U.S. soldier pleads guilty to desertion after fleeing into North Korea

A U.S. Army soldier who had been detained in North Korea after he fled there in 2023 pleaded guilty to desertion, disobeying an order and assault at a hearing Friday, according to the Army.

Pvt. Travis King, 24, pleaded guilty before a military judge in Fort Bliss, Texas, and was sentenced to 12 months of confinement. The time he has spent in custody will count toward his sentence, the Army said in a statement.

“With time already served and credit for good behavior, Travis is now free and will return home,” Franklin D. Rosenblatt, King’s attorney, said in a statement posted to social media Friday.

In addition to his confinement sentence, King’s military status was reduced to the grade E1, the lowest rank for an enlisted soldier, and he was dishonorably discharged.

“The outcome of today’s court-martial is a fair and just result that reflects the seriousness of the offenses committed by Pvt. King and will promote good order and discipline within the U.S. Army by deterring Soldiers from committing similar offenses in the future,” Maj. Allyson Montgomery, an Army prosecutor, said in the Army’s statement.

The guilty plea put an end to an episode involving a rare military desertion and negotiations between the United States and North Korea.

King had been assigned to a combat team in South Korea and spent time in a South Korean detention center in 2023 for assault charges. After his release, in July of that year, he was scheduled to board a plane to the United States, where he was expected to face additional disciplinary action.

Instead, King boarded a bus to a town near the Demilitarized Zone, which separates North and South Korea, and joined a tour group. He broke away from the group and crossed into the North, where he was quickly detained by soldiers. He was the first American soldier to cross the DMZ into the North since 1982.

North Korean authorities held King for more than two months, and officials found him guilty of “illegally intruding” into their territory, according to the country’s official Korean Central News Agency.

In September 2023, King was released into U.S. custody after weeks of negotiations mediated by the Swedish government. He had originally faced 14 charges, but nine of those were dropped as part of the plea agreement. On Friday, he pleaded guilty to one count of desertion, three counts of disobeying a superior commissioned officer and one count of assault on a noncommissioned officer.

King “has accepted responsibility during today’s court martial,” Rosenblatt said in his statement. “The negative public perception and the ongoing consequences of his actions, coupled with the confinement he’s endured, represents an ongoing punishment Travis King will endure for the rest of his life.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.