North Korea isn’t taking the United States’ call regarding the American soldier who fled to the isolated country earlier this week, keeping Washington in the dark about his location or well-being.
Travis King, a Private 2nd Class in the Army, is believed to be in North Korean custody after it was revealed he “willfully” crossed into the country earlier this week, reportedly sprinting from a tour on the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone.
“We don’t know where he is,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said during a briefing with reporters. “We don’t know the conditions in which he’s living in right now.”
“We’re still doing everything we can to try to find out his whereabouts, his well-being and condition and making it clear that we want to see him safely and quickly returned to the United States,” Kirby continued.
Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh later told reporters that the whereabouts of King are unknown, as North Korea hasn’t responded to U.S. outreach.
“Unfortunately, no, we have not heard any communication or correspondence from the North Koreans on this incident,” she said.
“We want to bring him home. We don’t know his condition, we don’t know where he’s being held, we don’t know the status of his health, but we are working with the interagency through the DOD, through the [National Security Council] and State, really pulling all levers of government here to try and find out more,” Singh added.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Thursday that King’s case is “an extremely high priority” and messages have been relayed to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the formal name for the North Korean government.
Miller also said officials are “confident that we have the ability to send them messages,” referring to Pyongyang.
The Pentagon has identified King as a junior enlisted soldier who was the recipient of a handful of awards but also confirmed that he was the subject of disciplinary action, and his fleeing into North Korea occurred as he was supposed to be heading back to the U.S. to face charges.
American military police reportedly accompanied King to an airport in South Korea and watched him pass through customs before he texted his handlers that he was at the gate and preparing to board.
But instead, King booked a ticket to a South Korean tour to the demilitarized zone with North Korea, joining it from the airport. The area, known as the Joint Security Area (JSA), is one of the only places to have an opening into North Korea along the nearly 160-mile, fortified border between the two countries, which technically remain at war.
King was leaving his deployment after he had “faced consequences in Korea” and served time in a correctional facility and was also “facing additional administrative action,” back stateside, according to Singh.
She added that the Army has launched an investigation into how King was able to slip across borders, with Army counterintelligence personnel leading the effort in coordination with U.S. Forces Korea.