The incident comes at a time of heightened tension on the Korean peninsula. The North has been pressing on with ballistic missiles tests, the latest timed for the arrival in the South of a US nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine for the first time since the 1980s.
Last week, the North launched its newest solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile which it said had the longest flight time ever, a test that experts described as a “remarkable” success.
King, 23, was on a civilian tour of the Panmunjom truce village on Tuesday when he suddenly dashed across the Military Demarcation Line that has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice.
King had been fined for assault while stationed in South Korea, and served detention before he was being escorted to the airport on Monday to board an American Airlines flight to Dallas, Texas, according to a media report and an airport official.
Once past security checks and at the departure gate, he told airline staff he had lost his airport and returned to the terminal, the airport official told Reuters on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
On Tuesday, King was with a group of about 40 on a full-day tour of the Joint Security Area (JSA) operated by South Korean company HanaTour ITC.
CHAOTIC SCENE UNFOLDS ON BORDER
In chaotic scenes, King made a dash between the iconic blue buildings that straddle the border and ran over the line, a witness who was on the same tour said.
“Someone ran close to me very fast and I thought, ‘What is going on?’,” Sarah Leslie from New Zealand told Reuters. “I don’t think anyone who was sane would want to go to North Korea, so I assumed it was some kind of stunt.”