US soldier who fled to North Korea sentenced for desertion

Travis King, the American soldier who fled South Korea to North Korea last year before being sent home, has been sentenced to a year in detention and discharged from the military over outrage.

He was accused in particular of desertion in July 2023 and of assaulting a non-commissioned officer.

But with time already served and commendations for good conduct, the 24-year-old soldier is free, his legal team told the BBC.

At Friday's hearing at Fort Bliss, Texas, he pleaded guilty to five of the 14 military charges against him. The remaining charges were dismissed.

King joined the military in January 2021 and was in South Korea as part of a unit rotation when he crossed into North Korea.

At the hearing, King told military judge Lt. Col. Rick Mathew that he decided to flee the U.S. military because he was unhappy with his job and had been thinking about leaving for about a year before fleeing to North Korea.

“I wanted to desert the United States Army and never come back,” King said, according to reporters in the courtroom.

He also said he had been diagnosed with mental health issues, although he maintained he was fit to stand trial and understood the charges.

King's attorney, Franklin Rosenblatt, said in a statement that his client accepts full responsibility for what happened and added that King “has faced significant challenges in his life, including a difficult upbringing, exposure to criminal environments and mental health issues.”

“All of these factors compounded the difficulties he faced in the military,” Rosenblatt said.

The king entered North Korea illegally while on a civilian visit to the village of Panmunjom, located in the heavily guarded Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.

He joined the civilian tour after being released from a South Korean prison where he served nearly two months on charges of assaulting two people and kicking a police car.

After his release, he was flown to the airport to return to Fort Bliss and face disciplinary action. But instead of boarding the plane, King joined the civilian tour and eventually fled to North Korea, where he was arrested by local authorities.

At the time, North Korean media reported that he fled due to inhumane treatment and racism within the US military.

He became the first American to be detained in North Korea in nearly five years.

According to U.S. officials at the time, King was released two months later after intense diplomacy. He was flown by State Department plane to a U.S. air base in South Korea.

On September 28, 2023, he was flown back to Texas and has been in custody there ever since.

The following month, he was charged by the U.S. military with desertion, kicking and punching other officers, illegal possession of alcohol, making a false statement and possessing a video of a child engaged in sexual activity.

The king pleaded guilty to charges including desertion, three counts of disobeying an officer and assaulting a non-commissioned officer.

The other charges were, however, dropped after the government filed a motion to dismiss, which was granted by the judge.

The Associated Press reported in July that Kings' attorneys were in talks with military prosecutors to reach a plea deal. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for that month, but it was postponed so the two sides could negotiate.

In his statement, Rosenblatt said he believed that even though his client was released Friday, “the negative public perception” and the time King spent in custody “represents an ongoing punishment that he will endure for the rest of his life.”

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