U.S. Secures Release Of The Soldier Who Crossed Into North Korea In July
The U.S. has secured the release of a U.S. soldier who sprinted across a heavily fortified border into North Korea more than two months ago, and he is on his way back to America, officials announced Wednesday.
Transcript
00:00 The United States has secured the return of Private Travis Keane from the Democratic People's
00:04 Republic of Korea.
00:06 Earlier today, he was transported to the border between North Korea and China, where he was
00:10 met by our ambassador to the People's Republic of China, Nicholas Burns.
00:14 He then boarded a State Department APMED plane and flew from Dandong, China, to Shenyang,
00:19 China, and then on from Shenyang to Osan Air Force Base in South Korea, where he was transferred
00:24 to the Department of Defense.
00:26 We appreciate the professionalism of our diplomats who worked with their counterparts at the
00:30 Department of Defense and coordinated with the governments of Sweden and the People's
00:34 Republic of China, and we thank Sweden and the People's Republic of China for their assistance
00:39 in facilitating that transfer.
00:41 He is now on his way to the United States, and we expect him to arrive in the coming
00:44 hours.
00:45 Does it mean something broader with North Korea?
00:46 Could this be an opening for something broader?
00:47 What are the motivations as far as you can detect for North Korea?
00:52 So I would not want to speculate on any motivations on the North Korean side, and I don't know
00:57 that I would take from this that it heralds some breakthrough in diplomatic relations.
01:03 Obviously, we're pleased to have secured his return.
01:06 We're very thankful for the government of Sweden for their work as the protecting power
01:09 that they did to help facilitate his transfer back to the United States.
01:16 I will restate, as I have said from this podium before, and as we have said, we are open to
01:20 diplomacy with North Korea.
01:21 You would welcome diplomacy with North Korea.
01:23 They have always rejected that.
01:25 We tried to reach out to them when Travis Keene first crossed the border into North
01:31 Korea.
01:32 We tried to reach out on a number of occasions.
01:34 They rejected our direct approaches and ended up talking to Sweden, and Sweden talked to
01:41 us and helped negotiate this transfer.
01:44 But I would not see this as the sign of some breakthrough.
01:47 I think it's a one-off with them being willing to return this private.
01:52 [BLANK_AUDIO]