U.S. continues to seek safe return of service member in N. Korean custody: state dept.

▲ State Department Press Secretary Matthew Miller is seen answering questions during a daily press briefing at the department in Washington on July 20, 2023 in this captured image. (Yonhap)

US soldier-N Korea

U.S. continues to seek safe return of service member in N. Korean custody: state dept.

By Byun Duk-kun

WASHINGTON, July 20 (Yonhap) -- The United States is continuing to work for the safe return of a U.S. service member who crossed the inter-Korean border into North Korea this week, state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Thursday.

The department spokesperson, however, declined to comment on whether North Korea has responded to U.S. outreach.

"I will say the case continues to be extremely high priority for the department," he told a press briefing when asked about the case.

The soldier, identified as Pvt. 2nd Class Travis King, crossed the military demarcation line at the Joint Security Area in the Demilitarized Zone on Tuesday (Korea time).

"The White House, the state department, the Pentagon, of course, are all continuing to work together on this matter to ascertain information about the well being and whereabouts of Private King," Miller said.

The state department spokesperson noted Wednesday that Pyongyang had not answered U.S. requests to confirm the safety of King.

"As I said yesterday, those discussions are quite sensitive ... So I'm not going to go into further details at this time," he told the press briefing when asked if the North has responded to U.S. messages.

Miller also declined to comment when asked if the North has at least acknowledged receiving U.S. messages sent earlier, saying, "All I am prepared to say today is that we have made clear to them, we have relayed messages to them that we are seeking information about his welfare and want him returned safely."

"I am just going to say we have confidence in our ability to send messages that they receive," he added.

(END)

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved