Runaway soldier: American detained in North Korea
The Intelligence from The Economist
The Economist
4.5 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 20 July 2023
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Little is known about why he fled across the border into the hermit kingdom, but securing his release will require some tactical diplomacy. Given the tense relationship between both countries, is Kim Jong Un prepared to come to the table? A look at research which suggests gold might not always be an effective hedge against inflation (08:52). And, why mountains stop growing (15:42).
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist. I'm your host, Ore Agumbi. |
| 0:09.8 | Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 0:17.9 | In times of economic uncertainty, during wars, pandemic and bouts of high inflation, people |
| 0:24.3 | would typically put their money in gold. But is the shiny stuff still the safe haven |
| 0:29.4 | investment it used to be? Or has it lost its lustre? And mountains can get really, really |
| 0:38.8 | tall. But how do we other wondered what stopping them from getting even taller? Well, allow |
| 0:44.4 | our correspondent to explain. |
| 0:55.7 | But first. |
| 0:59.4 | The last amateur crossed the border at the Joint Security Area between North and South |
| 1:09.6 | Korea. It was in a hail of bullets. A Chong song, a North Korean soldier, was shot |
| 1:14.8 | in wooded five times by his comrades in 2017 as he sprinted towards South Korea in freedom. |
| 1:21.0 | But on July 18th, a young man crossed in the opposite direction. |
| 1:25.7 | Andrew Knox is our Korea's correspondent. |
| 1:27.9 | That young man has since been identified as private Travis King, an American soldier |
| 1:34.2 | in the first armored division. Mr. King was on a tour of the Joint Security Area, or |
| 1:39.3 | JSA as it's more commonly known. It's a very popular tourist attraction. He decided |
| 1:44.5 | to make a break for the North and sprinted towards the border. I witnessed his report |
| 1:48.9 | that he was laughing at the time. And tour guides tried to stop him, but they weren't successful. |
| 1:54.4 | He's now believed to be in North Korean custody. |
| 1:56.9 | Okay. What was Travis King's plan here? |
| 2:00.1 | It's really unclear at the moment. We've heard nothing from Mr. King since nor anything |
| 2:05.4 | from the North Koreans. And we really just don't know what his motives were in doing |
... |
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