It will be interesting to see how long the Panmunjom tours are suspended due to the increased tensions after the ending of the Intra-Korean military pact:
A tour program to the truce village of Panmunjom on the inter-Korean border has been suspended again as safety concerns increased due to North Korean soldiers armed with pistols in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, the unification ministry said Thursday.
The government partially resumed the tour program on Nov. 22, after it had been halted since mid-July following US Army private Travis King crossing the border into North Korea.
But the ministry said it has recently decided to suspend the program again, as North Korea has begun rebuilding guard posts and bringing heavy firearms along the border after effectively scrapping a 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction deal.
“As North Korean troops are carrying pistols in the Joint Security Area in the DMZ while South Korean soldiers remain unarmed there, we’ve decided not to run the Panmunjom tour for the time being,” a ministry official said.
Korea Herald
You can read more at the link.
No surprise here, hopefully South Korea in response reimplaces all of their guard posts and fortifications that were removed during the Moon administration to better secure the DMZ:
North Korean soldiers are spotted near a guard post inside of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas in this photo provided by the South Korean defense ministry on Nov. 27, 2023. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
North Korea has begun rebuilding guard posts and bringing heavy firearms along the border with South Korea after effectively scrapping a 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction deal, the defense ministry said Monday.
Ministry officials disclosed photos showing North Korean troops installing temporary guard posts, carrying what appeared to be recoilless guns and standing guard at night inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas.
These moves came after the North said last week it would restore all military measures halted under the 2018 tension reduction deal. That decision came after South Korea suspended part of the agreement in protest of the North’s successful launch of a military spy satellite.
“Before destroying the GPs, there were observation posts and they are presumed to be rebuilding them. It was made of white wood and painted with a camouflage pattern,” a senior military official told reporters on background, referring to a guard post seen in a photo released by the defense ministry on Monday.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Here is what we know about Travis King, the U.S. Soldier who ran across the DMZ to North Korea laughing earlier this week:
Officials say Pvt. 2nd Class King has been a cavalry scout with the U.S. Army since January 2021.
The 23-year-old had been stationed in South Korea, but had recently served two months in a prison there on charges of assault, the Associated Press reported.
Several South Korean media outlets report that King had punched a South Korean national in a club last September. He had also been fined 5 million won ($3,942) for causing public damage and being uncooperative with police during his arrest.
According to an account from the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, citing legal sources, King yelled obscenities at South Korean police as he kicked the doors and interior of a police vehicle.
CBS News reports that King was released to U.S. officials at the military hub in the country about a week ago.
Before bolting into North Korea, King was being escorted to an airport outside of Seoul where he was expected to board a plane bound for Fort Bliss, Texas, to face military disciplinary action.
Officials escorted him through airport security, but King somehow managed to ditch the escort and make his way out of the terminal and back to the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea.
That is where officials said King, who was dressed in civilian clothes, joined a tour of the Korean border village of Panmunjom.
NPR
You can read more at the link, but King had to have planned this out because here are the rules for going on a tour of Panmunjom on the DMZ:
According to the UNC rules the roster of the tourists to Panmunjum should be reported 48 hours (2 days) prior to the tour briefing time (13:45) in the camp Bonifas on the tour day. So person who is interested in this tour should send your name, passport number and nationality to us at least 3 days before.
KoreaDMZtour.com
The fact he claimed that he lost his passport to not board his flight is further evidence of how planned this was:
On Monday, the American solider was escorted by military police from Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, to Incheon International Airport. The solider then went through a security checkpoint alone because the military police officers were not allowed to accompany him.
Korea Times
King arrived at the boarding gate, but did not board the plane.ย
“At the gate, he approached an American Airlines official and reported that his passport was missing, and was able to return out of the departure gate under the escort of an airline employee,” an official at Incheon International Airport told The Korea Times, adding that King appears to have lied about his missing passport.ย ย
Once a passenger goes through the customs and immigration checkpoint at Incheon airport, he or she cannot go back to the terminal without a valid reason approved by an authorized personnel.ย
So this was clearly not a drunken spur of the moment type of defection like we saw decades ago with Charles Robert Jenkins. King had this planned out at least three days in advance. The closest defection to this I can think of is PFC Joseph White who defected in 1982 likely because he was forbidden by his unit leadership from meeting his Korean girlfriend. So he got pissed off and crossed the DMZ into North Korea. In 1985 North Korea reported that White died in a river drowning. Will a similar fate await King?
