King, who had recently been released from a South Korean prison, had been escorted by the military to Incheon International Airport outside Seoul, the capital, for possible further disciplinary action in the United States.
But instead of proceeding to his gate, a senior administration official told NBC News, he joined a commercial tour group headed for the Joint Security Area. The truce village, also known as Panmunjom, is about an hour and a half from the airport and is the only place along the approximately 155-mile Demilitarized Zone where North and South Korea interact
Sarah Leslie, a tourist from New Zealand who was in King’s group, said the tour was nearing its end and the group was “sort of milling around” under the watchful eyes of South Korean and American soldiers, while soldiers on the North Korean side appeared to be inside a building.
Suddenly, she noticed a man “running what looked like full gas towards the North Korean side,” she told The Associated Press.
The South Korean and American soldiers ordered the rest of the group inside and chased after King but couldn’t catch him.
“Everybody was stunned and shocked,” Leslie said. “There were some people who hadn’t even realized what was going on.”
King was fined 5 million won (US$3,950) in February by a court in Seoul on charges including damaging public property, according to South Korean court documents. He was accused of repeatedly kicking a police patrol car in Seoul last year, causing several hundred dollars in damage.
He did not cooperate when apprehended by officers at the scene and was shouting profanities about Koreans and the Korean Army.
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