Amid rising tensions between the US and North Korea, an American citizen has crossed the heavily fortified border from South Korea into the “world of supreme leader Kim Jong-un”. According to the US-led United Nations Command overseeing the region, the civilian was visiting the Korean border village of Panmunjom and crossed the border to the north without permission. He is currently in custody. The UN Command confirmed that it is working with its North Korean counterparts to resolve the incident.
It gave no further details about who the person was or why he crossed the border.
Cases of Americans or South Koreans fleeing to North Korea are rare, although more than 30,000 North Koreans have fled domestic political persecution and economic hardship to South Korea since the end of the 1950–53 Korean War.
There have been occasional incidents of bloodshed and shootings in Panmunjom.
Panmunjom, located inside a 248-kilometre (154 mi) long demilitarized zone, was built at the end of the Korean War. There has occasionally been bloodshed and shootings, but it has also been the site of many negotiations and a popular tourist destination.
The area is jointly administered by the United Nations Command and North Korea. No civilian lives in Panmunjom.
In November 2017, North Korean soldiers fired 40 rounds as one of their comrades was running to freedom. The soldier was struck five times before being found under a pile of leaves on the southern edge of Panmunjom. He survived and is now in South Korea.
An American soldier once crossed into South Korea during the Cold War.
A small number of American servicemen fled to North Korea during the Cold War, including Charles Jenkins, who left his army post in South Korea and fled across the DMZ in 1965. He appeared in North Korean propaganda films and married a Japanese nursing student who was abducted by North Korean agents. He died in Japan in 2017.
In recent years, some Americans have been arrested in North Korea after allegedly entering the country from China. They were later convicted of espionage and other anti-state acts, but were often released after the US sent high-profile missions to secure their freedom.
In 2018, North Korea released the last three known American detainees as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un engaged in nuclear diplomacy with then-President Donald Trump. High-level diplomacy collapsed in 2019 amid wrangling over US-led sanctions on North Korea.
(with inputs from the agency)