Image source, EPA
Image caption, A file picture shows the bridge near the border checkpoints between North Korea and South Korea at the Military Demarcation Line
By Antoinette Radford
BBC News
A US national has been detained in North Korea after crossing the border, a UN body says.
The United Nations Command, which operates the Demilitarized Zone and joint security area (JSA) said the man did not have authorisation.
"We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our KPA counterparts to resolve this incident", it said.
BBC News has contacted the US Department of State for comment.
The man is believed to be the only US citizen currently in North Korean custody.
The KPA is the Korean People's Army - North Korea's military. The Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separates the two Koreas and is one of the most heavily fortified areas in the world.
It is filled with landmines, surrounded by electric and barbed wire fencing and surveillance cameras. Armed guards are supposed to be on alert 24 hours a day.
The DMZ has separated the two countries since the Korean War in the 1950s. The war ended with an armistice, meaning that the two sides are still technically at war.
Dozens of people try to escape North Korea every year, fleeing poverty and famine, but defections across the DMZ are extremely dangerous and rare.
The last time a soldier defected at the JSA was in 2017, when a North Korean soldier drove a vehicle, then ran by foot across the military demarcation line, South Korea said at the time.
The soldier was shot at 40 times, but survived. It is unclear why the US national crossed the border on Tuesday.
Before the pandemic more than 1,000 people fled from North Korea to China every year, according to numbers released by the South Korean government.
There are currently six South Koreans in custody in North Korea.
Relations between the US and the north plummeted in 2017 after a US student who had been arrested a year earlier for stealing a propaganda sign was returned to the US in a comatose state and later died.
Three US citizens were later freed during Donald Trump's presidency in 2018. But ultimately, a series of talks held between Kim Jong Un and the former president did little to improve the relationship.
North Korea has since tested dozens of ballistic missiles, which were met by a slew of sanctions by the US and its allies.
The detainment of the US national comes on the same day as a US nuclear-capable submarine docked in South Korea for the first time since 1981.
The submarine was specifically supplied to help the country deal with the nuclear threat posed by North Korea.
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