A United Nations agency says a U.S. citizen is believed to be in North Korean custody after crossing the border during a tour.
UN Command said in a tweet that the man, believed to be a U.S. Army serviceman, crossed the military demarcation line separating North and South Korea.
CBS News reported the soldier was being escorted back to the United States for disciplinary reasons. He joined the border tour somehow after going through airport security.
The U.S. State Department warns Americans against traveling to North Korea due to “the continuing serious risk of arrest and long-term detention of U.S. nationals,” including the “critical threat of wrongful detention.”
The warning came in 2015 after U.S. college student Otto Warmbier was detained by North Korean authorities while on a tour. He was released to the U.S. authorities in a coma in 2017 and died two days later.
Meanwhile, a nuclear-capable U.S. Navy ballistic missile submarine pulled in for a port call in South Korea on Tuesday.
The vessel’s arrival came after North Korea test-fired what it said was a solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile last week.
Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said the regime was “ready for resolutely countering any acts of violating its sovereignty.”
The presence of the submarine in the South Korean port city of Busan was announced by the country’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday afternoon. It is the first time since 1981 that a nuclear submarine has docked in South Korea, the BBC reported.
Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup said in a statement that the submarine should serve as an “extended deterrence” and reinforce the United States’ pledge to defend South Korea.
“Any nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies is unacceptable and will result in the end of that regime,” the two countries said in a joint statement after a Nuclear Consultative Group meeting in Seoul, AP News reported.
