Final word: US soldier defected to North Korea

By Compiled From Wire Service Dispatches With Analysis From Monitor Correspondents Around The World; Edited By Anne Shutt

September 20, 1982

Seoul

The United States announced that an American soldier missing since August 28 defected to North Korea for unknown motives.

A US military spokesman said an investigation conducted by the 2nd Infantry Division indicated PFC Joseph White crossed into Communist North Korea of his own free will. A search of his personal effects uncovered a large number of North Korean propaganda leaflets and newspaper articles about life in North Korea, he added.