In a highly unusual incident, a 23-year-old American soldier, Private 2nd Class Travis King, made a daring escape across the heavily fortified border into North Korea. The soldier, who had served nearly two months in a South Korean prison for assault, bolted into North Korea during a tour in the border village of Panmunjom, leaving the fate of King unknown.
Despite the soldier’s dramatic border crossing, North Korea has remained silent on the matter, choosing instead to divert attention to its test-firing of short-range missiles on Wednesday. These missile launches were seen as a protest against the recent deployment of a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine in South Korea and are likely unrelated to King’s actions.
Experts speculate that North Korea may use the soldier for propaganda purposes in the short term and as a bargaining chip in the mid-to-long term. Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in South Korea, believes that the situation will develop over the next few days and hours.
