The US has declined so far to classify army soldier Travis King as a prisoner of war (PoW) despite his being detained in North Korea after he crossed into the country last month, four American officials told Reuters.
The decision, which could mean King is not covered by the protections entitled to prisoners of war under the Geneva conventions, 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 demilitarized zone separating North 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 US and North Korea technically remain at war. The Korean war waged from 1950 to 1953 ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
But factors including 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 defense department spokesperson declined to comment on King’s PoW status but said the Pentagon’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 spokesperson 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 King a PoW. A US official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said there was no final decision and that the American view on King’s status could evolve as it learns more about his case.
The US state department referred a request for comment to the Pentagon. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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.
Southwestern Law School military law expert Rachel VanLandingham said 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.
Yet it is not clear that labeling King a PoW would change how the isolated North Korean government treats him. Pyongyang, which continues to develop nuclear weapons in violation of UN resolutions, has repeatedly shown it is unwilling to be bound by international law.
In any case, Texas Tech University School of Law military law expert Geoffrey Corn said it would be difficult for the US to assert that 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,” Corn said. “If that happened to us, we’d probably designate him as an undocumented alien who crossed the border without a visa.”
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. King 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, he 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 Christopher Stone, Andrew Ramirez and Steven Gonzales who were held for more than a month by Yugoslavia after being captured on 31 March 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 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.
Corn said King could be declared a deserter sooner, given the likelihood that he knew his decision had ended his military career.
English (US)