According to reports, the mother of an American who was detained by North Korea for crossing the border during a DMZ tour has a message: “I only want to hear his voice.”
Claudine Gates, a U.S. Army Pvt. Travis King has now been in the secluded country for over two weeks after the July 18th incident.
“I used to be a very, happy person.” “I’m just worried,” she said. “Please, please send me my Valentine back home.” “I miss him so badly.” “I just want to hear his voice.”
Gates and Myron, Gates’ brother, claim that King sent them coded messages via text, phone, and YouTube, in the days leading up to his disappearance.
ABC News reported that Gates received a call one night from King, who screamed “I’m Not the Army Soldier You Want Me To Be” and hung up.
“When he went to Korea for the first time, he sent pictures home. He was so happy. Then, over time, he started to fade away. “I didn’t hear anything from him anymore,” said she.
The Pentagon stated earlier this week the United Nations had been in contact with North Korea regarding the detention of King.
Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder confirmed that “the DPRK responded to United Nations Command” (UNC).
Ryder stated, “I will tell you that, as we have said previously, United Nations Command communicated or provided some communication through well-established communication channels.”
He added, “I don’t know of any significant progress I can read out.”
A U.S. spokesperson for Forces Korea said that King, who was on an orientation tour of the joint security area last month, “willfully crossed the Military Demarcation line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” without authorization.
According to an official King was to be removed from the military, and was supposed to go back to the U.S. but he left the airport and went to the DMZ.
