Travis King: North Korea ‘not responding’ to US over soldier who illegally crossed border
US officials have attempted to contact North Korean counterparts over an American soldier who bolted across the border from South Korea – but say they are yet to hear back from Pyongyang.
Private Second Class Travis T King was on a tour of the Joint Security Area (JSA), on the border of the village of Panmunjom, when he suddenly made a dash between the iconic blue buildings and crossed into the secretive country.
The 23-year-old was reportedly facing disciplinary action by the US military at the time. He was also said to have been struggling with the death of his young cousin, according to US media reports.
King is being held by officials in North Korea – the first American to be held in the authoritarian state in nearly five years.
Speaking in Japan, US special envoy for North Korea, Sung Kim, said the United States was “working very hard” to determine King’s status and well-being.
South Korean soldiers at the Joint Security Area in the border village of Panmunjom
He also said the US was actively working to ensure King’s return, however, did not provide any further details.
His comments come after State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a briefing the Pentagon had “reached out” to counterparts in North Korea’s Korean People’s Army about King.
“My understanding is that those communications have not yet been answered,” he said.
North Korea’s state media – which in the past reported on the detention of US nationals – has also not commented on the incident so far.
‘I thought it was a TikTok stunt’
It comes after a tourist who saw King run across the North Korean border said she first thought it was part of a TikTok stunt.
Sarah Leslie, from New Zealand, was in the same tour group as the soldier.
She said he left the group as their walk around the JSA of the 160-mile demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea was coming to an end.
“We had spent the morning looking at various things in the DMZ and in the afternoon we went into the JSA and were given a tour of the setup in that area, which is where North Korea and South Korea have held meetings,” she told Sky News.
“There’s a number of buildings that straddle the boundary – they are painted bright blue. We had a look around those buildings.
“Then we had left and we were sort of hanging around on the tarmac between those buildings and a larger building on the South Korean side.
“People weren’t really doing much, just taking photos and talking and that kind of thing. I noticed some guy running very, very fast towards the North Korean side.
“I thought it was some kind of stupid stunt that he was doing for TikTok or something like that. I thought that was an incredibly stupid thing to do in a place like that.
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“He just didn’t slow down and didn’t stop. There were soldiers who had been supervising us – they yelled.
She continued: “They chased him, but he was going so fast and he was so close to the border that they couldn’t catch him.”
Ms Leslie said the soldier had behaved normally during the tour and had bought a hat at a souvenir shop nearby.
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Tourist witnessed man run into N Korea
“I noticed that he seemed to be by himself, but there were a couple of other people who were by themselves as well. Most people were family, and friends, in a group.
“I did overhear someone else say that they sat near him or with him and he was very quiet,” she said.
Ms Leslie said she did not know if King was a late addition to the tour but that she had to provide passport details four days beforehand.
‘I just want him home’
King’s mother told ABC News that she was shocked to hear her son was in North Korea and says she just “wants her son to come home“.
His uncle, Carl Gates, said that King had been in a negative state of mind since his 6-year-old cousin died of a rare and untreatable genetic disorder and that he acted out as a result.
Another uncle described King’s actions as “out of his character”.
The North Korean border
“Something’s going on. This is not his personality,” he told US media.
“He’s still grieving, and that had a lot to do with what he did.”
King bolted into North Korea a day after he was supposed to travel to a base in the US.
He was scheduled to return to Fort Bliss, Texas, where he could have faced additional military discipline and discharge from the service.
He was escorted as far as customs but left the airport in South Korea before boarding his plane. It was not clear how he spent the hours until joining the tour and running across the border.
Assault charge
Reports in South Korea said he was released from prison there on 10 July after serving two months for assault.
Court documents show that in February, a court fined King five million in South Korean won (£3,065) after he was convicted of assaulting an unidentified person and damaging a police vehicle in Seoul last October.
The ruling said King had also been accused of punching a 23-year-old man at a Seoul nightclub, though the court dismissed that charge because the victim didn’t want King to be punished.
It was unclear for how long North Korean authorities would hold the soldier but analysts said the incident could be valuable propaganda for the isolated country.
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US serviceman ‘wilfully’ entered North Korea.
North Korea has remained silent about the detention of King.
The US bans its citizens from entering North Korea – the totalitarian state run by Kim Jong Un where millions live in hunger and poverty.
On Wednesday, North Korea test-fired two ballistic missiles into the sea in an apparent protest of the deployment of a US nuclear-armed submarine in South Korea for the first time in decades.
