North Korea ‘not responding’ to US calls over detained American

North Korea has “not yet answered” communications from the US about the soldier who was arrested after illegally bolting across the border from South Korea . Private Second Class Travis King was on a tour of the village of Panmunjom when he suddenly sprinted between the two iconic blue buildings and crossed the Military Demarcation Line into North Korea. The 23-year-old, who was reportedly facing disciplinary action by the US military at the time, is being held by the country led by dictator Kim Jong-un . But the US appears to be having no luck in receiving a response from the ‘Hermit Kingdom’, with as the Pentagon having “reached out” to counterparts in the Korean People’s Army. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a briefing: “My understanding is that those communications have not yet been answered.” ravis King crossed the border ‘wilfully, of his own volition’, according to US officials (Image: AP) Sung Kim, the US special envoy for North Korea, said the United States was “working very hard” to determine King’s status and wellbeing. But mystery surrounds what has happened to King since he was arrested in North Korea on Tuesday after illegally fleeing across the border. North Korea’s state media, which historically has reported on the detention of US nationals, has so far remained tight-lipped on the incident. James Fretwell, an analyst at Seoul-based specialist site NK News, said: “King may well show up in North Korean state media at some point in the near future. “A lot depends on how long his interrogation, and maybe his COVID-19 quarantine, lasts” – referring to North Korea continuing to maintain a strict border lockdown in response to the pandemic. Travis King, pictured with dark blue shirt and dark cap, would soon bolt across the border (Image: AP Photo/Sarah Jane Leslie) But Jenny Town, director of the Stimson Center’s 38 North Program, believes the situation around King being held in North Korea is slightly different to other historical cases. She said: “There have also been cases long ago of US soldiers who defected and were allowed to stay… But in those cases, there was political value to [their stories] and it was a very different time, and a different leader.” A diplomatic crisis erupted on Tuesday after King was arrested, with US authorities stating he crossed the border “wilfully, of his own volition”. The 23-year-old Private Second Class had been released from prison on July 10 after serving two months for assault, according to reports in South Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (Image: GETTY) A court had fined King £3,065 after he was convicted of assaulting an unidentified person and damaging a police vehicle in Seoul last October, according to court documents. The ruling added the US soldier had also been accused of punching a 23-year-old man at a Seoul nightclub, but that was dismissed by the court. On Monday, King was escorted to an airport to be returned to Fort Bliss, Texas but instead left and joined a tour of the Korean border village of Panmunjom on Tuesday morning. But at the end of the tour, King suddenly sprinted over the Demilitarized Zone dividing North and South Korea, before he was later arrested. Travis King sprinted between the two blue building and across the border into North korea (Image: GETTY) Following his arrest, the United Nations Command said on Twitter: “A US National on a JSA orientation tour crossed, without authorization, the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our KPA counterparts to resolve this incident.” Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin also told a Pentagon press briefing: “We’re very early in this event and so there’s a lot that we’re still trying to learn. “What we do know is that one of our service members who was on a tour wilfully and without authorization crossed the military demarcation line. We believe that he is in DPRK custody.”