Fate of U.S. soldier unknown as talks begin between North Korea, UN – National | 24CA News

Communication has opened up between North Korea and the United Nations over a U.S. soldier who final week ran throughout the fortified zone separating the rogue North from South Korea.

At a press convention in South Korea on Monday, deputy commander for the UN Command, Lt. Gen. Andrew Harrison, mentioned {that a} course of and investigation has begun.

“There is a mechanism that exists under the armistice agreement whereby lines of communication are open between the United Nations Command and the KPA (Korean People’s Army),” he mentioned, referring to the Korean Armistice Agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953.  “That takes place in the Joint Security Area (JSA).”

Pvt. Travis King was collaborating in a tour of the joint safety space, an space inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that’s used for diplomatic engagements, when he “willfully” crossed into North Korea, in response to the U.S. Armed Forces in South Korea.

Tours of the JSA, which has turn into a preferred vacationer website, at the moment are suspended, Harrison mentioned.

News of the crossing, which was not licensed by the U.S., got here on July 18. King had been on a tour of the border village Panmunjom when he was imagined to be heading to Fort Bliss, Texas, following his launch from jail in South Korea on an assault conviction, the Associated Press reported.

Harrison didn’t give specifics on the state of King or how receptive North Korea has been to talks given the delicate nature of the discussions.

“‘Obviously there is someone’s welfare at stake and clearly we’re in a very difficult and complex situation which I don’t want to risk by speculation or going into too much detail about the communications that have existed,” he mentioned.

“None of us know where this is going to end.”

The UN Command mentioned final week that it was “working with” its North Korean counterparts, so it isn’t clear if this line of communication is a brand new step or refers back to the earlier communication.

The Korean Armistice Agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953 is approaching its seventieth anniversary on July 27. It marks the longest ceasefire on document, in response to the Guinness Book of World Records.

The “mechanisms” below the settlement which have now come into play with King may confer with the so-called pink cellphone phone line between the UN Command and the KPA on the border village the place King crossed.

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The U.S. has expressed concern for King’s well-being and mentioned that North Korea ignored requests for info on him.

Analysts say North Korea could wait weeks or months earlier than offering info on King to maximise its leverage, doubtlessly in an try and have the U.S. reduce navy actions in South Korea.

Last week, the U.S. despatched a nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine to South Korea, the primary such go to for the reason that Nineteen Eighties. North Korea carried out ballistic missile checks hours afterward.

— with information from Global News’ Kathryn Mannie, the Associated Press and Reuters.

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