MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th July, 2023) A US soldier who intentionally crossed into North Korea while he was stationed in the South was in a negative state of mind after the death of his young cousin, the man's uncle told NBC News.
Travis King, a 23-year-old army private, joined a tourist group visiting the Joint Security Area in a truce village on the border between two Koreas on Tuesday. Witnesses told the media he dashed across the heavily-fortified border and was taken into North Korean custody.
King's uncle Carl Gates told NBC that the soldier, who enlisted in the army in 2021, was troubled by the death in February of his 6-year-old cousin who suffered from an untreatable genetic disorder.
"Travis has got a lot going on in his mind, and we're worried about him ... Now we don't know where he is, we don't know what they're doing to him, and we might not ever see him again," Gates said.
King spent almost two months in a South Korean prison on assault charges and was escorted to an airport near Seoul from where he was to be flown back home for disciplinary action, AP news agency reported, but he escaped once he was left unaccompanied.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters on Tuesday that the soldier had crossed the border "willfully and without authorization." NBC cited US officials as saying they were working to have him released, although it is unclear what channels of communication Washington has with Pyongyang.
