US declines to invoke prisoner-of-war status for soldier who crossed into North Korea

WASHINGTON – The United States has declined so far to classify army Private Travis King as a prisoner of war, despite his being taken into North Korean custody after he crossed into the country in July, four US officials told Reuters.

The decision, which could mean Pte King is not covered by the protections entitled to prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention, is highly sensitive for the US military given its commitment to leave no soldier behind enemy lines.

How to classify the 23-year-old, who

dashed across the heavily guarded border

during a civilian tour of the demilitarised zone separating North Korea and South Korea, has been an open question for the military.

As an active-duty soldier, he might appear to qualify as a POW, given that the United States and North Korea technically remain at war. The 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

But factors including

Pte King’s decision to cross into North Korea of his own free will, in civilian attire,

appear to have disqualified him from that status, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on Pte King’s POW status, but said the defence department’s priority was to bring him home and

it was working to achieve that through all available channels.

“Private King must be treated humanely in accordance with international law,” the spokesman said.

Washington has conveyed that message in private communications to Pyongyang, the US officials said, adding that those communications have not invoked POW status.

The US still has the option to call Pte King a POW. A US official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said there was no final decision and that the US view on Pte King’s status could evolve as it learns more about his case.

The State Department referred a request for comment to the Pentagon. White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Protections for captives

Prisoners of war are protected by the Third Geneva Convention, to which North Korea and the US are signatories. That agreement details standards for the treatment of captives, ensuring everything from sufficient medical care and Red Cross access, to the ability of prisoners to send messages to their families.

Rachel Van Landingham, a military law expert at Southwestern Law School, said Pte King would benefit from being classified as a POW, even if that could be seen legally as a stretch.

“It provides a much clearer, very structured framework for exactly how they’re to treat him down to the number of cigarettes a day they’re required to give him if he asks,” she said.

It is not clear that labelling Pte King a POW would change how the isolated North Korean government treats him. Pyongyang, which continues to develop nuclear weapons in violation of United Nations resolutions, has repeatedly shown it is not willing to be bound by international law.

In any case, said Mr Geoffrey Corn, a military law expert at Texas Tech University School of Law, it would be difficult for the US to assert that Pte King is a prisoner of war – in part because there was no active fighting at the time on the peninsula.

“He wasn’t really captured in the context of hostilities. If that happened to us, we’d probably designate him as an undocumented alien who crossed the border without a visa,” Mr Corn said.

Pte King, who joined the US Army in January 2021, had served as a Cavalry Scout with the Korean Rotational Force, part of the decades-old US security commitment to South Korea.

But his posting was dogged by legal troubles.

He faced two allegations of assault in South Korea, and eventually pleaded guilty to one instance of assault and destroying public property for damaging a police car during a profanity-laced tirade against Koreans, according to court documents.

After serving time in detention in South Korea, Pte King had been due to face military disciplinary action on his return to Fort Bliss, Texas.

There are precedents for using the POW designation in cases where the US was not in an active war.

The US awarded prisoner of war medals to Mr Christopher Stone, Mr Andrew Ramirez and Mr Steven Gonzales who were held for more than a month by Yugoslavia after being captured on March 31, 1999 during a Nato peacekeeping mission. And navy Lieutenant Robert Goodman was also awarded the medal after he was captured in 1983 in Lebanon and taken prisoner in Syria for a month after his aircraft was shot down.

The Pentagon has so far described Pte King’s formal status as “AWOL”, or absent without leave. He would automatically be declared a deserter after 30 days being AWOL, according to military regulations.

Mr Corn said he could be declared a deserter sooner, given the likelihood Pte King knew his decision had ended his military career.

“He can’t really run across that border without the knowledge and arguably the intent to remain away permanently,” Mr Corn said. REUTERS