WASHINGTON: There have been no new communications between the United Nations (UN) and North Korea since the US soldier Pvt. Travis King first bolted across the border to the North Korea, US officials said on Monday, refuting an earlier statement by the United Nations.
Matt Miller, State Department spokesperson, told journalists that he had seen reports about contact between the United Nations Command and North Korea, but there has been no new communication since last week. The reports may have resulted from a misinterpretation of the original statement from the UN command, according to US media reports.
US soldier crosses border into North Korea
Pvt. 2nd Class Travis King was about to fly back to the US from South Korea for expected disciplinary action after he refused to pay a fine for allegedly damaging public property. He slipped away from the airport in the capital city Seoul last Tuesday and joined a guided tour to the shared security region, a land between the North Korea and the South Korea that is managed by the United Nations. From there, he crossed the border and appeared to be detained by guards in North Korea.
Though there was no public statement from Pyongyang about him, the UN force that manages talks between the two Koreas appeared to suggest it was in negotiations with the Pyongyang about the runaway soldier.
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Deputy Commander of United Nations Command Lt. Gen. Andrew Harrison said that the primary concern for them is Pvt. King’s welfare.
Speaking at a news conference in Seoul, he said talks were happening through a mechanism established following the armistice between the two Koreas inked in 1953 to stop the fighting in the Korean War. Under the armistice, the UN multinational command (UNMC) and the North Korean army have a communication channel between the two forces.
Harrison said that he cannot say anything that could prejudice that process. Much of this remains unknown.
His remarks were interpreted by news outlets around the world as meaning that the United Nations had initiated larger talks about King’s status in North Korea. As new stories continued to report in media, US officials started to rebut the claim.
