ED USFK at fault

Lax security leads to GI's defection to N. Korea

A dispute is growing fast following an American soldier's defection to North Korea at the border village of Panmunjeom on Tuesday. The controversy is focused on who should take responsibility for the botched handling of U.S. Army Private Travis King, 23, who carried out a seemingly willful desertion during a tour of the Joint Security Area (JSA).

King was found to have escaped Incheon Airport's boarding area while waiting for an American Airlines flight back to his home country to face additional criminal punishment. He had been convicted earlier of assaulting Koreans and damaging a police patrol car during his service here last year.

Several mysteries remain involving the soldier's defection. King was found to have falsely claimed that his passport was missing, an Incheon International Airport official told The Korea Times. The official said King approached an American Airlines official to say he did not have his passport and was thus able to exit the departure area under the escort of an airline official.

Here we cannot help but question why the airport official failed to hand the soldier back to the U.S. military police who had escorted King to the airport. And we believe the military police should have remained at the airport to confirm that King actually boarded the airplane.

Another question is why the U.N. Command (UNC) approved the U.S. soldier for the tour despite his past problematic behaviors. The UNC should have more strictly reviewed the personal records of applying visitors, including their criminal backgrounds, among others. It should also have more sternly controlled JSA access to prevent visitors from crossing the Military Demarcation Line.

The JSA tour program resumed in October 2020 after it had been halted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Foreign participants can have easier access to the program as they get approval within three days after application. In contrast, it takes two to seven weeks on average for Korean nationals to get the nod for the program due to stringent security checks.

King is presumed to have carried out his defection after he applied for the JSA tour to flee the country and avoid additional punishments in the U.S.

The recent defection case will likely have a far-reaching impact on relations between North Korea and the United States. Previously, the North and the U.S. engaged in tough negotiations to repatriate Americans detained in North Korea. Both sides managed to find a solution through high-level talks. Yet this time, it is far different.

For starters, the relations between the two countries have worsened to the lowest point amid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula surrounding the North's repeated provocations.

The North has been firing salvos against a move by South Korea and the U.S. to launch the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG). It also fired short-range ballistic missiles in protest against the USS Kentucky, a U.S. nuclear-capable submarine visiting in Busan on Wednesday, the first visit by such a sub in more than four decades. President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee boarded the vessel, flexing the iron-clad Korea-U.S. alliance.

The recent issue is expected to trigger further controversy in the U.S. as seen in the case of U.S. student Otto Warmbier who died in 2017 after being returned to his home country in a vegetative state. He was caught during a package tour to the reclusive nation and detained in 2015.

It is time to discover who is to blame for allowing the defection to take place. Relevant authorities of both South Korea and the U.S. should closely collaborate to prevent possible fallout. To this end, all-out efforts should be made to return the soldier safely through dialogue with the North. Pyongyang, for its part, should also tackle the matter sincerely by engaging in talks with the U.S. as soon as possible.