Travis King case: the American soldier who went to North Korea wanted to flee the army and the United States, says Pyongyang

2023-08-16 19:03:26

Travis King’s soap opera continues. This American soldier who defected to North Korea in July sought to escape “ill-treatment and racial discrimination in the American army”, assures the North Korean state agency KCNA. Statements that the United States “cannot confirm,” a spokesman for the US State Department said on Wednesday.

“According to an investigation by a competent body of the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, editor’s note), Travis King admitted to having illegally entered the territory of the DPRK”, explains KCNA, in what is the first public statement from Pyongyang. since the start of the King affair.

As a reminder, this second-class American soldier had to return to the United States, to face disciplinary sanctions, after being released from prison in South Korea following a brawl in a bar and an altercation with the police. But he actually crossed the border to the North on July 18, mingling with a group of tourists visiting the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas.

The United States ensures that it is working on the return of its soldier

Travis King “was kept under control by Korean People’s Army soldiers as he deliberately entered” a North Korean area, the North Korean agency said. This confirms the detention of the soldier. King would have “expressed his desire to seek refuge in the DPRK or in a third country, saying he is disillusioned with the unequal American society”, further assured KCNA, specifying that an investigation by the regime was still in progress.

The United States “cannot confirm comments attributed to Private King,” a US State Department spokesperson said in response on Wednesday, adding that authorities were “still working to ensure his safe return (… ) we are working through all possible channels to achieve this.”

On Thursday August 3, the American command had indicated that Pyongyang was “responding” to requests concerning the soldier. The head of diplomacy Antony Blinken, who had also confirmed that contact had been established with Pyongyang, had however said that he had no information concerning the location or the state of health of the soldier. The United Nations Command, which oversees the armistice that ended the Korean War fighting, said last month it had started a conversation with the North about Travis King.

“An opportunity for the regime’s propaganda”

Former CIA analyst Soo Kim told AFP that this first official North Korean comment on Private King is propaganda. “It is also an opportunity for the regime’s propaganda to make its honey, to twist the situation in such a way as to criticize the United States and express Pyongyang’s deep-rooted hostility towards Washington”, decrypts the expert .

According to Vladimir Tikhonov, professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, since Travis King “is black, I imagine that for North Koreans he takes on a certain value” in terms of propaganda. “White racism and the mistreatment of black people is something North Korean propaganda has traditionally emphasized, all the way back to the Korean War, so King can be used to amplify that message. »