the incident.
The JSA, also known as the “Truce Village,” is the border village inside the DMZ where soldiers from the North and South stand facing the opposite side.
The DMZ is also the place where diplomatic negotiations between the two sides' representatives take place.
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