Factbox-Travis King: What Happened to Other U.S. Soldiers Who Defected to North Korea?

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea on Wednesday confirmed it’s holding U.S. Military Non-public Travis King after he crossed the border from South Korea final month whereas on a tour, however didn’t elaborate on what his future would possibly maintain.

State information company KCNA mentioned throughout an preliminary investigation that King confessed to illegally and intentionally crossing the border to flee mistreatment and racism within the military, and needs to remain in North Korea or one other nation.

Makes an attempt by U.S. troopers stationed in South Korea to abandon or defect to the authoritarian North are uncommon, however listed here are some circumstances which have occurred for the reason that 1950-1953 Korean Battle ended with an armistice somewhat than a peace treaty:

– Joseph T. White shot off the lock on a gate main into the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the Koreas whereas a U.S. soldier stationed in South Korea in 1982, earlier than surrendering to North Korean troops, in response to an account printed by the Korea Occasions.

The North claimed he had defected, although Pyongyang refused a request by the United Nations Command to fulfill him. A U.S. army spokesman later mentioned an investigation indicated that White crossed into North Korea of his personal free will. In a video launched by the North, White denounced america and praised North Korea and its then chief Kim Il-Sung.

White’s mother and father later acquired a handwritten letter believed to be from their son, during which he mentioned he was working as a trainer and comfortable within the North, the Washington Publish reported. White drowned in a swimming accident within the North in 1985, in response to a media report, citing info acquired by his mother and father.

– Charles Robert Jenkins walked into North Korea when on patrol on the DMZ in 1965. He later expressed remorse for fleeing and defined at his courtroom marital that his motive was to keep away from hazardous responsibility in South Korea and fight in Vietnam. Jenkins mentioned he had drunk 10 beers earlier than the incident.

Throughout his close to 4 a long time within the North, he taught English and in addition portrayed a U.S. spy in a propaganda movie. Jenkins married Hitomi Soga, a Japanese lady kidnapped by Pyongyang. Soga was allowed to return to Japan in 2002 and Jenkins joined her with their two daughters in 2004. Jenkins died in 2017.

– James Joseph Dresnok was a 21-year outdated U.S. military personal stationed in South Korea in 1962 when he fled to the North. Dealing with a courtroom martial for skipping responsibility, Dresnok describes in a movie about his life how he bolted throughout the DMZ, by means of a minefield.

Dresnok and three fellow American army defectors together with Jenkins, Jerry Wayne Parrish and Larry Allen Abshier lived in relative isolation for years earlier than turning into stars of North Korean cinema by depicting evil Individuals in propaganda films promoted by then chief Kim Jong-Il. Reviews, citing Dresnok’s sons, say he died in Pyongyang in 2016.

(Reporting by Josh Smith; Modifying by Chizu Nomiyama)

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