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He's the next "MacIntosh Man" (old movie reference).
As in a deliberate plant from the intelligence service.
Good back story - punishment imminent.
Escape to the "enemy".
While being used, he continues his clandestine mission.
Will he be found out?
Tune in next week....
Tae Yongho, a former minister at the North Korean Embassy in London, said North Korea is likely pleased to have "an opportunity to get the U.S. to lose its face" after the submarine arrived in South Korea.
Tae, now a South Korean lawmaker, said North Korea was unlikely to return King easily because he is a soldier from a nation technically at war with North Korea, and he voluntarily went to the North. https://eu.jsonline.com/story/news/2...w/70436948007/
According to the U.S. military "serious incident report" cited by The Messenger, in May King had booked two different DMZ tours, prior to his 50-day detention. He wasn't able to make the first tour, but was confirmed for the second, scheduled for Tuesday.
At the JSA, however, the tourists would get the chance to step across the border into North Korea itself, inside one of the iconic blue buildings that straddles the border and used for negotiations.
It all happened pretty quickly with American and South Korean guards shouting "get him" and unsuccessfully trying to stop King from crossing.
The Messenger reported King ran to the back of a building where he entered a van and was driven out of the area by North Korean troops.
King's exact whereabouts are still unknown, as well as what happens next.
When a U.S. soldier defects, North Korea has to create a security and surveillance team for them, and arrange an interpreter, a private vehicle, driver and lodging, said former North Korean diplomat Tae Yong-ho, who is a now a member of South Korea's parliament.
Pyongyang has typically treated American and other Western detainees or defectors well to avoid political blowback.
Detainees are often housed in the North Korean equivalent of a four-star hotel.
Still, analysts suggested King's stay in North Korea could be lengthy.
He willingly walked across the border because he didn’t want to face disciplinary action. Everything that is happening to him is self inflicted.
How can the country “unify†over this? Was the country “unified†over Bowe Bergdahl?
You act like this kid was minding his own business and got snatched by the North Koreans.
I’m sure his parents are worried about him, but that still doesn’t change the fact that he did this to himself.
Lastly, how do you know that the North Koreans will treat him poorly? They have treated some past defectors fairly decent.
I agree. This is a **** poor example to preach unification. We generally want to help those who have been wronged, who are in a bind due to no fault of their own. As much as I despise the NK regime, can't say that's the case here.
That said, I don't wish the guy ill and do pray for his release. But I'm not exactly marching on Washington or losing sleep over him either.
According to the U.S. military "serious incident report" cited by The Messenger, in May King had booked two different DMZ tours, prior to his 50-day detention. He wasn't able to make the first tour, but was confirmed for the second, scheduled for Tuesday.
At the JSA, however, the tourists would get the chance to step across the border into North Korea itself, inside one of the iconic blue buildings that straddles the border and used for negotiations.
It all happened pretty quickly with American and South Korean guards shouting "get him" and unsuccessfully trying to stop King from crossing.
The Messenger reported King ran to the back of a building where he entered a van and was driven out of the area by North Korean troops.
King's exact whereabouts are still unknown, as well as what happens next.
When a U.S. soldier defects, North Korea has to create a security and surveillance team for them, and arrange an interpreter, a private vehicle, driver and lodging, said former North Korean diplomat Tae Yong-ho, who is a now a member of South Korea's parliament.
Pyongyang has typically treated American and other Western detainees or defectors well to avoid political blowback.
Detainees are often housed in the North Korean equivalent of a four-star hotel.
Still, analysts suggested King's stay in North Korea could be lengthy.
Interesting that he bolted to the other side from inside the building instead of how I imagined, which was lined up on the steps outside. I’ve been inside the building, I think everyone cycles through there as part of the tour.
Imagine a building that has a door at each end of the building and there is a conference table in the middle. It is set up that way so the delegations from both sides can enter the building from their respective sides for a meeting, and then they exit back the same way.
On a side note, there are also flags encased in frames hung along the walls. They told us the story how there used to be normal flags on poles lined along the conference room wall, but they caught a North Korean delegation once inside the room desecrating the American flag by using it to polish their boots. So that’s why the flags were all encased in glass, to prevent that from happening.
To be honest though, when I was inside, it wasn’t clear to me that the doors leading to the North Korean side were unlocked. That’s why I assumed he bolted towards the North Korean side from outside the building, because there was plenty of space to do so.
As far as signing up for the tour, I’m a little confused by that. I didn’t recall the sign up procedures being so stringent. I just paid my money and went, of course, it’s been about 12 years since I went, so either I don’t remember correctly or they changed the rules on who can go.
Lastly, him breaking down over a cousin’s death, and that’s why he committed acts of violence and then bolted to North Korea, seems a bit of a stretch to me. I’m not trying to be callous here, but seriously? That’s just reaching to try and excuse the behavior. Maybe it will work for some, but it doesn’t work for me. That’s not how you act, and I don’t buy the mental illness defense that is floating around, either.
According to the U.S. military "serious incident report" cited by The Messenger, in May King had booked two different DMZ tours, prior to his 50-day detention. He wasn't able to make the first tour, but was confirmed for the second, scheduled for Tuesday.
At the JSA, however, the tourists would get the chance to step across the border into North Korea itself, inside one of the iconic blue buildings that straddles the border and used for negotiations.
It all happened pretty quickly with American and South Korean guards shouting "get him" and unsuccessfully trying to stop King from crossing.
The Messenger reported King ran to the back of a building where he entered a van and was driven out of the area by North Korean troops.
King's exact whereabouts are still unknown, as well as what happens next.
When a U.S. soldier defects, North Korea has to create a security and surveillance team for them, and arrange an interpreter, a private vehicle, driver and lodging, said former North Korean diplomat Tae Yong-ho, who is a now a member of South Korea's parliament.
Pyongyang has typically treated American and other Western detainees or defectors well to avoid political blowback.
Detainees are often housed in the North Korean equivalent of a four-star hotel.
Still, analysts suggested King's stay in North Korea could be lengthy.
It seems unusual to me that they had a van ready to whisk him away, like they knew he was coming. Or, OK, maybe that was dumb luck.
To actually thrive there, he needs to learn to speak Korean. He's so far not showing the kind of mental horsepower that would require.
But, hey, whatever punishment he was expecting back in the States, I guess he's off the hook for that.
It seems unusual to me that they had a van ready to whisk him away, like they knew he was coming. Or, OK, maybe that was dumb luck.
To actually thrive there, he needs to learn to speak Korean. He's so far not showing the kind of mental horsepower that would require.
But, hey, whatever punishment he was expecting back in the States, I guess he's off the hook for that.
When I was at the DMZ, I remember seeing on the North side these goofy looking bongo vans, which I assumed, was used to transport nK troops from wherever they worked to the DMZ for guard duty.
That would surprise me greatly if they had a heads up that it was going to happen. What I suspect is that he came across, shocked everyone, and perhaps there were no senior leaders at the DMZ at that exact moment, so they whisked him into the van right away and drove him to wherever the senior leaders work out of. nK, like at lot of militaries around the world, have extremely centralized command and control. Junior troops make hardly any decisions on their own.
So I assume they were in a heightened state of alert, almost panic, and knew they had to immediately get this kid to someone in charge.
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