US military tries to locate soldier who fled to North Korea
The U.S. military was scrambling on Wednesday to determine the fate of an American soldier who made an unauthorized crossing of the inter-Korean border into North Korea, throwing Washington into a new crisis in its dealing with the nuclear-armed state. - REUTERS
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00:00 This is U.S. Army Private Travis King, and the U.S. military on Wednesday was still scrambling to determine what happened to him, after he apparently, without authorization, crossed a heavily guarded border into North Korea the day before.
00:15 "Someone ran close to me very fast, and I thought, 'What is going on?' I didn't think anyone who was sane would want to go to North Korea, so I assumed it was some kind of stunt."
00:32 Sarah Leslie was on a civilian tour of the border between North and South Korea with King when he took off.
00:38 "It all happened pretty quickly. I probably only saw him running for a few seconds, and that's all it would have taken to get across the border. And then a couple of seconds after I saw him, that's when the soldiers shouted and started running after him."
00:53 The military said it believes King is in North Korean custody, though Pyongyang's state media has made no mention of him.
01:00 North Korea's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
01:06 Sources tell Reuters King was based in South Korea and had been accused of assault and damaging a police car.
01:13 He pleaded guilty, had finished serving military detention, and had been taken to the airport to return to the United States.
01:20 But then he fled, and soon after ended up on the civilian border tour.
01:24 He was due to face disciplinary action by the U.S. military, though it was unclear if this was related to his earlier troubles.
01:32 The incident occurred amid newly rising tensions. South Korean and U.S. officials held talks Tuesday on upgrading coordination in the event of a nuclear war with North Korea.
01:43 While Wednesday, North Korea fired two ballistic missiles, which ended up in the ocean.
01:48 A former North Korean diplomat who defected to the South said King may be a propaganda tool for North Korea and a loss of face for the U.S.
01:57 North Korea will think the U.S. has lost face because the U.S. soldier voluntarily defected to the North at a time when the first nuclear consultation group meeting between South Korea and the U.S. was held, and a U.S. nuclear submarine entered the port of Busan today.
02:14 King's motivation remains unclear. His mother told ABC News she was shocked when she heard about it.
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