U.S. tourist defects to North Korea at border: UN Command

One American touring the Joint Security Area (JSA) at the inter-Korean border on Tuesday crossed over to the North Korean side, the United Nations Command said.

โ€œA U.S. National on a JSA orientation tour crossed, without authorization, the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [DPRK],โ€ the UN Command said in a statement, referring to the North by its official name.

The command said the U.S. citizen was โ€œin DPRK custody,โ€ adding that it was communicating with the North Korean military to โ€œresolve this incident.โ€

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]