Donald Trump could meet Vladimir Putin in person as early as next week to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine, a White House official has said.
They said the meeting would be conditional on the Russian president meeting his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sky News’s US partner network NBC News reported.
It came days before the White House’s deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukraine or face severe economic penalties, which could also target countries buying its oil.
Asked during a news conference at the White House if the talks would take place, Mr Trump said: “There’s a very good prospect that they will.”
He said it had not been determined where the talks would take place, but added: “We had some very good talks with President Putin today.”
However, he said: “I’ve been disappointed before with this one.”
Asked if Mr Putin made any kind of concession to lead to the development, Mr Trump did not give much away, but added: “We’ve been working on this a long time. There are thousands of young people dying, mostly soldiers, but also, you know, missiles being hit into Kyiv and other places.”
More tariffs ‘could happen’
Mr Trump also said he could announce further tariffs on China similar to the 25% he announced on India over its purchases of Russian oil.
“Could happen,” he said, after saying he expected to announce more secondary sanctions intended to pressure Russia into ending its war with Ukraine.
Earlier, he imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods, on top of a previous 25% tariff, over its continued purchases of Russian oil.
India’s foreign ministry spokesperson said the additional tariffs were “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.
Vladimir Putin welcomes Steve Witkoff during a meeting in Moscow. Pic: Sputnik/Reuters
It came after Mr Putin held talks with Mr Trump‘s special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, with the meeting lasting around three hours.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said Mr Witkoff “had a highly productive meeting” with Mr Putin in which “great progress was made”.
He said he had updated America’s European allies, and they will work towards an end to the Russia-Ukraine war “in the days and weeks to come”.
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Correspondents in Washington and Moscow break down a busy day of diplomacy
‘The war must end’
Mr Zelenskyy later said he and Mr Trump spoke on the phone after the meeting. He said “European leaders also participated in the conversation” and “we discussed what was said in Moscow”.
He added: “Our common position with our partners is absolutely clear: The war must end. We all need lasting and reliable peace. Russia must end the war that it started.”
Mr Zelenskyy later said: “It seems that Russia is now more inclined to agree to a ceasefire.”
He added that the pressure on Moscow “is working”, without elaborating, and stressed it was important to make sure Russia does not “deceive us or the United States” when it comes to “the details” of a potential agreement.
America’s vaccine-sceptic health secretary has announced $500m (£375.8m) worth of cuts to their development in the country.
The US health department is cancelling contracts and pulling funding for jabs to fight viruses like COVID-19 and the flu, it was announced on Tuesday.
Robert F Kennedy Jr, known as RFK Jr, said 22 projects developing mRNA vaccines will be halted. It is the latest in a series of decisions to reduce US vaccine programmes.
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The health secretary has fired the panel that makes vaccine recommendations, reduced recommendations for COVID-19 shots, and refused to endorse vaccines despite a worsening measles outbreak.
RFK Jr claims the US will now prioritise “safer, broader vaccine strategies, like whole-virus vaccines and novel platforms that don’t collapse when viruses mutate”.
Responding to the announcement of cuts, Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota expert on infectious diseases and pandemic preparations, said: “I don’t think I’ve seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business.”
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Dr Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said RFK Jr’s move was short-sighted and that mRNA vaccines “certainly saved millions of lives”, including during the pandemic.
MRNA vaccines work by delivering a snippet of genetic code into the body that triggers an immune response, rather than introducing a real version of the virus.
According to the UK Health Security Agency, the “leading advantage of mRNA vaccines is that they can be designed and produced more quickly than traditional vaccines”.
Moderna, which was studying a combo mRNA shot that can tackle COVID and flu for the US health department, previously said it believed mRNA could speed up production of flu jabs compared with traditional vaccines.
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A COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic. File pic: PA
Scientists are also exploring how mRNA could be used in cancer immunotherapies and in other illnesses.
At the White House earlier this year, billionaire tech entrepreneur Larry Ellison praised mRNA for its potential to treat cancer.
RFK Jr touts ‘effective’ alternative
The health department said the abandoned mRNA projects signal a “shift in vaccine development priorities.”
“Let me be absolutely clear, HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them,” Mr Kennedy said in a statement.
Later, he said work is underway on an alternative – a “universal vaccine” that mimics “natural immunity”.
“It could be effective – we believe it’s going to be effective – against not only coronaviruses, but also flu,” he said.
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