American’s border bolt could cost tourists to North Korea

Tourists have been warned to expect far stricter supervision if visits to the border between North and South Korea resume after a US soldier dashed into North Korea earlier this month.

Travis King, a US Army private, was on an organised tour visiting the so-called truce village of Panmunjom on July 18, a day after he was supposed to return to the US to face disciplinary action over charges brought while he was serving in South Korea.

King had reportedly spent two months in jail for assault before being escorted to the airport, where he failed to board his flight. Instead, he joined a tour.

Reuters reports that King, dressed in civvies, broke away from a group of 40 tourists being guided around the Joint Security Area (JSA) inside the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), and sprinted across the border. As a result, the US-led UN Command (UNC), which oversees the area, has indefinitely suspended tours.

US Private Travis King (wearing a black shirt and black cap) is seen on the tour, from which he later dashed across the border. (Sarah Leslie / Handout via REUTERS)

Visiting the DMZ that separates the two Koreas, technically at war since the Korean War (1950-53) ended in a stalemate, is a popular trip for tourists looking to glimpse the reclusive authoritarian state.

Visiting the JSA is free for South Koreans, but Jacco Zwetsloot, a former JSA tour guide, told Reuters that the tour sells at high prices to foreigners. The tour King was on started at $180 (R3,164), according to Tripadvisor.

For the UNC, the tours are about educating people about the “frozen conflict”, Zwetsloot said. He predicted changes could include limiting numbers on the tour even further, with groups as small as 10, or keeping groups behind glass or further away from the border.

Barricades near the Unification Bridge, which leads to the Demilitarized Zone in Paju, South Korea. (Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images)

Despite its name, the DMZ is fortified with razor wire and minefields on either side of a 4km buffer.

In January 2016, US college student Otto Warmbier was detained in Pyongyang on an organised tour. Accused of stealing a propaganda banner from his hotel, he was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment. In June 2017, he was returned to the US in a coma, which his jailers said was a result of botulism. He died six days later, according to a coroner from lack of oxygen to the brain.

Reports this week said King was in North Korean custody, though his whereabouts and condition were unknown. -- Elizabeth Sleith