 The US Army soldier who crossed into North Korea without authorisation did so while going 'ha ha ha', a witness has claimed. For the first time in decades, a US soldier, identified as Travis T King, 23, is believed to be in North Korean custody. On Tuesday, the service member joined a civilian tour of the Joint Security Area, or Panmunjom, that straddles the border between North and South Korea. A witness told CBS News that the tour had just visited a building on the military site when 'this man gives out a loud 'ha ha ha,' and just runs in between some buildings'. But as the man, according to US military officials, 'willfully' crossed the line, military personnel leapt into action. 'I thought it was a bad joke at first, but when he didn't come back, I realised it wasn't a joke, and then everybody reacted and things got crazy,' the witness said. Tourists stand near a border station at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (Picture: AP) Another traveller wrote on Facebook, according to NK News: 'To our right, we hear a loud HA HA HA and one guy from OUR GROUP that has been with us all day runs in between two of the buildings and over to the other side!' One tourist told New Zealand's 1News that she thought King was bolting it to the border for a TikTok video. 'My first thought was what an absolute idiot,' said tour member Sarah Leslie. Soldiers tailed him but couldn't catch up, the eye-witnesses added, as the tour guides were shuffled back to make statements. Panmunjom is a village sitting inside the 150-mile-long demilitarized zone (DMZ) that has separated North and South Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953. The zone is one of the most heavily militarized borders in the world, with the two sides technically still at war. According to the South Korean news agency Yonhap, King, a private second-class in the First Armored Division, ran into trou){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
The US Army soldier who crossed into North Korea without authorisation did so while going ‘ha ha ha’, a witness has claimed.
For the first time in decades, a US soldier, identified as Travis T King, 23, is believed to be in North Korean custody.
On Tuesday, the service member joined a civilian tour of the Joint Security Area, or Panmunjom, that straddles the border between North and South Korea.
A witness told CBS News that the tour had just visited a building on the military site when ‘this man gives out a loud “ha ha ha,” and just runs in between some buildings’.