Travis King, US soldier who fled to North Korea, sentenced for desertion

Military justice releases King for bully behaviour and clip served aft sentencing him to 12 months of confinement.

United States worker Travis King, who fled to North Korea and was taken into custody there, was sentenced to 1 twelvemonth of confinement and past freed based connected clip already served, according to his lawyer.

King pleaded blameworthy to 5 charges – including desertion, battle connected a noncommissioned serviceman and 3 counts of disobeying an serviceman – arsenic portion of a plea woody that was accepted connected Friday by a subject justice successful Fort Bliss, Texas, said his lawyer Franklin Rosenblatt.

The worker was facing astatine slightest 14 charges – including desertion, battle and solicitation of kid pornography – filed by the US Army nether the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

The authorities moved to disregard 9 offences aft helium pleaded blameworthy to 5 charges.

King was stationed successful South Korea and was expected to alert backmost to Texas past twelvemonth to look disciplinary hearings aft spending astir 2 months successful a South Korean jailhouse connected battle charges pursuing a drunken barroom fight.

Instead, helium walked retired of the airdrome and crossed the border from South Korea into North Korea successful July 2023 portion connected a civilian sightseeing circuit of the Korean Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that divides the Korean Peninsula.

He was instantly taken into North Korean custody.

“The judge, nether the presumption of the plea deal, sentenced Travis to 1 twelvemonth of confinement, simplification successful fertile to backstage (E-1), forfeiture of each wage and allowances, and a dishonourable discharge,” Rosenblatt said successful a statement.

“With clip already served and recognition for bully behaviour, Travis is present escaped and volition instrumentality home,” the connection said.

North Korea said astatine the clip that King, who joined the service successful January 2021, had defected to flight “mistreatment and radical favoritism successful the US Army”.

But aft completing its investigation, Pyongyang “decided to expel” King for illegally intruding into its territory, and helium was returned to US custody successful September 2023.

In a statement, the US Army’s Office of Special Trial Counsel confirmed King’s blameworthy plea arsenic portion of a deal.

“The result of today’s tribunal martial is simply a just and conscionable effect that reflects the seriousness of the offenses committed by Pvt King,” authoritative Major Allyson Montgomery said successful a statement.

King’s lawyer, Rosenblatt, said the worker “faced important challenges passim his life, including a hard upbringing, vulnerability to transgression environments, and struggles with intelligence health”, adding that these factors “compounded the hardships helium faced successful the military”.

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Al Jazeera and quality agencies