American soldier detained after crossing into North Korea

An American soldier crossed the heavily armed border from South Korea into North Korea “willfully and without authorisation,” US officials said Tuesday, becoming the first American detained in the North in nearly five years amid heightened tensions over its nuclear programme.

There were no immediate details about why or how the soldier crossed the border or whether the soldier was on duty. The four US officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter ahead of a public announcement.

The American-led UN Command overseeing the area tweeted earlier Tuesday that the detained US citizen was on a tour of the Korean border village of Panmunjom. The US military in South Korea said in a statement that he “willfully and without authorisation” crossed the military demarcation line into North Korea.

It said he is believed to be in North Korean custody and that the UN Command is working with its North Korean counterparts to resolve the incident. North Korea's state media didn't immediately report on the border crossing.

Cases of Americans or South Koreans defecting to North Korea are rare, though more than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea to avoid political oppression and economic difficulties since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Panmunjom, located inside the 248-kilometre-long Demilitarised Zone, has been jointly overseen by the UN Command and North Korea since its creation at the close of the Korean War. Bloodshed and gunfire have occasionally occurred there, but it has also been a venue for numerous talks and is a popular tourist spot.

Known for its blue huts straddling concrete slabs that form the demarcation line, Panmunjom draws visitors from both sides who want to see the Cold War's last frontier. No civilians live at Panmunjom. In the past, North and South Korean soldiers faced off within metres of each other.

Tours to the southern side of the village reportedly drew around 100,000 visitors a year before the pandemic, when South Korea restricted gatherings to slow the spread of COVID-19. The tours resumed fully last year.