SEOUL: Pyongyang on Wednesday said that an American soldier who crossed into North Korea without permission last month did so because he had ill feelings towards the US Army, reported German news agency (dpa).
On July 18, private Travis King crossed without permission the demilitarised zone (DMZ) that separates the two Korean nations, who are still officially at war since a conflict in the 1950s.
King admitted that he illegally intruded into North Korea, state-controlled media reported on Tuesday citing a Pyongyang investigation into the events.
According to the North Korean probe, the soldier confessed that he crossed into the country “as he harboured ill feelings against inhumane maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army,” the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
King was seeking refuge in North Korea or a third country “saying that he was disillusioned at the unequal American society”, KCNA reported.
The report marks the first time Pyongyang confirmed King’s whereabouts, having previously essentially only confirmed that it had received US’ request for information on the matter.
The case of the young US soldier has bewildered observers for weeks.
King had completed his deployment and should have returned home after spending time in a South Korean detention centre, the Pentagon said. He had been threatened with “additional administrative measures” in the US.
The Pentagon did not give details about the background of his detention. However, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the soldier had refused to pay fines for kicking and damaging a police car in Seoul.
The man had been escorted to the airport but disappeared before boarding the plane.
He later joined a commercial tour of the border, where he broke away from the group and crossed the DMZ.
The US Department of Defence opened an investigation into the case.
There was no information on the young man’s motives, what he was doing in the hours between leaving the airport and crossing into North Korea, the Pentagon had previously said. –BERNAMA-dpa
