Travis King, a US soldier who walked into North Korea last year, has pled guilty to desertion and other offenses, the US Army reported on Friday.
As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, the 24-year-old Army private pleaded guilty in a military hearing Friday in Fort Bliss, Texas, to one count of desertion, three counts of disobeying a superior commissioned officer, and one count of assault on a noncommissioned officer, according to a news release from the Army Office of the Special Trial Counsel.
King was sentenced to 12 months and will receive credit for time served. He was also demoted to the lowest enlisted rank, E1, and discharged dishonorably. King’s attorney stated on Friday that with time served and good behavior, King is “now free and will return home.”
“He has accepted responsibility during today’s court martial – but make no mistake, the negative public perception and continuing repercussions of his actions, coupled with the confinement he’s endured, represents a continual punishment Travis King will face for the rest of his life,” Franklin Rosenblatt wrote in a statement posted to X.
When King defected to North Korea in July 2023, he was about to travel back to the United States from Seoul after spending time in a South Korean detention facility, attacking two people and kicking a police car while there. However, after arriving at the airport, he skipped his flight. He raced across the border from South Korea to North Korea while participating in a guided tour of the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
After keeping him for almost two months, the North Koreans deported him to China, who transferred him to US custody in September 2023. According to US authorities, Washington made no compromises to obtain King’s release. He has been detained in the Otero County Jail in New Mexico since his return to the United States.
He was initially charged with 14 counts, but his counsel revealed that nine charges were dropped as part of his plea agreement last month. King has been in the US Army since January 2021 and is now in South Korea as part of the Pentagon’s regular Korean Force Rotation.
“The outcome of today’s court-martial is a fair and just result that reflects the seriousness of the offenses carried out by Pvt. King and will help maintain discipline and order within the U.S. Army by deterring soldiers from committing similar offenses in the future,” Major Allyson Montgomery, an Army prosecutor, said in a letter.
