Explore More
North Korea has for the first time “responded” to efforts to discuss US Army defector Travis King, more than two weeks after he dashed across the border during a guided tour of the demilitarized zone.
“KPA has responded to the United Nations Command with regards to PV2 King,” the United Nations Command said, using acronyms for the North Korean army and the still-missing soldier’s rank as a private
“In order not to interfere with our efforts to get him home, we will not go into details at this time,” the multinational military force added.
Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the Hermit Kingdom only acknowledged the UN Command’s request for information about King but stopped short of offering details about him.
“I can confirm that the [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] has responded to United Nations Command, but I don’t have any substantial progress to read out,” Ryder told reporters.
When pressed, he said Pyongyang’s short message was just “an acknowledgment” of the UN Command’s inquiry.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that while North Korea had “finally” responded, the US still effectively knows nothing new.
“I wish we did know more,” Blinken told “Good Morning America.”
“We’re actually trying to learn more about his whereabouts and his well-being, and we simply don’t have that information,” he said.
“We’re trying by every means possible just to get that basic information and then to see about bringing him home.”
Still, the development “reads as a sign of North’s willingness to negotiate,” according to Vladimir Tikhonov, professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo.
“They basically want some progress toward normalization with the US, in order to offset the disproportionally high dependency on the Chinese economy,” Tikhonov told Agence France-Presse.
“So, a goodwill gesture may happen — although it is far from sure for now,” Tikhonov added.
The 23-year-old soldier — who served as a cavalry scout with the Korean Rotational Force — sprinted across the border with South Korea on July 18 while on a tour of the demilitarized zone.
The troubled private faced two allegations of assault in South Korea, eventually pleading guilty to one case of assault and destroying public property for damaging a police car during a profanity-laced tirade.
King served a sentence of hard labor at the Cheonan correctional facility from May 24 to July 10 in lieu of paying a fine, according to the Yonhap news service.
He then stayed at an American base in South Korea for a week, Yonhap reported.
US officials said he had been due to face military disciplinary action on his return home to Fort Bliss, Texas.
King’s family has begged American officials to “fight” for his safe return.
“When he went to the Army to fight for America, America should fight for him, fight for him to come home,” his uncle Myron Gates said last month.
With Post wires
ncG1vNJzZmimqaW8tMCNnKamZ2Jlf3R7j3FmaWtfo7yzwMdmoqiqlZZ6p7XNmqOlsV2nsrS8zqebrGWfq7KzecCrpLJllJqzpq%2FTqKlmrKKWw6q%2FjKSgp59f