The US soldier who was detained in North Korea after speeding across the border was photographed moments before the madness enjoying a tour of the ultra-high security area.
Private 2nd Class Travis King, 23, is seen wearing a black T-shirt and hat bought from a gift shop in the demilitarized zone as he looks across the border into the secretive communist country.
Witnesses said he laughed hysterically when he did the mad dash on Tuesday after running from his military superiors and joining the tour. The image came to light when it emerged that King had a series of confrontations with police in South Korea over offenses including beating up a man at a nightclub and damaging a police car.
Fears for King’s well-being grew Wednesday morning as North Korea had yet to produce the soldier or acknowledge his arrest. Unconfirmed reports have said King ‘defected’ and his mother spoke Tuesday night to say she couldn’t imagine her son doing ‘something like that’.
Court documents reveal that months earlier, King had faced two counts of assault and was fined by a South Korean court for damaging a police car.
US Army Private 2nd Class Travis King, circled, is pictured during the tour moments before crossing the border into North Korea. His hat was bought at a gift shop in the DMZ.
Travis King crossed into North Korea shortly after his release from prison in South Korea.
North Korea has yet to produce the 23-year-old private second class or acknowledge his arrest.
He had served two months in prison for assault before his release in July and had been escorted to an airport by US Army officers to return home for military disciplinary proceedings. But after being dropped off at airport security, King left the terminal and continued on with the tour.
The US military was struggling to establish the fate of King, whose actions have led Washington into a new crisis in its dealings with the nuclear-armed state. US officials said Tuesday that King crossed “deliberately and without authorization.”
His motive for his high-risk tactic remains unclear.
The tourist who witnessed the King crossing and took the photo of the soldier, Sarah Leslie from New Zealand, said she initially believed it was a trick “for TikTok.”
Leslie and her father, tourists from New Zealand, were part of a group that left Seoul on Tuesday morning to visit the Demilitarized Zone that divides South and North Korea.
King was among the group of 43 tourists, though he was dressed casually in jeans and a black T-shirt and at the time she had no idea he was a soldier or in legal trouble.
Leslie said her tour group went a step further than many by visiting the Joint Security Area in Panmunjom village, allowing the tourists to effectively step on North Korean soil inside one of the buildings, which are jointly owned.
To participate in such a tour, he said, required presenting their passports and obtaining permits in advance.
The group left Seoul by bus early in the morning, and Leslie noticed that King was traveling alone and didn’t seem to talk to the others on the tour. At one point, she said, she bought a DMZ hat at a gift shop.
The tour was coming to a close on Tuesday afternoon, the group had just left the building and were hanging around taking photos, when he saw King running “very fast.”
“Initially I assumed that he had a partner filming him in some kind of really stupid prank or trick, like a TikTok, the stupidest thing you could do,” Leslie said. “But then I heard one of the soldiers yell, ‘Get that guy.'”
Leslie said the command was shouted by a US soldier, one of a group patrolling the area along with South Korean troops.
A tourist who witnessed King’s hack, Sarah Leslie of New Zealand, said she initially believed it was a hack “for TikTok.”
Former President Donald Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, on June 30, 2019, the site where King made his crossing.
King crossed the border at Panmunjom, during a tour of the Joint Security Area of the Demilitarized Zone.
But the soldiers did not have time to respond. She said that after running about 30 feet (10 meters) through a narrow passage between the distinctive blue buildings, King crossed the border and then disappeared from sight. It was all over in a few seconds.
Leslie said she didn’t see anyone on the North Korean side. The tour group had previously been told the North Koreans had been in hiding since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After King ran, he said, the soldiers pushed all the tourists into a building and then took them to an information center to give statements. He said many of the tourists, including his father, had not seen King run, but a soldier explained the facts to them.
“People really couldn’t believe what had happened,” Leslie said.
‘Many were really shocked. Once we got on the bus and got out of there, we were all looking at each other.
King’s mother, Claudine Gates, said last night she was “so proud” of her son, adding: “I just want him to come home, to come back to America.”
Gates, from Racine, Wisconsin, said, “I don’t see Travis doing anything like that.”
King’s mother, Claudine Gates, just wants her son to return home to Wisconsin (pictured)
At a Pentagon news conference on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that the US service member was now likely in North Korean custody.
The border between North and South Korea is heavily guarded.
Court records show King pleaded guilty to assault and destruction of public property stemming from an October incident, and was fined 5 million won ($4,000) by the Seoul Western District Court on February 8, according to a copy of the ruling reviewed by Reuters.
Two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the soldier should face disciplinary action from the US military. It’s not clear if the disciplinary action was related to your conviction for damaging the police vehicle.
The Seoul court said on September 25 last year that King punched a man in the face multiple times at a club, but the case was settled.
Two weeks later, on October 8, police officers responded to a report of another altercation involving King and attempted to question him. He continued his ‘aggressive behavior’ without responding to police questions, according to the court document.
Police put him in the back seat of their patrol car where he yelled expletives and insults at Koreans, the Korean military and the Korean police, according to the ruling.
During his tirade, he kicked the door of the vehicle several times, causing around 584,000 won ($461) in damage, according to the ruling.
The court said the defendant admitted to the charges, had no criminal record, and paid 1 million won ($790) to repair the vehicle, citing reasons in his favor in the judgment.
