A US soldier, Travis King, who crossed into North Korea last year, has pleaded guilty to desertion as part of a plea agreement and was sentenced to 12 months of confinement, according to his lawyer. Due to good behavior and time served, King has since been released.
King, who faced 14 charges related to his unauthorized entry into North Korea in July 2023 while on a sightseeing tour of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea, pleaded guilty to five charges. These included desertion, assaulting a noncommissioned officer, and three counts of disobeying an officer. The plea deal was accepted by a military judge on Friday.
According to King’s attorney, Franklin Rosenblatt, “The judge, under the terms of the plea deal, sentenced Travis to one year of confinement, reduction in rank to private (E-1), forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a dishonorable discharge.”
Rosenblatt further added, “With time already served and credit for good behavior, Travis is now free and will return home.”
The statement also highlighted King’s difficult personal background, including a troubled upbringing, exposure to criminal environments, and struggles with mental health, all of which compounded the challenges he faced during his military service.
The US Army’s Office of Special Trial Counsel confirmed King’s guilty plea and the dismissal of all other charges as part of the plea agreement. “The outcome of today’s court martial is a fair and just result that reflects the seriousness of the offenses committed by Pvt. King,” prosecutor Major Allyson Montgomery said.
At the time of the incident, King was stationed in South Korea and was supposed to return to Texas for disciplinary hearings following a drunken bar fight and subsequent time spent in a South Korean jail. Instead of boarding his flight, King left the Seoul-area airport, joined a DMZ sightseeing tour, and crossed the fortified border into North Korea, where he was detained by authorities.
North Korea initially claimed that King defected to escape “mistreatment and racial discrimination in the US Army.” However, after concluding its investigation, the North Korean government decided to expel King in September for illegally entering its territory
