That's what one witness said.
A soldier from South Korea
yelled as a U.S.
soldier made a run for North Korea.
The 23 year old Travis
King was on a public
tour of the joint security area
where talks can take place
between the North
and South Korean officials.
It says Blue House is
you can walk in there,
but you just can only step over the line.
That's not what happened with him.
And we've got a new picture
taken just minutes
before he crossed the border.
You see him in this picture
on the left hand side of the photo
wearing a dark shirt and a black cap.
CNN speaking with the woman
who took this photo
and she says she thought it was a stunt
until she heard a soldier
on the South Korean side yell, get him
I thought
this was guy
doing it for a tick tock
stance on something
really, really stupid like that.
But he didn't stop.
And then
at that stage,
one of the American soldiers said,
get inside.
You know, let's run.
Get inside one of us.
Will Ripley is OUTFRONT
live near the DMZ.
And Will
What can you tell us about
how easy it was for the soldier
to make a run for North Korea?
And do you know anything
about where he is right now?
Well, we know that he would have driven
basically on this exact bridge
here, Aaron, pass
the security checkpoint.
This is the Unification Bridge.
They only opened it to the traffic
and when I say traffic,
I mean people who work there
for about an hour
and a half in the morning each day.
So these cars would have to go through
security, check here,
then drive down
about five miles
when they get to that joint
security area.
Now, when he was actually walking
near the dividing line between North
and South Korea,
there were armed guards on both sides.
But the North
doesn't have a lot of guards right now
because of COVID.
So actually, it's believed
that he sprinted across
and was able to jump into a van
with North Korean guards
who drove him away.
But his location right now
still unknown Erin.
It's absolutely incredible
to think he would make that choice.
And his family, I know, is speaking out.
What are they saying? Well,
Well, look,
his brother
was speaking with ABC
saying that they understand
the gravity of the situation.
His mother
telling ABC News
that she was shocked,
saying she could not imagine
her son, Travis doing anything like this.
And actually,
we have some sound from the brother,
which we're
going to play for you right now.
We understand
the gravity of the situation.
It's a
very massive and unfortunate thing.
My mom's lost a son before,
which is wrong.
So this is weighing very heavily on her
And right now,
there's no information available,
at least publicly, about where
this Army private is,
where he's being held inside North Korea.
He could likely be quarantined
because they're very worried
about COVID 19
with an unvaccinated population.
But, Erin,
they're also going
to want to question him
extensively about his military background
to see if he has
any valuable intelligence.
Of course,
he wasn't in the Army for very long.
So his propaganda and intelligence value
for the North Koreans may be limited,
which means he could just be sitting,
waiting possibly for quite some time.
Will Ripley, thank you very much.
From right outside the DMZ there.
And raising
that bridge, right,
only open for an hour and a half each way
a day for people to go through.
It is a tight security zone.
OUTFRONT now,
retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling,
our CNN military analyst.
General Hertling,
this soldier was a private assigned
to the First Armored Division,
which you commanded.
You know,
you and I were both been to the DMZ.
I mean, to just sort of run over it.
I mean, it's
sort of unfathomable
to imagine someone doing it,
and yet he did.
How big of a problem is this for the U.S.
government at this point?
It's going to be a problem, Erin.
You know,
one of the things
we have an expression
in the Army
that you spend about 90 as a leader
you spend
about 95% of your time
on 5% of your people.
This young private was one of those
kind of people
we're going to be spending
a lot of time on.
You know, it's going to be difficult.
He's a young private.
He's been in the Army two years.
23 years old.
He's a private E-2,
which means if he's been in the Army
two years,
he's probably gotten in trouble before
and has been busted in rank.
He is known to
have had some disciplinary problems.
They're sending him back to Fort Bliss,
Texas,
the home of the First Armored Division.
As you said that I commanded.
So this whole thing is interesting.
It's going to cause problems
for the State Department
because we don't have a status
of forces agreement. With North Korea.
And by that,
I mean there's no negotiations
when a soldier does something wrong
to get him back and punish him,
not punish him
under the uniform code
of military justice. They have him.
And he's not going to have give them
a whole lot of actionable intelligence
because he is a young private
as a cavalry scout.
He probably doesn't have that much
that he can give the North Koreans.
So then, you know,
you heard will say
they don't know where he is.
Could be quarantine, could never mean
is this just going to be a long time that
he's there then?
I suspect that's going to be true.
And North Korea,
as they always
do, are going to make
the most of the propaganda.
They're going to talk about
how undisciplined U.S.
soldiers are
that they are trying
to get into North Korea,
that they don't
want to conform
to the Western ways of South Korea,
and they'd much rather be in the North.
So we're going to hear
those kinds of mantras
coming from the North Korean government.
And they're just going
to delay action on this guy
and probably
just deliver him back someday soon.
But his parents and his family
are going to be very concerned about him.
But it was him doing this action.
I mean, it is it is unbelievable.
Now, of course,
obviously, it's not related,
but it comes on the same day
as North Korea tested
two short range ballistic missiles.
20 ballistic missile tests
so far this year from Kim
Jong un
ICBM with a record
breaking 74 minute flight time.
His sister has also risen in power,
fiery rhetoric.
She threatened the U.S.,
saying the price of the United States
provoking us will never be light.
And now they're
showing off a submarine
they say can carry 80 nuclear warheads.
So what does all this add up to
it?
Well, the submarine is a U.S.
submarine docked
in a port in South Korea.
And it's a very strong message
to the president of North Korea that hey,
don't threaten us with nuclear weapons,
because we will have the capability to go
one on one
and then some with you
with these kind of submarines.
It's interesting
that that's reported today,
because usually
the submarines are a silent service.
You don't know where they are.
So to have that go into a port
and actually take photos of it
and show it on
South Korean
media tells me that this is a messaging
by the U.S.
Navy and the State Department
to have the North Koreans
back down a little bit
from some of these rocket launchers,
which, by the way,
are not connected at all
to this young private
going across the border.
Those were all conducted before
or during the time
when he ran across the border.
Right. Right.
And, of course, require
advanced planning.
Well, thank you so much, General.
I appreciate your time, as always.
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