If this guy really wanted to defect he would have flown to China and walked across the border there where it is much easier than trying to cross the DMZ. I think it is more likely that this is just some confused or mentally challenged old guy or someone looking for attention:
South Korean police have arrested a U.S. citizen who allegedly entered a restricted border area near North Korea without permission.
A 58-year-old man from Louisiana identified only as “A” was detained Monday after crossing the Civilian Control Line near the heavily fortified frontier, according to South Korea’s defense ministry.
People must have a permit to enter the area, which is just south of the Demilitarized Zone, a 2.2-mile wide, 150-mile-long no man’s land that divides the peninsula. It’s also the site of several tourist attractions.
Military officials initially said they believed the man traveled to South Korea planning to enter the North for political purposes. But investigators, who have turned the case over to local police, later said they had determined he had no communist connections. [Stars & Stripes]
The fog can get very think around the Imjim River area where Panmunjom is located. I have been out in the field before north of the Imjim where people got lost because of how thick the fog was and had to yell for people to assist them to get back to their vehicle. If the fog was that thick I can understand why the Secret Service would not want to land the helicopter. However, you would think they would have had a Plan B to get the President there by car:
A surprise visit by President Donald Trump to the heavily fortified Korean demilitarized zone was thwarted by bad weather Wednesday — a day after Trump modulated his aggressive rhetoric and urged North Korea to come to the negotiating table.
Trump had been scheduled to make the unannounced early-morning trip to the DMZ amid heightened tensions between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
Marine One left Seoul at daybreak and flew most of the way to the DMZ but was forced to turn back just five minutes out due to poor weather conditions. Reporters traveling in a chinook helicopter as part of the president’s envoy saw fog out the helicopters’ windows, and weather reports from near the heavily fortified border showed misting conditions and visibility below one mile. Pilots, officials said, could not see the other helicopters in the air.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president was disappointed he couldn’t make the trip. “I think he’s pretty frustrated,” she told reporters traveling with the president. “It was obviously something he wanted to do.”
Before he left for Asia, a White House official had ruled out the DMZ trip for Trump, claiming the president didn’t have time on his schedule and that DMZ visits have become a little cliché.
But Sanders said the visit had been planned well before Trump’s departure for Asia. The trip was kept secret, Sanders said, for security reasons.
Trump had been scheduled to make the visit with South Korean president Moon Jae-in, who traveled separately and landed about a 20-minute drive from the DMZ. Sanders said the military and the U.S. Secret Service had deemed that landing would not be safe, and Trump deferred to them. [Stars & Stripes]
As the below picture shows US Defense Secretary Mattis decided not to wear his old Marine uniform to the DMZ like he previously indicated he would:
South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo (R) and U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis issue their statements on North Korea at the truce village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone on Oct. 27, 2017. (Joint Press Corps-Yonhap)
Mattis arrived in South Korea earlier in the day. Shortly after landing at Camp Bonifas by Black Hawk chopper, he and Song headed to the OP Ouellette, a hilltop border post, and looked around a bunker underneath the facilities only 25 meters away from the North’s territory.
They were briefed on Panmunjom by U.S. Army Col. Steve Lee, secretary of the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission (UNCMAC). They then toured the UNCMAC’s blue-colored conference building which stands on the Military Demarcation Line.
The North’s guards closely monitored the ministers’ activities, with a group of tourists looking down from the Panmungak building in the North.
In their Clark talks, the South’s minister proposed Mattis, a former Marine Corps general, wear a combat uniform for the DMZ trip to send a highly symbolic message to the North. Mattis responded positively to the offer at that time, according to Song.
But Mattis was dressed in a suit as usual after internal consultations apparently in order to avoid possible controversy over a dress code reflecting the U.S. defense secretary’s public availability.
Asked whether President Donald Trump can travel to the DMZ when he visits South Korea early next month, Mattis was guarded.
