U.S. national crosses into North Korea “without authorization” during border tour, U.N. says

A U.S. national crossed into North Korea and is believed to be in the custody of the country’s forces, the United Nations Command, which operates the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, said Tuesday.

“A U.S. National on a JSA orientation tour crossed, without authorization, the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our KPA counterparts to resolve this incident.”

Local media said a foreign tourist who was visiting the Military Demarcation Line crossed over at 3:27 p.m. local time (7:27 a.m. Eastern).

A person who said they witnessed the event and was part of the same tour group told CBS News they had just visited one of the buildings at the site when “this man gives out a loud ‘ha ha ha,’ and just runs in between some buildings.”

The witness said the event organizers and others on the tour didn’t immediately react to the man’s actions.

“I thought it was a bad joke at first, but when he didn’t come back, I realized it wasn’t a joke, and then everybody reacted and things got crazy.”

The witness said there were no North Korean soldiers visible where the man ran, and that they were told there haven’t been since the coronavirus pandemic, when the North attempted to completely seal its borders to the outside world.  

They said after the man ran across the border, the tour group was rushed back to the Freedom House for everyone to give statements and then taken to their bus.

“I’m telling you this because it actually hit me quite hard,” the witness said. “It was on the way back in the bus, and we got to one of the checkpoints…. Someone said we were 43 going in and 42 coming back.”

The demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea is one of the most heavily militarized borders in the world. The two Koreas remain technically at war, as fighting in the Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice agreement, not a full peace treaty. The United States has maintained a large troop presence in South Korea ever since.     

Emmet Lyons contributed to this report.