US soldier detained in North Korea after crossing the border: Report

“A service member on an orientation tour willfully and without authorization crossed the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Colonel Isaac Taylor, an Army spokesman, said in a statement Tuesday. “We believe he is currently in DPRK custody.” He said the US military was working with its North Korean counterparts “to resolve this incident.”

Private Second Class Travis King, a cavalry scout in the U.S. Army since January 2021, was identified as the soldier involved. King, who hails from Wisconsin, had been released from South Korean detention for assaulting two Koreans. 

He was facing formal separation from the military due to a foreign conviction. After being escorted through security and customs at an airport, he was left alone to fly to Fort Bliss, Texas, to receive the separation notice.

North Korea fires two ballistic missiles after US submarine reaches South Korea

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea a day after the inaugural session of the US-South Korea security dialogue, according to Seoul’s military as reported by Yonhap news agency. 

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of South Korea stated that the missiles were launched from the Sunan area in Pyongyang and traveled around 550 kilometers before landing in the sea. 

The JCS strongly denounced these launches as “acts of significant provocation” that not only threaten peace on the Korean Peninsula but also the international community. They emphasised that these actions are a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

“Our military will maintain a firm readiness posture based on capabilities to respond overwhelmingly to any North Korean provocations,” the Yonhap news agency quoted the JCS as saying in a text message sent to reporters.

Meanwhile, the missile launch came after South Korea and the United States held the inaugural meeting of the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) in Seoul the previous day to bolster the US’ extended deterrence commitment to using the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear weapons, to defend its ally.

The meeting coincided with the arrival of USS Kentucky at a key naval base in Busan, 320 kilometres southeast of Seoul, marking the first port visit by an American nuclear-capable strategic submarine (SSBN) since USS Robert E. Lee in March 1981.

Earlier on June 12, Pyongyang test-fired a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on July 12, Yonhap news agency reported.

Updated: 19 Jul 2023, 06:33 AM IST