Following the DMZ tour, he paid a courtesy call on President Moon Jae-in at Cheong Wa Dae and met with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha. [Yonhap]
If the ROK government and the State Department have their way, the answer is no:
It has become the ultimate symbol of American resolve against the threat of North Korea: a visit by the U.S. commander in chief to “freedom’s frontier,” the heavily guarded Demilitarized Zone that has separated the North and South for 64 years.
Wearing bomber-style jackets, surrounded by military officers, peering through binoculars, all but one president since Ronald Reagan has gazed across the barren strip of land at the 38th parallel from an observation post — and been moved to talk tough. In April, Vice President Mike Pence, undertaking the same solemn ritual, said he toured the DMZ so the North Koreans could “see our resolve in my face.”
But as President Donald Trump prepares for a 12-day swing next month through five Asian nations to bolster international pressure on Pyongyang, the administration is divided over whether he should make the pilgrimage, an issue that remains unresolved. Some aides worry a visit could further inflame already heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula, while others have expressed concern over Trump’s personal safety, according to people who have spoken to administration officials.
Asian foreign policy veterans of both the Obama and George W. Bush administrations said it would be foolish for Trump not to go. But the White House is facing opposition from South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s administration and the U.S. State Department over fears that a visit would ratchet up Trump’s war of words with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but if people are worried about President Trump saying something provocative about North Korea during his visit does the location really matter? As far as his personal safety does anyone really think the North Koreans will assassinate President Trump while visiting Panmunjom and start a war that will end the regime? I guess we will see how this plays out.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop (R) and Defense Minister Marise Payne answer reporters’ questions during a visit to the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom on Oct. 12, 2017. (Yonhap)
Staff Sgts. Hah Jae-hun (L), who lost both of his legs in a land mine explosion blamed on North Korea during a search operation inside the Demilitarized Zone on Aug. 4, 2015, and Kim Jeong-won, who also lost one of his legs, pose in front of the “Peace Foot” statue during a ceremony to mark the 2nd anniversary of the North’s attack in Paju, north of Seoul, on Aug. 4, 2017. Three land mines were allegedly buried by North Korean soldiers. (Yonhap)
It looks like the North Koreans have flown another drone over the DMZ:
South Korean troops fired warning shots at an “unidentified object” flying across the heavily fortified border from North Korea Tuesday afternoon, the South’s military announced.
The military detected the object traversing the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) southward in the Chorwon area in the eastern province of Gangwon at around 4 p.m., according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
It added the South’s military fired warning shots along with dispatching a warning broadcast.
A defense source said the military fired more than 90 K-3 machine gun rounds, adding it may have been a drone.
The South’s military is analyzing the object and its route and has beefed up its air defense posture, said the JCS. [Yonhap]
It looks like the ROK military needs to get themselves fielded with these systems to counter the drones North Korea is increasingly using.
Here is another way for visitors to explore the DMZ area north of Seoul:
A DMZ train run by Korea Railroad Corp., or Korail. (Yonhap)
On a cold, snowy day earlier this week, diverse groups of people hopped aboard a special train at Seoul Station.
They headed to a place emblematic of South Korea’s hope for the “end of separation and the beginning of unification” on the peninsula.
“This train is bound for a civilian-restricted area,” a train attendant announced shortly after departure. “All passengers must fill out an application form, with passports or other identification cards checked.”
She was referring to the train’s final destination, a stone’s throw away from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a no man’s land which has served as the inter-Korean border for more than six decades. [Yonhap]
You can read more details about the DMZ train at the link, but it goes to the observatory at Dorasan Station and there is a monorail connection that takes visitors to the 3rd North Korean infiltration tunnel.
Between 1966-1970 soldiers stationed on the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) came in regular contact with North Korean infiltrators probing US military defenses in what became known as the “DMZ War”. Two examples of such incidents occurred the morning of August 10th, 1967 when North Korean infiltrators conducted two separate ambushes of 2nd and 7th Infantry Division soldiers:
The events that morning began when a 2nd Infantry Division military working dog by the name of “Blackie”, handled by Specialist Jack L. Tyrrell, were leading a squad sized patrol in the early morning hours. The patrol was sent out at dusk after a sentry during the night had heard a possible North Korean infiltrator near his post. As the patrol looked for the infiltrator Blackie smelled something suspicious and headed for a nearby tree. That is when a North Korean infiltrator sprung out from behind the tree and shot Blackie and SPC Tyrrell.
