Two months after illegally crossing the border from South Korea to North Korea, the 23-year-old would be returning to the USA, after brief stops in China and South Korea.
Two months after illegally crossing the border between South Korea and North Korea, an American soldier managed to leave the strictly isolated country again. Travis K. is returning to the U.S. after brief stops in China and South Korea, the U.S. State Department announced Wednesday. The 23-year-old was in good health and looking forward to seeing his family again, U.S. officials said earlier.
According to American security sources, there were no agreements or concessions to North Korea. The US State Department thanked Sweden for diplomatic assistance and China for transit assistance in freeing the attacked soldier. There were no details Wednesday about how he was treated after his arrest in North Korea.
The communist leadership in Pyongyang had already announced that the authorities had decided to expel Travis K. The investigation into his case has been completed. The American soldier confessed that he “illegally entered the territory of the People’s Republic”.
According to US forces in South Korea, the soldier took part in a commercial trip along the South Korean part of the demilitarized zone between the two countries in July and then deliberately crossed the border. Since his disappearance, the Travis K. case has been a mystery. Nothing is known about his motives to this day, and no new information about the man’s motives was given Wednesday.
North Korea for alleged reasons
North Korea first commented on the soldier’s whereabouts last month. As was the case then, it was now said that Travis K. complained during interrogations about “inhumane treatment and racial discrimination in the US Army” and therefore decided to cross the border. He was disillusioned because of “unequal American society.”
North Korea’s account of the man’s alleged motives could not be independently verified. The leadership of the communist state itself is criticized for draconically restricting freedoms and denying the people, who largely live in poverty, much of what is necessary for a human life in freedom.
For a long time, the US did not have direct access to Travis K. The two countries do not maintain diplomatic relations. That’s why Sweden established initial contacts, the US said on Wednesday. North Korea, which is largely isolated internationally mainly due to its nuclear weapons program, has accused the United States of hostile policies for decades.
According to the US Department of Defense, the soldier should have returned home before crossing the border. In South Korea, he spent a period of time in a detention center for a crime.
The US has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea. In recent decades, Americans have repeatedly crossed the heavily fortified and monitored border with North Korea without permission. There they were usually sentenced to several years in prison and were only released after long negotiations. (APA/dpa)