Fort Bliss, Texas.- A U.S. Army soldier who was detained in North Korea after fleeing there in 2023 pleaded guilty to desertion, disobedience of an order and assault at a hearing Friday, the Army said.
Private Travis King, 24, pleaded guilty before a military judge at Fort Bliss, Texas, and was sentenced to 12 months of confinement. The time he has already spent in custody will count toward his sentence, the Army said in a statement.
“With time served and credit for good behavior, Travis is now free and will be returning home,” Franklin D. Rosenblatt, Private King’s attorney, said in a statement posted on social media Friday.
In addition to his confinement sentence, Private King’s military status was reduced to E1, the lowest rank for an enlisted soldier, and he was dishonorably discharged.
“The outcome of today’s court martial is a fair and equitable result that reflects the seriousness of the crimes committed by Private King and will promote good order and discipline within the United States Army by deterring Soldiers from committing similar crimes in the future,” Maj. Allyson Montgomery, an Army prosecutor, said in the Army statement.
The guilty plea brought to a close an episode involving a rare military defection and negotiations between the United States and North Korea.
Private King had been assigned to a combat team in South Korea, and spent time in a South Korean detention center in 2023 on assault charges. After his release in July of that year, he was scheduled to board a plane bound for the United States, where he was expected to face further disciplinary action.
Instead, Private King boarded a bus bound for a town near the Demilitarized Zone, which separates North and South Korea, and joined a group of tourists. 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 found him guilty of “illegal intrusion” into their territory, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
In September 2023, Private King was released into U.S. custody after weeks of negotiations mediated by the Swedish government. He was initially charged with 14 counts, but nine of those were dropped as part of the deal. On Friday, he pleaded guilty to one count of desertion, three counts of disobeying a superior officer, and one count of assaulting a noncommissioned officer.
Private King “has accepted responsibility during today’s court martial,” Rosenblatt said in his statement. “The negative public perception and continued consequences of his actions, coupled with the confinement he has endured, represent a continuing punishment that Travis King will endure for the rest of his life.”
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