Ambush Prevented
After the initial firing more concealed North Koreans opened fire on the American patrol. However, the warning provided by Blackie had given the other members of the US patrol time to take cover. This allowed the Americans the opportunity to immediately return fire at the ambushers. The North Koreans realizing that their ambush had been compromised withdrew back towards the DMZ. The ambush cost Blackie his life, but no other Americans were killed with SPC Tyrrell being the only person wounded.
Work Detail Ambush
However, the ambush that Blackie had prematurely triggered was not the only ambush the North Koreans had planned that morning. US 7th Infantry Division soldiers from B company 2-31 Infantry Regiment had conducted a woodcutting mission inside the South Korean side of the DMZ that morning before returning to their camp for lunch around 11:45 AM. The soldiers moved south in a two truck convoy up a small hill in a drizzling rain. Each truck carried a platoon of US soldiers in the back of it. As the convoy approached the crest of the hill approximately 3-4 North Koreans appeared on the side of the lead truck and lobbed grenades at it. One of the grenades landed on the hood of the truck and killed the Platoon Sergeant Philip Boudreaux.
After the initial grenade attack more North Koreans opened up on the lead truck with small arms fire. In the ensuing ambush two more US soldiers, PFC Donald Craplicki and PFC Jerry Skaggs would be killed. The fatalities could have been much worse if it wasn’t for the actions of Specialist David Richardson who stood up on the back of the truck and returned fire at the ambushers while the other soldiers jumped out over the side of the truck and into an adjacent ditch to take cover. SPC Richardson was wounded by grenade fragments and shot twice, but incredibly continued to return fire. The return of fire from Richardson allowed platoon leader 2nd Lieutenant David Colwell who rode in the second truck to organize a response to the ambush.
While soldiers in the second truck took cover Colwell crawled up the hill to the first truck to check on the status of the soldiers. After helping to get wounded soldiers in the ambush zone out of the truck and administering first aid he ran back down the hill to order a soldier to run to a nearby outpost to request reinforcements. Other soldiers in the second truck then pushed forward to return fire at the ambushers. The firefight lasted about 30 minutes before the North Koreans withdrew back across the DMZ. No North Korean bodies were found, but US soldiers reported seeing some of the ambushers shot and blood was later found at the scene.
The aftermath from the ambush left the US with 3 soldiers killed in action, 16 more wounded and one ROK Army Korean Augmentee to the US Army (KATUSA) also wounded. 2LT Colwell would later go on to be recognized with a Bronze Star for his actions that morning. I could find no record of Specialist Richardson being awarded any valor medals, but it seems like he would have been a great candidate as well.
November 25, 1967 edition of the Stars & Stripes newspaper announcing the Bronze Star awarded to 2nd Lieutenant David Colwell.
Ambush Aftermath
A few days after the ambush the United Nations Command officially protested the aggression during the 253rd meeting of the military armistice commission. During the meeting the UNC spokesman Major General Marvin Demler blasted the North Korean delegation for the deadly attacks. North Korean spokesman Major General Chung Kuk-pak had the audacity to claim that if any UN soldiers had been killed it was because they shot each other by mistake. Later in the meeting Maj. Gen. Demler responded to the North Korean subterfuge by saying, “My colleagues and I agree that the proper assessment of this situation is that every ass likes to hear himself bray.” Demler continued to say that the UNC would “hunt down and kill or capture all North Korean communist intruders.” Despite Demler’s tough talking the North Koreans would go on two weeks later to launch an even more deadly ambush on Camp Liberty Bell that left 4 soldiers dead and 26 wounded to further escalate the growing DMZ War.
August 18, 1967 edition of the Pacific Stars and Stripes newspaper.
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