US says North Korea ignoring outreach about American soldier who fled

The US State Department on Wednesday said that North Korea had not yet responded to US inquiries on the whereabouts of a US soldier who entered the isolated nation in an apparent attempt to avoid going to court martial after being accused of assault, according to a report.

“Yesterday, the Pentagon reached out to counterparts from the Korean People’s Army,” Bloomberg quoted State Department spokesman Matthew Miller as saying.

“My understanding is that those communications have not yet been answered,” he added.

Pvt. Travis King, who was supposed to have been heading to Fort Bliss, Texas, after finishing a prison sentence in South Korea for assault, ran into North Korea while on a civilian tour of the border village of Panmunjom on Tuesday. He is the first known American held in North Korea in nearly five years.

Miller said the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department are working together to gather information about King’s well-being and whereabouts. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the US government will continue to work to ensure his safety and his return to his family.

The motive for King’s border crossing is unknown. A witness on the same civilian tour said she initially thought his dash was some kind of stunt until she heard an American soldier on patrol shouting for others to try to stop him. But King had crossed the border in a matter of seconds.

It wasn’t clear how King spent the hours from leaving the airport Monday until joining the Panmunjom tour Tuesday. The Army realised he was missing when he did not get off the flight in Texas as expected.

With inputs from agencies

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