A US soldier is being held in North Korea after crossing the border from South Korea without permission, the US military has confirmed. The crisis comes at a particularly tense time between the two countries, with the US urging its citizens to stay away from the country.

What happened at the border?

The US military identified him as Private Travis T. King, who joined the force in 2021 and was facing disciplinary action.

“King crossed into North Korea on Tuesday voluntarily and without authorization,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

In accordance with BBC, at the time King was being escorted back to the US to face disciplinary action, but it appears he gave his escort the pass at Incheon Airport instead of boarding a flight. He then exited the terminal to the border crossing about 54 kilometers away. An eyewitness on the same border tour described hearing the soldier laugh loudly before running off.

The United Nations Command, which manages the DMZ, said it believed the soldier was now in custody in the North. A senior US commander said there had been no contact with the soldier and that the incident was being investigated by US forces in Korea, while US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Pentagon’s main concern was the situation facing the soldier and if he is well.

What do we know about the soldier?

King, a cavalry scout and reconnaissance specialist, was facing disciplinary action after being detained in South Korea on assault charges, according to the Associated Press citing US officials.

Months before he defected to North Korea, King faced two counts of assault and damaging a police car, according to a court order and a lawyer representing him.

A week ago, he was released at Camp Humphreys, a military base in South Korea. A US defense official confirmed that King was to travel to Fort Bliss in Texas. According to army officials, it appears that his move was premeditated.

Also, since the pandemic, it has been much harder to get into these tours. They have only recently started again, and it seems that there are only two companies that offer tours to foreigners. To do this would require research and planning.

Why is it so hard for the US?

The recent escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula has become a foreign policy priority of the administration of US President Joe Biden.

The incident came on the day a US nuclear submarine arrived in the South Korean port of Busan, an event interpreted as a show of US military power that angered the North Koreans. The move was a US response to North Korea’s new missile tests in recent years.

The soldier could potentially become a new bargaining chip for North Korea against the US.

Behind the scenes, diplomats and military officials are desperately trying to talk to the North Koreans to find out what is going on, but their involvement in the case remains difficult from the United States, the BBC claims.

The Pentagon has tried to get in touch, but as the two countries do not have diplomatic relations, the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang has been involved in the negotiation on behalf of the US. Currently, its diplomatic staff are not in the country due to the ongoing border closure.

Both the UN Command, which runs the border area, and the South Korean military have direct phone lines with the North Korean military, which they call daily to check in, though the North Koreans don’t always answer. The UN Command says it has contacted North Korea through that channel, but it is not clear if they have responded.