众议院外交事务委员会主席迈克尔·麦克考尔周日表示，他担心朝鲜会要求美国做出让步，以换取释放美国人特拉维斯·金这名士兵上周从韩国越境逃跑。
“他叛变了吗?我认为更多的是逃避他的问题得克萨斯州共和党人麦克考尔告诉美国广播公司(ABC)“本周”节目的联合主播玛莎·拉达茨(Martha Raddatz)，他指的是金在当地发生口角后在韩国被拘留近两个月后在美国受到的纪律处分。
“那是错误的地方。但是我们在俄罗斯、中国、伊朗看到这种情况——当他们俘虏一名美国人，特别是一名士兵时，他们为此索取代价。“而这正是我所担心的。”
官员们说，23岁的陆军二等兵金上周早些时候在返回美国的途中，离开了首尔机场，加入了一个参观朝鲜和韩国边境的旅行团，然后在周二进入朝鲜。
他原本计划飞往德克萨斯州，面对“因外国定罪而未决的行政隔离行动”，并于最近从韩国拘留所释放了47天。
自从金进入朝鲜以来，美国与朝鲜没有正式关系，朝鲜没有对有关他的身份的询问做出回应，拜登政府表示将继续推动。在通过军方发表的一份声明中，金的家人说，“在我们为儿子的安全返回而努力时，我们要求隐私。”
尽管一名官员说，去年他说他不会回到美国，但公开的情况仍然不清楚到底是什么促使金逃离。
“我确信他没有受到很好的对待，”麦克考尔周日说。“我认为他犯了一个严重的错误，我希望我们能让他回来。”
在这张2023年4月27日的资料照片中，众议员迈克尔·麦克考尔在华盛顿特区美国国会大厦的新闻发布会上发言
彭博通过盖蒂图片，文件
随着美国四十年来首次在韩国停靠一艘弹道导弹核潜艇，金号事件正在展开。美国海军肯塔基号的出现-Raddatz独家巡回演出——在釜山引起了朝鲜的强烈抗议，试射了一枚洲际弹道导弹本月初。
“这是个好主意吗?”雷达兹向麦克考尔逼问潜艇的存在。“为什么是现在?”
“这是一种力量的投射，我们现在需要它来阻止侵略，”麦克考尔说。“我们看到了非常咄咄逼人的态势——不仅是朝鲜和在日本海发射的火箭，还有我们看到的来自中国(在台湾问题上)的挑衅。”
“朝鲜需要知道我们在那里，我们拥有潜艇和核潜艇优势。我们需要让他们和Xi主席明白，如果他们做出任何军事上的侵略行为，将会有后果，”麦克考尔补充道，他指的是中国领导人习近平。
当被问及经过几十年失败的谈判和压力后，美国可以采取哪些不同的措施来遏制朝鲜的核野心时，麦克考尔承认这个循环并不成功。“这似乎从来没有工作...你说得对，”他告诉拉达茨。
“这非常复杂，”他表示，暗示另一种选择将是“非常有创意的外交”，同时指出朝鲜在未来与中国的军事行动中的潜在作用。
“我认为，你在那里看到(印度-)太平洋司令部舰队的原因是为了在与台湾发生冲突的情况下威慑和限制朝鲜，”他说。
'I worry' about 'price' to get soldier Travis King back from North Korea, McCaul says
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul said Sunday that he's concerned North Korea will demand concessions from the United States in exchange for releasing AmericanTravis King, the soldier who last week fled across the border from South Korea.
"Is he defecting? I thinkit was more running from his problems," McCaul, R-Texas, told ABC "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz, referencing King's pending discipline in the U.S. after being detained in South Korea for nearly two months following a local altercation.
"That was the wrong place to go. But we see this with Russia, China, Iran -- when they take an American, particularly a soldier, captive, they exact a price for that," McCaul said. "And that's what I worry about."
Officials have said that King, a 23-year-old Army private 2nd class, had been on his way back to the U.S. early last week when, instead, he left the airport in Seoul, joined a tour group visiting the border between North and South Korea -- and then bolted across, entering North Korea on Tuesday.
He had been scheduled to fly to Texas to face a "pending administrative separation actions for foreign conviction" and had recently been released from 47 days in a South Korean detention facility.
Since King entered the country, North Korea -- with whom the U.S. does not have formal relations -- has not responded to inquiries about his status, as the Biden administration says it continues to push. In a statement via the Army, King's family said, "We request privacy as we work toward our son's safe return."
It remains publicly unclear what exactly motivated King to flee, though an official said that last year he said he would not return to America.
"I'm sure that he's not being treated very well," McCaul said Sunday. "I think it was a serious mistake on his part, and I hope we can get him back."
The King incident is unfolding as the U.S., for the first time in four decades, docks a nuclear ballistic missile submarine in South Korea. The presence of the USS Kentucky --which Raddatz exclusively toured-- in Busan has drawn outcry from North Korea,which test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missileearlier this month.
"Is that a good idea?" Raddatz pressed McCaul of the submarine's presence. "Why now?"
"It's a projection of strength that we need right now to deter aggression," McCaul said. "We're seeing a very aggressive -- not only North Korea and the rockets fired in the Sea of Japan, but also the aggression we see from China [regarding Taiwan]."
"North Korea needs to know that we're there and we have superiority with the submarines and nuclear subs. We need to get in their head and Chairman Xi's head that if they do anything that's aggressive militarily, there will be consequences to that," McCaul added, referencing Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
When asked what the U.S. could do differently to blunt North Korea's nuclear ambitions after decades of failed negotiation and pressure, McCaul acknowledged the cycle had not been successful. "That never seems to work ... you're right," he told Raddatz.
"It's a very complicated," he said, suggesting an alternative would be "very creative diplomacy" while pointing to North Korea's potential role in future military operations with China.
"I think the reason why you're seeing the [Indo-]Pacific Command fleet there is to deter and bottleneck up North Korea in the event of a conflict with Taiwan," he said.
