In North Korea, a U.S. citizen who crossed the border has been held by authorities and a UN body is looking into the circumstances surrounding the incident. The United Nations Command responsible for the Demilitarised Zone and joint security area stated that the person failed to show proper authorization on crossing the zone and the zone by land. North Korea said it did hold the U.S. national. Efforts are being made to resolve the matter.

Tension between America and North Korea began with an incident related to a U.S. student, Otto Warmbier whose travel was barred as he was arrested in 2016 for stealing propaganda signs and later died after his release in 2017 in what many believe to be a comatose state despite doctors' efforts to save him.

The Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) remains heavily fortified with landmines, fencing, surveillance cameras amid stories of defection across from Korea's seemingly full-blooded conventional villages. Defection across neutralized the process involved rare danger.

As the diplomatic situation unfolds, the U.S. Navy's U.S.S. Kentucky, a nuclear-powered submarine, arrived at South Korea's Busan naval base.