Here's What Happens When a U.S. Citizen Defects to North Korea

A U.S. soldier who crossed into North Korea on Tuesday is in "uncharted territory," an expert has told Newsweek, as Pyongyang remains silent on the fate of 23-year-old U.S. Army soldier Travis King.

On Tuesday, the U.N. Command, which provides support to the Republic of Korea, said a U.S. national on an "orientation tour" of the Joint Security Area of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) had crossed into North Korea "without authorization." He was later identified by U.S. officials as King, and the Pentagon said he had "willfully" stepped over the border.

Few concrete details have emerged around why Private King, a U.S. Army cavalry scout, broke away from a tour group. And although U.S. nationals have previously ended up in North Korean territory, this case presents several unknowns, according to one expert.

U.S. military personnel and other citizens entering North Korea in the past have received different treatment from Pyongyang's authorities, former U.S. Congressional staffer Matthew Abbott told Newsweek. But King is the first American to make the crossing since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which North Korea is still grappling with, Abbott added.

As a soldier, King "is likely being interrogated by the North Koreans in an attempt to determine what intelligence or propaganda value he may possess that may be useful to them," Abbott, a member of the National Committee on North Korea, said.

U.S. officials and the military have said they believe King is in North Korean custody. A Pentagon spokesperson said later Washington had reached out to North Korea, but "those communications have not yet been answered," the BBC reported on Thursday.

The U.S. State Department advises U.S. citizens not to travel to North Korea "due to the continuing serious risk of arrest and long-term detention of U.S. nationals," describing this as a "critical threat."

"I'm absolutely foremost concerned about the welfare of our troop. We will remain focused on this, and this will develop in the next several days," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday.

At least five U.S. soldiers are known to have defected to North Korea in the seven decades since an armistice agreement was signed to end the Korean War, creating North and South Korea.

"These soldiers were allowed to remain in North Korea and most of them spent the remainder of their lives there," Abbott said.

Private Joseph White defected in August 1982 after he took aim at a border gate and shot the lock, crossing the DMZ and calling for help in Korean. Pyongyang offered their "warm protection" to White, according to South Korean newspaper, The Korea Times. His family, however, said he "did not cross that line" and said he would not have willingly defected. White then sent a letter to his parents saying he was teaching English and helping harvest crops, making no comment of how he came to defect.

In 1965, U.S. Army Sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins crossed the DMZ into North Korea out of what he later said was a desire to dodge combat duty in Vietnam and dangerous duty in South Korea, spurred on after drinking 10 beers. He spent nearly 40 years in North Korea before moving to Japan to join his wife and children in 2004. He died in 2017.

U.S. soldier James Joseph Dresnok defected to North Korea in 1962, and his sons confirmed his death in a state media broadcast in 2017. He "was in the arms of the republic and received only the love and care of the party until his passing at age 74," Dresnok's eldest son said at the time.

But it is not just U.S. military personnel who have ended up in Pyongyang-controlled territory over the years. American civilians have crossed the border illegally, Abbott said, with U.S. presidents intervening in a number of cases to secure their release.

Before King crossed the border on Tuesday, the last U.S. citizen known to have been detained in North Korea was Bruce Byron Lowrance, who passed from China into the secretive nation in October 2018.

The following month, North Korean media reported Lowrance would be deported after telling authorities he had entered the country under the "manipulation of the CIA."

"While Americans who have been held in North Korea have given different accounts of their treatment during their time in captivity, most have ultimately been released safely to return to the United States," Abbott said.

But this is not always the case. In 2016, U.S. college student Otto Warmbier was arrested in North Korea during a legal tourist visit to the country. He had been "curious about their culture," Warmbier's father told The Washington Post, adding that his son "wanted to meet the people of North Korea."

He was sentenced to 15 years' incarceration with hard labor in relation to charges over a propaganda poster that he was accused of trying to steal from his hotel. After being injured in unclear circumstances, Warmbier returned to the U.S. in June 2017 and died in a hospital less than a week later. A federal court in the U.S. found North Korea "liable for the torture, hostage taking, and extrajudicial killing" of the U.S. student in December 2018.

According to Reuters, Pyongyang blamed botulism and ingestion of a sleeping pill for Warmbier's death and dismissed torture claims.

Several other U.S. citizens, such as California teacher Matthew Miller, who crossed into North Korea in 2014, have hit the headlines over the years. Miller was released along with Kenneth Bae, who had been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment with hard labor, in November 2014.

Journalists, including Laura Ling and Euna Lee, have also been detained by North Korea before being released.

But in King's case, the COVID pandemic will likely have an impact on his experience in North Korea, Abbott said.

"Most travel is still largely suspended, and North Korean authorities have been quite cautious throughout the pandemic," he said. "No Americans are known to have been detained in North Korea since the start of the pandemic, so this is uncharted territory."

"King may well show up in North Korean state media at some point in the near future. But a lot depends on how long his interrogation, and maybe his COVID-19 quarantine, lasts," James Fretwell, an analyst with South Korean outlet NK News told the BBC.

King spent more than a month in a South Korean detention facility before being released on July 10, according to reports. He was expected to return to the U.S. military base at Fort Bliss, Texas, to face disciplinary action, but did not board his flight from South Korea's Incheon Airport and ended up on a tour to the border with North Korea.

A newly available photograph shows King in a black cap and black shirt with the tour group just before he crossed the border.

His crossing into North Korea has also coincided with particularly strained tensions between Washington, Pyongyang and Seoul over the U.S.' support for South Korea.

In a statement earlier this month, North Korea's defense ministry said the U.S. sending a nuclear submarine to the Korean peninsula had created a "very dangerous situation," bringing the region "closer to the threshold of nuclear conflict."

Earlier this week, the U.S. Navy's Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, the USS Kentucky, arrived in the South Korean port of Busan. In mid-June, another Ohio-class vessel, the USS Michigan, stopped in Busan for a scheduled port visit. The U.S. military has an "ironclad commitment" to South Korea, U.S. Forces Korea said in a statement.

Shortly after the Kentucky arrived in Busan, North Korea fired two ballistic missiles, and "diplomacy has largely stalled between North Korea and the United States," Abbott said.